Sarasota Memorial opens new urgent care center near in South Venice
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System opened a new urgent care center Monday at 8431 Pointe Loop Drive, near the intersection of U.S. 41 and Jacaranda Boulevard.
It is the seventh urgent care center operated by Sarasota Memorial.
It replaces a Gulf Coast Medical Group family practice that shut down abruptly in 2022 with the closure of ShorePoint Health-Venice.
The new urgent care center is roughly five miles south of the SMH urgent care center on the Venice Bypass and about five miles north of a medical campus SMH is planning in Wellen Park.
“Our urgent care centers fill an important gap by providing immediate care for conditions that can’t wait until the next day or until their next doctor’s appointment, but do not warrant a trip to an emergency room," Dr. Reuben Holland, medical director of the Sarasota Memorial’s Emergency Care and Urgent Care Centers, said in a prepared statement. “We stitch up a lot of lacerations, set broken bones and care for many routine ailments, like the common cold, flu, sore throat, chest congestion, cough, ear and sinus infections and urinary infections.”
The new medical facilities, along with the new hospital planned at the Sumter Boulevard exit off of Interstate 75 are part of a multi-year, multi-million-dollar expansion plan approved by the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board to fill the gaps caused by ShorePoint’s closure and address pressing health needs in the growing south county region.
Community Health Systems Inc., the parent company for ShorePoint Health closed its 312-bed hospital in Venice several months after Sarasota Memorial opened its new hospital campus in Venice.
The urgent care center is not an ER. For true emergency medical attention call 911 or visit an emergency room.
Like Sarasota Memorial’s six other urgent care centers, the south Venice location is open seven days a week, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and staffed by Sarasota Memorial’s board-certified emergency and family medicine physicians.
The phone number at the center is 941-261-6800.
The team provides adults and children older than 3 months of age with high-quality care for a variety of non-emergent injuries and illnesses.
Infants younger than months should be seen by their pediatrician for routine or urgent care.
In addition to urgent care, the center provides flu shots and other vaccinations and school and executive physicals and testing for COVID-19, though COVID vaccinations and childhood immunizations are not available at the center.
All of Sarasota Memorial’s urgent care centers also offer walk-in laboratory and X-ray services for those receiving care at the center as well as others with referrals from a personal physician.
The center accepts most insurance plans and provides discounts for self-pay patients.
No appointments are necessary. Most patients are seen within 30 minutes or less. People may also use the health system’s Save Your Spot app to help minimize wait times. Visit https://smhurgentcare.com for more information.
Related: HCA Florida Englewood Hospital eyes expansion into North Port
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Memorial Health Care System opens urgent care in South Venice
