City and county officials were on hand to usher in the new Courtyard Tower at Sarasota Memorial Hospital during its grand opening in early September. The $250 million improvement project took more than a decade in planning and construction. It replaces about 220 beds, adding more private rooms, a landscaped courtyard and advanced equipment and technology. The nine- story facility includes a two-story lobby, patient reception, registration and pre-admission testing area; a mother-baby floor currently features 30 private rooms with sofa beds and private showers. The orthopedic floor contains technological bells and whistles to help ensure patients’ individual recovery plans of care. In early October, two cardiac floors are slated to open, and in November a labor and delivery floor with suites, as well as a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit comprising an entire floor, will be completed.