SMH Today
SMH Today
News and advice from Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Celebrating 1 OO SMH Kicks Off Centennial Year
Sarasota Memorial is a communityowned health system governed by the nine-member elected Sarasota County Public Hospital Board.
SARASOTA MEMORIAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
David Verinder - President & CEO
SARASOTA COUNTY PUBLIC HOSPITAL BOARD MEMBERS
Sarah Lodge – Chair
Brad Baker
Pam Beitlich, DNP, APRN
Gregory Carter
Kevin Cooper
Sharon Wetzler DePeters, APRN
Bridgette Fiorucci, BSN, RN
Patricia Maraia, BSN, RN
Victor Rohe
SMH Today is a semi-annual publication produced by Sarasota Memorial Health Care System and Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation. For more SMH news and contact information, visit smh.com/news.
While the New Year is typically a time to look forward with hope and optimism, Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is encouraging community members to step back in time and reflect on the hospital’s storied history.
From simple canvas tents to the comprehensive medical center that stands today, SMH is marking a century of service and care to the Suncoast in 2025. As the community-owned hospital’s centennial year unfolds, so are opportunities to learn about the determination and sheer grit it took Sarasota’s founders to build the area’s first modern hospital.
“Our community and SMH have a lot to celebrate this year,” Sarasota Memorial CEO David Verinder said. “We’ve come a long way from that 32-bed hospital that opened its doors 100 years ago. Today, Sarasota’s flagship hospital has evolved into one of the nation’s best health systems, a pioneer of new treatments and technologies, lifesaving trauma center and award-winning teaching hospital. Every year of growth, every medical milestone, every technological advance, were made possible by the people of our community, and the outstanding doctors, nurses and staff entrusted with their care.”
SMH kicked off its centennial year in January with the installation of a 35-foot timeline in the lobby of its Sarasota hospital and a 100-year history book, A Century of Caring, featuring historic events and milestones that shaped the public institution over the past 10 decades. The hospital also created an interactive webpage (smh.com/100)
Sarasota Memorial Hospital is celebrating the start of its centennial year
The original “Sarasota Hospital” was a 32-bed facility that opened on Nov. 2, 1925. The women of the Sarasota Welfare Association raised the $40,000 needed to build the community’s first modern hospital. It would soon be turned over to the city and renamed Sarasota Municipal Hospital (SMH).
SMH grew in scope and size along with the community. Among other improvements, a 1945 expansion included a new operating room with the hospital’s first air conditioning unit, donated by Florida Power & Light.
In 1954, the city turned the hospital over to the county as work got started on a new “memorial” hospital to honor veterans of two world wars. The new 5-story, 225-bed Sarasota Memorial Hospital opened in 1955 with its main entrance facing Arlington Street. The original hospital was moved across Hawthorne Street.
Years of Service and Care
in 2025
and is encouraging community members to visit the site throughout the year to add their own historical photos to the online timeline, flip through an electronic version of SMH’s history book and participate in future centennial activities leading up to SMH’s 100-year anniversary in November.
The original 32-bed hospital, first named Sarasota Hospital, opened its doors on Nov. 2, 1925, with 12 physicians and 10 nurses and employees. It was renamed Sarasota Municipal Hospital and later Sarasota Memorial Hospital to honor the veterans of World War I and II. SMH expanded its name to Sarasota Memorial Health Care System during the 2000s to reflect its growing number of healthcare campuses, outpatient services, medical offices and community programs.
Today, Sarasota Memorial is one of the nation’s largest and most comprehensive health systems, known for its highly trained clinicians, research and advanced care. Despite its growth, it remains the only community-owned and only not-for-profit health system in the county, and largest safety net provider in the region. Sarasota Memorial’s network of care includes two full-service hospitals (with more than 1,100 beds) in Sarasota and Venice, freestanding ERs in North Port and Lakewood Ranch, and dozens of outpatient centers, urgent care clinics and physician practices that stretch from Manatee County to North Port. It is Sarasota County’s largest employer, with more than 10,000 staff members, 2,500 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 2 million patient visits a year.
The new 10-story Waldemere Tower opened in 1984, standing tall as a bright beacon of SMH’s ongoing growth. The 1980s were an age of technology and medical advances, including the opening of Sarasota Memorial’s open-heart surgery program.
The new 9-story Courtyard Tower modernized the Sarasota campus and marked a new chapter in the hospital’s history. The entrance was akin to a grand hotel, with large picture windows and a central courtyard that has become an important way-finding feature for visitors to the hospital.
Check out SMH’s 100-Year history book and interactive webpage at smh.com/100.
SMH-Venice opened in November 2021, amidst the challenges of a global pandemic. The new hospital quickly accelerated plans to expand, doubling its capacity by 2024 to meet the community’s growing needs in the wake of hurricanes and hospital closures.
