New ER expected to serve as many as 150 patients per day
On Jan. 7, the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System opened a new Emergency Room (ER) at 7250 University Parkway in Lakewood Ranch, the system’s staff announced, noting the “rapidly growing communities in Lakewood Ranch and northeast Sarasota County.”
The facility “is expected to serve as many as 150 patients a day,” a news release says.
“The 21-room, 15,000-square-foot freestanding ER facility is centrally located about 3 miles east of I-75 near Lorraine Road,” the release points out. It is Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s “fourth emergency care center and second freestanding emergency facility not attached to a hospital campus,” the release says.
“In addition to its two hospital-based ERs” — on the Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) campus in Sarasota and at SMH-Venice — “SMH also provides 24/7 care at a freestanding ER it opened in North Port more than 10 years ago,” the release notes.
“Like all of Sarasota Memorial’s emergency care centers, the ER at Lakewood Ranch will be staffed 24/7 by experienced, board-certified emergency medicine physicians, emergency care nurses, respiratory therapists and other highly trained clinicians,” the release points out.
“In emergency situations, proximity and immediate access to high-quality emergency care is critical,” said Dr. Reuben Holland, medical director of Sarasota Memorial’s emergency care services, in the release. SMH’s opening of more freestanding ERs “in densely populated areas [enables] many more people [to] receive emergency care in their own neighborhoods,” he explained in the release. “This is not just more convenient for patients. It also strengthens clinical outcomes and reduces congestion and wait-times at hospital-based ERs.”
The release notes, “The ER at Lakewood Ranch will be fully equipped with walk-in and ambulance entrances, 21 treatment rooms, including two triage bays, and resuscitation and specialty rooms for pediatric, behavioral health and other patients requiring advanced equipment and care. The team is equipped to manage most medical emergencies with the ability to seamlessly transfer patients to SMH’s trauma center if surgical or additional care is needed.”
Further, the release says, “The facility has five fast-track bays, a full-service laboratory,” and X-ray and ultrasound services, plus “CT and MRI scanners for more advanced imaging studies.”
Moreover, the release points out, “The on-site diagnostic services also are available for community members, with or without an appointment, for those who want to use the facility for outpatient lab work or imaging scans ordered by their care provider.”
More information about Sarasota Memorial’s emergency care services are available at this link, the release adds: smh.com/ER.