VENICE, Fla. — The Venice campus of Sarasota Memorial Hospital continues to expand. By the end of the year, the hospital is set to nearly double its 110-room capacity for inpatient care to 212 rooms.
Patients have started filling up a new bed tower which opened with 68 private rooms on Wednesday. The hospital system's leaders said more rooms are on the way. For many, this expansion is a welcomed development for the community.
"I have a front-row seat to the growth," Anthony Asaro of Asaro's Pizzaria said.
Asaro's restaurant is in the shopping complex that is a next-door neighbor to SMH-Venice. For him, the hospital's presence means not just good health but also good business.
"Nurses, doctors, visitors, people getting discharged from the hospital. We have family visiting people in the hospital. They're all coming in here," Asaro explained.
Some in the community were forced to go elsewhere due to lack of space. According to hospital officials, SMH-Venice has operated at full capacity since it opened in November 2021. That capacity was further tested when a nearby hospital, Shore Point Health closed its doors a year later.
"Yeah, it seems like hundreds of people are moving in here. The feedback we get from the customers, from some of the working staff from the hospital, they need it. They need more beds. They need more rooms," Asaro said.
To be positioned for this continued growth, the hospital has opened up a new five-floor bed tower that connects to the main building. The new building includes two more inpatient nursing units including a cardiac unit on the fourth floor and an orthopedic unit on the fifth totaling 68 private rooms.
"It's allowing us to lift some of those capacity constraints and it also allows us to prevent having to transfer patients from our Venice campus to our larger campus in Sarasota," Julie Polaszek, the chief nursing officer at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, said.
A brand new simulation room was also added as a part of the expansion process. Along with the new rooms, 34 additional private suites are set to be opened to patients by this fall as well as an expansion of the emergency room.
"Probably in November or December will be expanded from 28 beds to 61 beds in our ER. A lot more room to be able to comfortably see our patients," Polaszek explained.
For Asaro, the expansion means the community would be provided with quality and accessible care right around the corner from their home.
"I've been to the hospital myself for some procedures. My family members have been through there, and I have to say that the staff is top-notch. I have seen for myself delivering food. They're almost daily. The ER is packed hospitals full so I'm not surprised," he said.
The expansion also means more jobs. Polaszek said SMH-Venice has recently hired more than 200 new team members. There are plans to fill more positions in the coming weeks and months.