Artist’s rendering of the new-look South Bay Hospital.
A new 30,900-square-foot patient tower and the renovation and refurbishing of public areas and existing patient-care units will all be part of a new $30-million project at South Bay Hospital.
“This is a project we have been working on for over five years,” said Sharon Roush, South Bay’s CEO. “The community has really grown during that time, so this will allow us to expand to meet the needs of the community well into the future.”
With South County continuing to grow, Roush said South Bay’s expansion will help serve that burgeoning population. “Our commitment,” she said, “is to try to continue to provide new services and additional beds to support that growth.”
More than 100 supporters, hospital workers and volunteers turned out for the project’s official groundbreaking June 4 at the hospital, 4016 Sun City Center Blvd.
Among those who participated in the ground-breaking ceremony were; Robert Betzu, MD, Chief of Staff, South Bay Hospital; Al Higginbotham, Hillsborough County Commissioner District 7; Doug Roberts, legislative aide to Senator Tom Lee; Mary LaFollette, district executive secretary to Representative Jake Raburn; Color Guard Rolling Thunder Florida Chapter 11, Tampa; Jim Smeaton, Realtor with Charles Rutenberg Realty; and Dr. Charles D. Rentz of United Methodist Church of Sun City Center. Kevin Brady photo.
The new patient tower will feature all-private rooms and include a 14-bed Progressive Care service and 12 additional intensive-care beds on the second floor. It will increase the hospital’s bed total to 138 and has been designed to accommodate future expansion of two floors for an additional 48 beds.
The improvements will be well-received, said Sam Sudman, vice president of the Sun City Center Community Association.
“You have a community of roughly 22,000 senior citizens,” he said, “and there’s nothing more important to the peace of mind than knowing that when you move into a community like this that you have a volunteer Emergency Squad that is staffed 24/7 but more important it’s just knowing that when you are in your retirement years that you are only minutes away from getting the care you might need, and none of us really know when that need is going to arise.”
The renovation and refurbishing components include a new hospital entrance, an enhanced main lobby and gift shop, dining expansion, new education classrooms and a chapel. Patient-care units will be renovated to reflect the new tower design elements.
“This latest expansion complements the new cardiovascular and CT services added last year and supports our ongoing efforts to be a leader in cutting-edge, caring and collaborative health care,” Roush said.
Beyond the new services and patient tower, Roush pointed to recognition of the hospital for excellence as one thing of which she is particularly proud.
“We have been recognized for four consecutive years as a top performer by the Joint Commission on Key Quality Measures, and that is something only 4 percent of hospitals across the United States have achieved,” Roush said. “As CEO of a hospital, our commitment to quality is No. 1; so that to me really says a lot.”
An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 20,500 health-care organizations and programs in the U.S.
“This is a project that is long overdue,” said Peter Marmerstein, president of HCA West Florida. “We have been planning and replanning this, and now we are finally at the point where we are beyond planning. It’s funded and ready to start and I could not be more excited.”
With South Bay operating at or above capacity each year, particularly during the influx of seasonal residents, there has been a need to “modernize the creature comforts, and the intensive-care units are overdue, and we are delighted to be able to offer that,” said Marmerstein, who oversees 16 Hospital Corporation of America hospitals from Port Charlotte to Inverness. “This is the fastest-growing area in my division. The growth has been staggering,” he said. HCA operates 166 hospitals, 46 in Florida.
South Bay Hospital is a 112-bed, acute-care hospital serving Sun City Center, Ruskin, Wimauma, Riverview, Apollo Beach, Gibsonton and the surrounding areas. The hospital offers a range of services, including general and vascular surgery, urology, cardiology, orthopedic and spine surgery.
For more information about South Bay Hospital, call 813-634-0172 or visit SouthBayHospital.com.
