On November 4, 2014, the AdventHealth Southlands ER opened to the public. In those 10 years, Southlands has doubled the number of patients it sees, increased staff, and received numerous awards.
Erin Upton has been at Southlands since the beginning. She initially joined the team as Assistant Nurse Manager before being promoted to Clinical Nurse Manager.
“I remember being so worried about our census in the beginning, because we didn’t get our first patient until nearly 27 hours after opening day,” said Erin. “We had a beautiful gift basket waiting for them when they did get there!”
Early on, Southlands saw an average of 17 patients per day. That has since grown to 32. They even hit a record on January 3, 2022, seeing 69 patients in one day!
The Southlands team has also helped bring some new patients into the world, delivering five babies since 2014.
The team has also made changes over the past 10 years to improve clinical outcomes. Since opening, Southlands switched from full-service lab testing to point-of-care testing, which has made a difference for patients.
“It was a big change at first but worked out great,” said Erin. “It helps decrease our patient’s length of stay since we are able to get the results faster.”
Today, the Southlands team includes 23 RNs, 3 paramedics, and our incredible providers.
“The culture and team at Southlands are fun, professional, and make coming to work joyful!” said Erin.
That positive culture is clear when you look at patient experience scores. The Southlands ED won the Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence award in 2023 for having patient experience scores at or above the 95th percentile for three consistent quarters. The team was also given the 2024 AdventHealth Exceptional Patient Experience Award.
We are thankful for our incredible Southlands team for their dedication to whole-person care! Congratulations on 10 years!
