Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is expanding to meet increased demand for services in the southern part of Sarasota County. It opened an updated emergency department at its Venice hospital last month that more than doubles capacity for urgent care.
The $90 million expansion increases the number of exam rooms from 28 to 61. It also includes four additional resuscitation suites to care for patients with life-threatening conditions, upgraded imaging facilities and a third centrally located CT scanner.
The project was necessary to serve the growing number of residents in the region who need health care, said Julie Polaszek, chief nursing officer at Sarasota Memorial.
South Sarasota County’s population has been booming in recent years, which first spurred SMH to open a medical campus with a 28-bed emergency department in Venice in 2021.
“We found out within literally a couple days that that probably was not going to be enough space for us,” said Polaszek.
The need to expand heightened following the closure of another area hospital in 2022, ShorePoint Health Venice, which left Sarasota Memorial as the sole acute care provider in Venice, she said.
Then another nearby facility, ShorePoint Health Punta Gorda, closed last fall due to damage from Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
“We’ve had increasing demand, so this is really coming just in time,” Polaszek said about the new 30,000-square-foot emergency care center.
The center is part of a broader effort to expand medical services throughout Sarasota County. Last year, the Venice location also opened a third patient care tower, doubling inpatient bed capacity from 110 patient rooms to 212.
These upgrades and enhancements will streamline emergency response times while also providing a more comfortable experience for patients, said Polaszek.
"It has really allowed us to improve our capacity challenges and allow patients to not feel so cramped or not have to transfer outside of their community for care," she said.
Sarasota Memorial is in the planning stages for two more south county medical facilities in North Port and Wellen Park. The hospital board is expected to decide which site to build first at a meeting this month.
Other health systems are also expanding emergency medical services in the area.
HCA Florida Sarasota Doctors Hospital plans to open an 11-room free-standing emergency department in Venice in May, while HCA Florida Englewood Hospital is constructing a freestanding emergency room in Wellen Park.
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