SARASOTA, Fla. (July 24, 2025) – The American Heart Association recognized both Sarasota Memorial hospital campuses this month as role models for delivering lifesaving stroke and heart care.
Part of AHA’s 2025 quality review, SMH-Sarasota and SMH-Venice received multiple “Get with the Guidelines” awards recognizing the hospital teams for advanced treatments, safety protocols and evidence-based practices that promote the best outcomes for stroke patients and those suffering cardiac arrest in the hospital.
James Fiorica, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, credits the hospitals’ skilled clinicians and their unwavering focus on research-based care for SMH’s superior performance and patient outcomes.
“Clinical expertise, best practices and patient preference are at the heart of every decision we make,” Dr. Fiorica said. “Asking critical questions and applying the latest advances in medical science ensures our patients receive the best possible care.”
In this year’s study, SMH’s Sarasota and Venice campuses received AHA’s highest honor for stroke care and multiple awards for emergency heart care.
Stroke Gold Plus Award
The Stroke Gold Plus – Honor Roll Elite Plus designation recognizes the SMH-Sarasota and SMH-Venice campuses for demonstrating superior performance over multiple years, often exceeding AHA standards for accurate diagnosis, rapid response, evidence-based treatment and responsible follow-up care, education and rehabilitation for stroke patients.
In addition to the Stroke Gold Plus designation, AHA gave SMH-Sarasota two supplemental awards for providing additional layers of specialized care for stroke patients:
- The Stroke Gold Plus – Advanced Therapy award recognizes the team’s ability to deliver advanced interventions for applicable stroke patients.
- The Stroke Gold Plus – Diabetes Honor Roll reflects additional safety measures the hospital takes to identify and manage potential complications of stroke patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Life-Saving Resuscitation Awards
The AHA’s Gold Resuscitation Award recognizes both Sarasota Memorial campuses for having expert teams, technologies and protocols in place to deliver immediate, life-saving resuscitation care to patients experiencing cardiac arrest in the hospital. The hospitals also received supplemental Target CPR and Survival awards reflecting the hospital’s implementation of best practices and continual focus on developing next generation, evidence-based practice in resuscitation science.
AHA plans to recognize Sarasota Memorial July 29 in U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Hospitals” edition.
About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a regional medical center offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, with 2,500 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 2 million patient visits a year across its network of care. Sarasota County’s largest employer, the community-owned health system includes two full-service hospitals in Sarasota and Venice, freestanding ERs in North Port and Lakewood Ranch, a rehabilitation hospital, behavioral health hospital, skilled nursing facility and comprehensive network of outpatient centers, urgent care clinics and physician practices. Founded in 1925, SMH is celebrating its 100-year anniversary in 2025 and encouraging community members to visit smh.com/100 throughout the year for centennial events and updates.