Today, the Sarasota campus at 1700 S. Tamiami Trail continues to set the benchmark for care on the Suncoast, with its flagship 897-bed teaching hospital and trauma center, expanding Brian D. Jellison Cancer Institute and state-of-the-art Cornell Behavioral Health Pavilion among its many specialty programs.
SMH Cardiac Team Combines Innovative Therapies to Treat AFib, Reduce Stroke Risk
S arasota Memorial Hospital patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) may be candidates for simultaneous pulsed field ablation to treat their heart rhythm disorder along with implantation of a Watchman device, a drug-free alternative to reduce AF patients’ risk of stroke.
SMH’s cardiac team is among the first in the nation combining the two innovative therapies (outside of a clinical trial) to treat irregular heartbeats and reduce stroke risks associated with AF in one minimally invasive procedure.
“The new guidelines offer significant benefits to our patients by allowing us to perform two equally important treatments during a single cardiac catheterization,” said Heart Specialists of Sarasota electrophysiologist Robert Eckart, MD. “Now, we can quickly address our patients’ debilitating heart rhythm disorders and the heightened risk of stroke they face, during the same procedure, without further delays in care or longterm drug therapy.”
Eckart, MD
The combination therapy, which typically takes less than an hour, starts with pulsed field ablation, a newer form of cardiac ablation that uses non-thermal energy to safely destroy tissue in the heart triggering the irregular heartbeats and heart rhythm disorders. Afterward, the team implants a Watchman device to close the left atrial appendage, an area of the heart known to release potentially deadly blood clots. The Watchman device has been used for nearly 10 years to reduce stroke risks and provide AF patients an alternative to long-term anticoagulation therapy with blood thinner medications.
Robert Eckart, MD, and SMH’s electrophysiology team perform simultaneous pulse field ablation treatment (to relieve symptoms associated with atrial fibrillation) and left atrial appendage occlusion using a Watchman device (a drug-free alternative to reduce the risk of stroke).
AF is a progressive condition that affects more than 59 million people worldwide. Without early intervention, the condition can worsen over time, increasing the risk for stroke, heart failure and death.
For more information or a physician referral, call Sarasota Memorial’s HealthLine at 941-917-7777.
Robert
Hospital Board Approves $450M for North Port’s First Hospital
T he Sarasota County Public Hospital Board gave Sarasota Memorial administrators the green light in January to build North Port’s first hospital on North Sumter Boulevard in North Port.
The $450 million hospital will be built on an undeveloped 32-acre parcel Sarasota Memorial Health Care System owns in the 4900 block of North Sumter Boulevard near I-75. Sarasota Memorial Hospital-North Port will be the health system’s third acute-care hospital and fulfills a longstanding request from the City of North Port for a hospital of its own. With more than 95,000 residents, North Port is the largest city in Sarasota County, both in land mass and population, and one of the fastest growing in the nation.
“Building a hospital in North Port has been part of our strategic plan and goals for many years, and I could not be more excited to break ground in 2025 during our centennial year,” Sarasota Memorial Health Care System President & CEO David Verinder said. “It has taken time to build the medical infrastructure necessary to support the city’s first hospital, but we feel confident moving forward that we have the commitment and resources to ensure its success.”
Hospital staff worked with North Port and other regulatory officials throughout 2024 to obtain the initial approvals to begin building the city’s first hospital. Construction is expected to take up to 30 months. Slated to open in the fall of 2028, the hurricane-hardened, 100-bed hospital will offer a comprehensive range of emergency, medical, surgical and specialty care, a full complement of diagnostic and outpatient services, and
primary and specialty physician practices in the adjacent medical office building. The first floor of the hospital will include emergency, diagnostic, administrative and support services; the second floor will house surgical and procedural areas; and floors three to five will be dedicated patient care units with 100 private rooms for admitted patients. The sixth floor is reserved for mechanical space and will provide the infrastructure that will allow SMH to add three more patient care floors and expand the hospital capacity to 208 beds in a future phase.
While the new hospital is being built, SMH staff will be working behind the scenes on staffing and physician recruitment plans, as well as technology updates to seamlessly connect SMH-North Port to the health system’s electronic medical records and clinical systems. The first phase of the campus includes a 60,000-square-foot medical office building for primary and specialty care physician practices. Verinder noted that opening SMH-Venice in 2021 helped expand and bring SMH’s extensive physician base further south. SMH will be recruiting 70-plus physicians to support the range of services provided by SMH-North Port.
This summer, the Hospital Board will be reviewing and updating plans for its Wellen Park campus and existing freestanding ER and healthcare center on Toledo Blade Boulevard. North Port City Manager Jerome Fletcher called the move a landmark step for North Port, adding “The quality health care so many North Port residents have desired for years is finally on its way to our community, along with new career opportunities for our workforce. The City is committed to working with SMH through the development process to bring this project to life.”
