VIDEO: “We stand at a very sacred place,” says Florida Hospital officer

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Construction crew workers, city officials and Florida Hospital administrators watched a crane hoist a signature-covered topping beam onto the highest point of the new Florida Hospital Apopka building during the Friday, September 16, topping-out ceremony.

The public was able to watch the ceremony online at www.youtube.com/FloridaHospital.

“Topping out” is a construction ceremony in which a steel beam, signed by the construction crew and members of the community, is lifted along with a fir tree onto the highest point of the building.

Before the ceremony, the steel beam was taken to events around Apopka to garner signatures including the September 7 Apopka Food Truck Roundup at Kit Land Nelson Park.

In the posted video, Ken Bradley, senior executive officer for Florida Hospital’s south/west market that includes Apopka, Celebration, Kissimmee and Winter Garden, remarked about the new Apopka campus, slated for a November 2017 opening:

“Today we stand at a very sacred place … a place that’s being built not just for the wonderful environment and economics of our community, but a place where people can come when they are in deep need, where they may have a heart attack and receive life again; where they may come not just for sickness, but we hope they’ll come to learn to lose weight, and by the way I’ll be the first person to come up for that event.”

Florida Hospital Apopka’s newly expanded, 70-acre location will include 120 private patient rooms, additional surgical services and an expanded Women’s Center.

For updates on the new Florida Hospital Apopka campus, as well as other property developments in the Apopka area, pick up a copy of The Apopka Chief at nearby locations or visit the newspaper online