Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) is an 839-bed health care facility located in

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

. The hospital was founded in 1925, and is a

level II trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergen ...

History

Early years

Local residents started to raise funds for the hospital in 1921. Sarasota Hospital opened on November 2, 1925, with a capacity of 32 beds and simple canvas tents. In 1927, the facility was turned over to the city of

, and was renamed Sarasota

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Hospital. By the 1930s, the hospital had a capacity of 100 beds, an ambulance garage, nurses' home, and wing for patient overflow. The hospital continued to expand in the 1940s, with a surgical suite, kitchen and dining room, and an air-conditioned unit. The hospital was renamed in 1954 to its current name in honor of the veterans from

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Christine Chubbuck

On the morning of July 15, 1974, American news reporter,

Christine Chubbuck Christine "Chris" Chubbuck (August 24, 1944 – July 15, 1974) was an American television news reporter who worked for stations WTOG and WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida. She was the first person to die by suicide on a live television broadcas ...

, committed suicide with a

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that has at least one gun barrel, barrel and uses a revolving cylinder (firearms), cylinder containing multiple chamber (firearms), chambers (each holding a single ...

on live television and was rushed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead 14 hours later. Before her suicide, she would also go to the hospital and entertain sick children with puppets on some occasions.

Graduate medical education

Sarasota Memorial Hospital operates internal medicine and

emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the Medical specialty, medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or Injury, injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuous ...

residency training programs, which are both affiliated with

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Notable staff

* Eric Minkin (born 1950), American-Israeli registered nurse; formerly professional basketball player

References

Hospitals in Florida Buildings and structures in Sarasota, Florida Hospital buildings completed in 1925 {{authority control 1925 establishments in Florida