For future updates on the new hospital, visit: smh.com/NorthPortUpdates
UPCOMING
SMH Opens ER in Lakewood Ranch
In January, SMH opened its fourth emergency care center, this one in the rapidly growing Lakewood Ranch.
Located at 7250 University Parkway, the facility is staffed 24/7 by SMH’s board-certified emergency medicine physicians. The 21-room, 15,000-square-foot freestanding ER is centrally located about 3 miles east of I-75 near Lorraine Road.
The ER at Lakewood Ranch is equipped with resuscitation and specialty rooms for pediatric, behavioral health and other patients requiring advanced equipment and care, a full-service laboratory, and X-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI scanners for quick, accurate diagnoses.
It is Sarasota Memorial’s second freestanding ER not attached to a hospital campus. The other freestanding emergency facility is in North Port.
For more information, visit: smh.com/ER
SMH Updating EHR and Patient Portal
Sarasota Memorial is replacing its current electronic health records (EHR) systems with a single, integrated platform by industry leader Epic.
Among other benefits, Epic’s EHR system will allow patients’ medical records to follow them seamlessly and securely across Sarasota Memorial’s expanding network of facilities and care providers. Different care teams will be able to interact with each other to securely exchange health information and better coordinate care, regardless of where the providers are located. Epic also deploys the latest tools and technology, including artificial intelligence and predictive modeling, to provide clinicians with up-to-date insights to enhance that care.
When fully implemented in the fall of 2026, the platform also will include a new and improved patient portal, MyChart, that makes it easier for people to access their complete medical record in one location and securely exchange information with their care teams.
Childbirth Education
Sarasota Memorial offers in-person and online childbirth education classes and Mother-Baby Support Groups, as well as 1-on-1 lactation counseling and support. For more information or to register for a class, visit smh.com/ childbirth-education.
Weight Loss & Wellness Coaching
Sarasota Memorial weight and wellness specialists offer the following programs to help people lose weight and reduce their risk factors for heart disease and stroke, without medications or surgery:
• RENEW (Restore and Empower through Nutrition, Exercise and Wellness), a semi-virtual, 6-week lifestyle program that combines professional health coaching group activities, meal feedback, exercise monitoring, and unlimited peer support to help you achieve your personal weight and wellness goals. Learn more or apply at smhRENEW.com
• Dr. Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease, a nineweek program focused on four scientifically proven life style strategies: a low-fat, plant-based diet; 30 minutes of daily exercise; stress management; and social support. Learn more or apply at smh.com/ornish
SMH-Sarasota Named
“Best Hospital for Maternity Care” by U.S. News & World Report
Sarasota Memorial earned the highest possible award for maternity care in U.S. News & World Report’s fourth annual “Best Hospitals for Maternity” list.
SMH-Sarasota was among just 15% of 2,674 maternity hospitals that made the 2025 list. The health system delivers more than 4,500 babies each year. To be recognized, hospitals had to demonstrate superior performance on multiple quality metrics that matter to expectant families, including: lower newborn complication rates; lower C-section rates; fewer births scheduled too early in pregnancy; greater options for vaginal births after cesarean; and clinical practices that support mother-baby bonding and breastfeeding. Learn about SMH’s maternity care at smh.com/motherbaby
Looking for America’s Best Workplace?
Did you know that SMH received a number of workplace awards in 2024, including Forbes’ “America’s Best Large Employers,” “America’s Best Employers for Women” and “Best-in-State Employers,” as well as Newsweek’s “America’s Greatest Workplaces?” Learn about SMH’s diverse career opportunities at smh.com/careers.
Physician Lectures & Education Events
Check out our community calendar each month for a list of free, informative lectures by Sarasota Memorial physicians and specialists, and other SMH-sponsored events. Hear directly from the experts about the latest treatments and emerging technologies giving patients more options than ever before. Visit smh.com/calendar or call 941- 917-7777 for information.
Classes & Support Groups
Visit smh.com/calendar for our monthly calendar of events.
Call 941- 917-7777 or visit smh.com/healthline for help finding a doctor, services and support groups.
For health tips and advice, visit smh.com/blog
Check out our podcast for a healthy dose of information from experts you can trust. Visit smh.com/podcast, or download on your favorite streaming app
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1515 S. Osprey Ave., Suite B4
A s our centennial year unfolds in 2025, SMH proudly pays tribute to Sarasota’s early founders, whose pioneering spirit created Sarasota County’s first modern hospital, and to the people of our community, whose unwavering support through the decades continues to inspire Sarasota Memorial today.
Browse our new ebook, A Century of Caring, upload a special photo to our digital timeline and learn about SMH’s storied history in fun and interactive ways at smh.com/100.