The state budget includes $80 million for improvements to the Level-1 trauma center at UF Health Jacksonville to be named after its former CEO, the late Dr. Leon Haley Jr., Gov. Ron DeSantis announced April 18.
At a news conference, surrounded by Haley’s family, UF Health and state officials, DeSantis announced the money will be included in Florida’s 2022-23 budget when he officially approves it later this year.
DeSantis said the $80 million will pay to replace the outdated and overcrowded trauma center with a “state-of-the-art” Level-1 facility. The center is at the UF Health Jacksonville campus north of Downtown.
“This project will provide better access to emergency health services for the Jacksonville community as well as high-quality care,” DeSantis said.
Dr. Leon Haley Jr., 56, died in July 2021 of injuries sustained when he was thrown from a personal watercraft in the Palm Beach Inlet.
Members of Haley’s family including his father. Leon Haley Sr., his son, Grant Haley, and his mother, Elizabeth Ann Haley, attended the event for the future Dr. Leon Haley Trauma Center.
Leon Haley Sr. said the pain his son’s death brought his family in the past year was coupled with gratitude for the response from the community and the resources made available for the new facility.
“We are grateful for the love that he had for this city, this hospital, and this community and for the love that he reflected in his concern for the poor, the left out and the marginalized,” Haley Sr. said.
Grant Haley, a defensive back for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, said he and his siblings watched his father work as an ER and trauma center physician “as a hero.”
“It is a special moment for all of us to be able to remember him by having the Leon Haley Trauma Center at UF Health,” Grant Haley said. “I think his legacy goes far beyond just being a trauma doctor or CEO. He taught me so many values and lessons about being a man of service, a man of faith and what truly is a man – It is such a blessing.”
UF Health CEO Russell E. Armistead said the medical center’s staff have continued to bring care despite difficult conditions.
“Our people provide some of the best care and expertise you will find but the trauma center itself as well as the emergency department itself were in dire need of upgrades and this funding will change that dramatically,” Armistead said.
According to DeSantis, the Dr. Leon Haley Trauma Center will serve 125,000 patients per year. UF Health Jacksonville is the only Level-1 trauma center in the region. The nearest comparable facilities are in Gainesville and Savannah, Georgia.
UF Health Jacksonville Media Relations Manager Daniel Leveton said in an email April 18 that the new trauma center will be on the medical center’s campus, likely near the current trauma center.
Leveton said UF Health has not started permitting the new facility with the city and has not selected a contractor. A date for groundbreaking is still to be determined, he said.
Haley, who was dean of the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville, became the first black CEO of UF Health Jacksonville in January 2018. He also was vice president of health affairs at the University of Florida.
Haley was one of the key health professionals in the fight against the coronavirus in Jacksonville.
In mid-December 2020, he was the first person in Jacksonville to receive the Pfizer vaccine, setting an example for his staff and the rest of the city.
