Tampa Bay sees its first free-standing ER open

Tampa Bay's newest emergency room has opened miles from any hospital campus. The $9 million Morton Plant Mease Bardmoor Emergency Center in Largo is the first free-standing hospital emergency room in the seven-county Tampa Bay region, and just the fourth in Florida. The 15-bed facility will serve some of the estimated 84,000 central Pinellas County residents who visit hospital emergency rooms each year.