VENICE — Additional beds will be coming online at Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Venice in less than two months.
The top three levels of the new Northeast Tower will open April 1, Public Relations Director Kim Savage said via email.
Level 3 will house mechanical equipment but the fourth and fifth levels will each have 34 new patient rooms, bringing the facility’s total to 178.
It opened in November 2021 with 110 beds and was almost immediately full, with plans to expand to meet demand. The closure of ShorePoint Health Venice the following September aggravated the crowding problem.
The rooms on the fourth level will be a dedicated unit for cardiac patients, Savage said, while those on the fifth level will constitute a dedicated orthopedic unit.
Rooms in the Southwest Tower currently used for cardiac and orthopedic patients will be used for general medical/surgical patients, with a dedicated unit for neurology patients, she said.
Another 34 rooms will be added to the facility’s inventory in the fall, when a dedicated unit for surgical oncology patients opens on Level 2 of the Northeast Tower, nearly doubling the original capacity at 212 rooms.