SMH Breaks Ground on Behavioral Health Pavilion

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System broke ground on its new Cornell Family Behavioral Health Pavilion this week, which will expand and centralize care for people with mental and behavioral health challenges. The ceremony included a brief presentation and remarks from health system leaders and Target Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, who with his wife Martha donated $10 million to support the pavilion’s comprehensive approach to care.

When complete in the fall of 2023, the $71 million Cornell Family Behavioral Health Pavilion will replace Sarasota Memorial’s aging 1970s-era Bayside Center for Behavioral Health with a modern facility that enhances, expands and centralizes care for people affected by mental and behavioral health challenges. The three-story, 95,000-square-foot facility will include two upper floors with 82 patient rooms in four different inpatient units dedicated to specific populations (geriatric unit, child and adolescent unit, adult unit and acute care unit). The first floor will house a comprehensive array of outpatient behavioral health programs and counseling services, including a 24-hour assessment center, intensive outpatient programs for youth and adults, a partial hospitalization program for adults, individual and group counseling.

Recent studies show that 1 in 5 people suffer from mental illness; more than 18 percent of adults live with anxiety disorders, and about 10 percent of the population suffers from a substance use disorder; approximately 1 in every 8 emergency department visits in the U.S. is related to a mental disorder and/or substance use issue; suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., and the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 10-24; and Florida is among the states with the highest prevalence of mental illness, and the need for services has increased significantly during the pandemic.