Hospital drives into expansion

South Bay Hospital CEO Sharon Roush's to-do list for a $30 million expansion at the facility was long — and she couldn't forget space for the golf carts.

Not because PGA stars are regulars at the 138-bed south Hillsborough County hospital, owned by HCA. The spaces marked for golf carts in the parking lot are for residents of nearby Sun City Center, a retirement community where golf carts are a major mode of transportation. “Now they can drive right up,” Roush tells Coffee Talk.

The $30 million project, adds Roush, not only fits that need but caters to the hospital's core patient population, where the average age is 75-85 years old. In addition to Sun City Center, the hospital sees patients from Riverview, Apollo Beach, Ruskin and as far south as Ellenton, a fast growing area in north Manatee County. The hospital's core population is expected to gain at least 500,000 people over the net decade, says Roush. The expansion, Roush adds, “will allow us to meet the growing and changing demographics of this community.”

The expansion centers on a new 30,900-square-foot patient tower that officially opened Dec. 2. The tower has a 14-bed progressive care unit, 12 additional intensive care beds and private rooms. The project, overall, included a new hospital entrance, renovated gift shop and lobby and expanded cafe. It also included more parking spaces — for cars and trucks.