St. Luke’s welcomes Glass
Dr. Paul Glass has joined St. Luke’s Cataract & Laser Institute as an optometrist.
He will work in conjunction with many St. Luke’s specialties, including cataract, retina, and glaucoma.
Glass previously led an optometry practice at Sam’s Club in Wesley Chapel. He attended the University of Miami before transferring on an accelerated path to Nova Southeastern University’s College of Optometry.
Glass will work out of St. Luke’s Tarpon Springs, Tampa and St. Petersburg offices.
For more information, call (800) 282-9905, or visit StLukesEye.com.
New name for Gulfside Hospice
Gulfside Hospice now has a new name: Gulfside Hospice & Pasco Palliative Care.
The new name, according to a release, highlights care across the spectrum for patients facing both end-of-life and chronic illness. Gulfside Hospice provides care to Pasco County residents facing a terminal illness with six months or less to live. Pasco Palliative Care patients can receive care at any stage of a chronic sickness, and can continue seeking curative treatment for their illness.
Gulfside Hospice was initially licensed in 1989, and serves more than 375 patients daily. The company employs 250 professionals, and has more than 550 volunteers.
For more information, call (800) 561-4883, or visit GHPPC.org.
Campaign starts for Bayfront Health
Bayfront Health Dade City has launched a multi-media campaign to help spread the word of not only the hospital’s new name, but also what it describes as multiple benefits of having access to its Bayfront Health network.
That network is comprised of seven hospitals and more than 6,000 professionals serving the central Gulf Coast.
The campaign has already launched in January with billboards, and will move into print, radio and television advertising by the middle of February.
“This network gives us the ability to offer a broader range of expertise and services to the community we serve, and it creates tremendous opportunities for our dedicated staff and physicians,” said Shauna McKinnon, chief executive of Bayfront Health Dade City, in a release.
Bayfront Health St. Petersburg will be the flagship hospital for the new network, with other facilities located in Brooksville, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Spring Hill and Venice.
Retail jobs grow by 5.5 percent
Florida retailers added 55,000 jobs between December 2012 and last December — an annual growth rate of 5.5 percent, according to the January release of employment numbers from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
From that, retail trade accounted for nearly a third of the 192,900 jobs created in Florida in 2013, and topped the statewide job growth rate of 2.6 percent, according to the Florida Retail Federation.
The growth of retail in Florida has fueled an increase in sales tax collections, which account for approximately $21 billion of the state budget, the group added.
Overall, the greater Tampa Bay area led all Florida metropolitan areas in over-the-year job growth, according to Gov. Rick Scott’s office, gaining 35,400 new jobs. Unemployment during that period also dropped from 7.9 percent in December 2012 to 5.9 percent last December.
The biggest gains in the area came in trade, transportation and utilities with 9,500 jobs. Close behind was education and health services with 8,500 jobs, followed by professional and business services with 7,900 jobs.
More than 5,700 construction jobs were created compared to the year before, while financial activities added 4,000 jobs.
In December, Florida’s 24 regional workforce boards reported more than 40,800 Floridians were placed in jobs. This represents anyone who receives employment and training assistance through a One-Stop Career Center, and finds a job within 180 days. Florida requires those receiving unemployment benefits to find assistance through a One-Stop Career Center.
For the state as a whole, unemployment dipped from 6.4 percent in November to 6.2 percent in December. Florida has remained below the national unemployment rate average since last April.
