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SMH-Venice Gets Set to Expand Size, Scope of Services
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SMH-Venice Gets Set to Expand Size, Scope of Services

Since opening in November of 2021, patient volumes at Sarasota Memorial’s Venice campus have exceeded all expectations, highlighting south Sarasota County’s urgent need for the new 110-bed hospital.

Inpatient admissions and Emergency Care Center visits have repeatedly run above projections, and work has already begun on a new patient care tower that will add 68 more beds to the campus.

Expansion plans get under way

Design and development meetings on the five-story addition started early this year. If plans go according to schedule, construction may begin this summer, with the new tower anticipated to open in the spring of 2024.

Ultimately, the 65-acre Venice campus has the capacity to grow to more than 400 beds, and its 28-room Emergency Care Center and eight surgical suites can double in size.

An aerial rendering of the SMH-Venice campus shows the planned addition (marked in red) of a new patient care tower.
Work will get under way on the new tower later this year, with the 68-bed wing (pictured above) scheduled to open in 2024.

Focus on quality and programs for staff

Inside the hospital, SMH-Venice staff are as focused on enhancing the quality and scope of services as they are on expanding the size of the facility. The team is in the process of applying for accreditations and designations for specialty services including stroke and pathology. While the SMH-Sarasota campus has received numerous specialty certifications over the years, the Venice hospital has its own license and is considered a separate entity and must go through its own application process for certain specialty designations.

The Pet Paws program, a longstanding wellness offering at the Sarasota campus, recently kicked off at Venice to give staff, patients and visitors the chance to relax and interact with specially trained dogs.
Above, ICU/Critical Care Step Down Clinical Coordinator Stacey McGhee, left, de-stresses with Gracie Joy and volunteer Beverly Bowen.

The hospital is also implementing wellness programs for staff, including the weekly stress-relieving Pet Paws sessions that have long taken place at the Sarasota campus. Venice staff, patients and visitors can stop by to pet and engage with specially trained dogs each week from 1 to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays. (The program takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursdays at SMH-Sarasota.)

A full-service medical campus, SMH-Venice also includes an array of outpatient services and physician practices. A two-story medical office building right next to the hospital is home to multiple physician practices, including internal and family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, general and vascular surgery, interventional cardiology, and pulmonology and critical care. An ear, nose & throat and allergy practice also is set to open there on Monday, April 4.

Watch for future updates about the Venice location!

SMH-Venice by the numbers
(For the four months since opening in November)

  • Emergency Care Center visits: 11,516
  • Discharges: 3,203
  • Babies born: 51
  • Number of staff working throughout the hospital/medical offices: 995
  • Pizzas made fresh in the hospital’s pizza oven: 5,424
  • OR cases: 845