Sarasota Memorial Hospital's Venice (Fla.) campus is speeding up its expansion project to meet increased demand following the closure of local competitor ShorePoint Health Venice, WFLA reported Jan. 23.
The Sarasota Memorial Venice campus currently has 110 beds, about a third of the capacity of the shuttered ShorePoint facility. To meet the new demand, the expansion will double the size of the emergency and operating rooms.
The hospital, which opened in 2021, will have more than 200 beds when the first phase of construction is completed in 2024.
"Even before ShorePoint's announcement, we already had construction under way to double the capacity at SMH-Venice and we are doing everything we can to expedite the expansion," Sarasota Memorial President and CEO David Verinder said. "We will continue to find ways to step up to meet this new challenge and demonstrate the value of a public hospital, just as we have throughout our nearly 100 years of service to the community."