SARASOTA - Sarasota Memorial Hospital is going ahead with its own economic stimulus project: a $186 million renovation that will make future hospital visits a lot easier for patients and their caregivers and help create some much-needed jobs, too.
The hospital will soon have a very different look. The old energy center and orthopedic building near U.S. 41 will be torn down, along with the northeast tower. In it's place: a 9-story courtyard tower that will be built with the patient in mind. In fact, it was designed using input from nurses.
"One thing they felt was important was a window...a viewing area so they could have a view of the outside. So all of our rooms, both private and semi-private, have a window for each patient," says Chief Nursing Officer Jan Mauck.
And there will be a lot more private rooms...70% in the new bed tower. Right now, only 30% of the hospital's rooms are private.
Each room will also have a nurse's station, which will include a computer to document patient care and a locked medication cabinet. A sink will be in each room as well, right next to the door, "so that when you enter the room, you can wash your hands before you take care of a patient. And then you can wash your hands before you leave the room. And this is not only important for caregivers, but family members who come into the hospital."
The new facility will include the orthopedic, surgical, and cardiac units, as well as an expanded and improved neo-natal intensive care, and labor and delivery unit. "The baby will be right here as long as there's no complications. Mom and baby will be together the entire stay at the hospital," says Labor and Delivery manager Jane Demauro.
And one nice feature in the rooms is a remote-controlled directional light that's mounted in the ceiling. It can put a beam of bright light right where the doctor needs it.
Construction on the new bed tower will begin in the fall. It will replace more than 220 beds from the older parts of the hospital, and is scheduled to be ready for patients by 2013.
