Officials from Florida Coast Medical Center in Port St. Lucie visited St. Lucie County fire stations on May 19, full of food and thanks.
Armed with chicken wings and tenders, fresh carrot and celery sticks and some Palm Beach Health Network hot sauce to celebrate National Emergency Medical Services week, hospital officials were happy to feed and thank first responders for their crucial lifesaving services.
“When you walk into a firehouse, they always have hot sauce,” said Florida Coast CEO Tyler Sherrill hoping to add to their spicy inventory and offer a special tasting.
“It’s got a bite on the back side,” said Fire Chief Jeff Lee after tasting the hot sauce at the St. Lucie County Fire District’s newest station, No. 20 on Village Parkway in Tradition, which opened in January.
Station 13 off Becker Road across from the hospital and Station 20 were among those personally visited by Sherrill, while others hospital employees delivered goods to some of the other local stations that bring patients to the hospital’s Emergency Department. “It’s great. Every week should be EMS Week,” Sherrill said. “It gives us a forum to say thank you.”
Although the hospital was not yet opened during EMS week in 2025, they invited EMS professionals to the unfinished hospital. “We invited EMS to come for three days and we toured them around the hospital,” said Chief Nursing Officer Ashley Barquin, who took part in last month’s lunch delivery. “We’ve also done training with them.”
For Sherrill, having a good relationship and communication with EMS crews is crucial throughout the year. “We can care for our community together better,” he said.
Sometimes the crews will drop off patients at the hospitals and they don’t know the outcome, but when a hospital has good communication with the first responders they can follow up. “We have some ability to do that,” said Sherrill, who praised EMS professionals. “The ability to have a clinically competent and a well-oiled fire department is a gift. These guys are solid.”
The SLCFD answers 70,000 calls a year, with 36,000 of those calls for emergency services. There are currently other fire stations under construction, including No. 19, which will be off Kings Highway in Fort Pierce, and No. 18 next to the administration buildings on Midway Road. According to Lee, there will likely be more, with No. 21 “probably” going near the new Legacy High School off Crosstown in Tradition.
Florida Coast Medical Center opened in September 2025 in Port St. Lucie. The $200 million, 180,000-square-foot facility off Becker Road near Florida’s Turnpike features 54 private patient rooms, 24-hour emergency care and specialized services that will continue to grow. The hospital is the sixth standalone hospital in the Palm Beach Health Network.
When the hospital first opened, they didn’t have all the licenses and insurance approvals but that is now in the “rearview. We can actually just run our hospital now,” said Sherrill. “Every day we progress. We see more people and expand our care. It’s different opening a hospital.”