Sarasota Memorial Hospital - History & Overview

History & Overview

The hospital – first named Sarasota Hospital – was the community’s first modern hospital. It opened its doors on November 2, 1925, replacing a temporary "tent hospital" and six-bed facility that had been used to treat patients.

Local residents, mostly women, launched a year-long campaign to raise the $40,000 needed to build the 32-bed facility.

Today, that modest 32-bed facility run by the county's welfare association has grown into the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, a regional referral center with an 806-bed hospital and seven outpatient facilities, including two walk-in urgent care centers, long- and short-term skilled nursing center, home health services, laboratory and imaging centers and specialty campuses stretching beyond the county lines.