Staff ‘cared for, supported and sheltered more than 4,000 people’ during storm
Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) facilities in Sarasota and Venice — as well as the freestanding Emergency Room in North Port — fared well during Hurricane Milton’s passage through Sarasota County, “despite heavy winds, rain and surges nearby,” the health care system reported in a statement that it issued midafternoon on Oct. 10.
“Both hospitals are on high ground — our Sarasota campus at 19 feet and our Venice campus at 16.5 feet,” the statement noted.
All three facilities “stayed busy before, during and after the storm,” it added. “We had an influx of patients as the storm headed our way and hospitals around us began closing and evacuating patients.”
“We couldn’t be prouder of our team,” David Verinder, CEO of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, said in the statement. “They left their homes and many left their families to be here for our patients and community during one of the most alarming hurricanes approaching the Suncoast,” he continued. “They reported for duty on Tuesday evening [Oct. 8] and helped provide care and support for more than 1,000 patients and medical evacuees. And today, they continued to care for those who were injured or who developed serious medical conditions during the storm,” he added.
“SMH’s Relief team (Team B) began arriving throughout the day [on Oct. 10], as road conditions allowed, to relieve the Response team (Team A),” the statement noted.
“All in all, SMH estimates its staff cared for, supported and sheltered more than 4,000 people at its 2 hospitals and freestanding ER, including patients, medically dependent people assigned by the county, patients evacuated from surrounding hospitals, physicians, staff and some of their children and pets (dogs, cats and one bunny that was an emotional support buddy for a nervous dog),” the statement continued. “SMH delivered 7 babies during the storm.”
As of that time on Oct. 10, the statement pointed out, SMH was opening its seven urgent care centers and its network of outpatient diagnostic lab/imaging centers and physician offices, as electricity, water and services became available.
“Please check smh.com for the latest updates,” the statement added.