Staff receives grant for PPE
A grant from the Pasco Aging Network (PAN) has enabled the team at Gulfside Hospice to provide additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for staff on the frontlines caring for patients.
The $750 grant was awarded to the nonprofit through PAN’s Annual Grant Program, which awards funds to organizations or projects that are focused on the needs or services for senior citizens in Pasco County.
At Gulfside Hospice, the funds were used to purchase PPE, including gloves, thermometers and disposable stethoscopes, in an effort to continue protecting its nursing staff during the current pandemic.
“Our team is on the frontlines caring for the most vulnerable during this pandemic,” said Tara Still, Fundraising Communications coordinator for Gulfside, in a news release.
“These funds will go a long way in purchasing much needed supplies to help protect them while they are bravely caring for patients,” Still said.
Gulfside Hospice, a division of Gulfside Healthcare Services, has been caring for patients and families in Pasco County for more than 30 years. The nonprofit offers patient care for those facing life-limiting illness, in addition to caregiver support and bereavement services, at no charge.
For information about Gulfside Hospice or to make a donation, visit Gulfside.org, or call the Philanthropy Department at (727) 845-5707.
Giving a ‘boost’ to patients in need
For years, the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club has provided comfort pillows for post-surgical patients at AdventHealth hospitals. Club member Barbara Booth recently delivered 40 pillows to Anthony Cappellini, director of volunteer services at AdventHealth North. Because the entire club cannot gather during the COVID-19 pandemic, Booth stuffed and finished the pillows herself, which were sewn by members Susan Corcoran, Barbara Booth and club booster husband Lonnie Lykins. For information about the woman’s club, visit GFWCLutzLandOLakesWomansClub.org.
BayCare resumes surgeries
BayCare Health System has resumed all non-urgent surgeries and procedures as of Aug. 10, at its six acute care hospitals in Hillsborough County, according to a BayCare news release.
The change comes roughly five weeks after BayCare voluntarily curtailed inpatient, non-urgent surgeries to provide more hospital bed capacity in the community for COVID-19 patients. BayCare is now able to resume those services after working to increase its staffing resources and after seeing a downward trend in COVID-related hospital stays in recent weeks.
The change impacts these hospitals: St. Joseph’s, St. Joseph’s Children’s and St. Joseph’s Women’s in Tampa; St. Joseph’s-North in Lutz; St. Joseph’s-South in Riverview; and, South Florida Baptist in Plant City.
BayCare’s acute hospitals in Pinellas, Polk and Pasco counties resumed all non-urgent surgeries and procedures on Aug. 3.
BayCare began voluntarily pausing some non-urgent surgeries at its acute care hospitals in early July, to ensure the community had adequate hospital beds to address the second peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitals continued surgeries for all life-threatening situations. The hospitals also continued non-urgent surgeries that did not require overnight recovery in the hospital.
Donor awareness
During the month of August, LifeLink of Florida will celebrate National Minority Donor Awareness Month (NMDAM) to bring heightened awareness to organ and tissue donation, and transplantation in minority communities.
Minorities often experience higher rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, which can contribute to organ failure, especially kidney failure. African Americans are three times more likely than white Americans to suffer from kidney failure, and Hispanics are 1.5 times more likely than non-Hispanics to have kidney failure.
During NMDAM, LifeLink of Florida will highlight the need for more organ, eye and tissue donors within multicultural communities, provide donation education, encourage donor registration, and promote healthy living and disease prevention to decrease the need for transplantation.
Individuals interested in celebrating this month are encouraged to follow LifeLink’s social media on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to participate in the education programs offered. Anyone can be a potential donor, regardless of age or medical history; a single donor can save or improve the lives of up to 75 people.
LifeLink encourages the public to register their donation decision at DonateLifeFlorida.org, or when obtaining or renewing a driver license.
Lighthouse is August charity
Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano’s five offices will be collecting donations in August for the Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired & Blind. The mission of the Lighthouse is to educate, empower and employ people who are visually impaired and blind.
The organization provides early intervention services for blind babies, programs for children, a teen school-to-work transition program, independent living skills training for adults and seniors, and other services to help people become as self-sufficient as possible.
Services are provided at no cost to program participants and all donations received will help provide more services to more people.
“The Lighthouse has a long history of serving visually impaired individuals in Pasco County,” said Fasano, in a news release.
“It is estimated that over a half million Floridians are sight impaired, with over 27,000 living within the Lighthouse’s service area….I encourage our community to support the Lighthouse either through making a cash donation or perhaps purchasing a specialty license tag, which will help the Lighthouse for years to come,” Fasano added.
Cash donations can be made at any of the five tax collector locations in Pasco County, and checks will be accepted by mail, too.
Individuals interested in switching their current tag for “A State of Vision” specialty tag may do so at any of the same locations.
For information about the tax collector’s charitable giving program, call Assistant Tax Collector Greg Giordano at (727) 847-8179, or visit PascoTaxes.com.
For more information about services provided at the Lighthouse, call Patricia Porter at (813) 713-2492.
Study volunteers needed
Researchers at the University of South Florida Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute are looking for participants age 50 and older with no memory loss to take part in an Alzheimer Prevention Trials (APT) Webstudy.
APT is a first-of-its-kind online study that detects if people experience memory loss over time and need early intervention, and matches them with the right Alzheimer’s study, as quickly as possible.
Twenty percent of Floridians, more than 4.3 million people, are 65 and older, making Florida one of the ‘grayest states’ in the nation. Consequently, it has one of the largest populations of people with Alzheimer’s disease — a projected 580,000. This number is expected to skyrocket by 24 percent to 720,000 people in the next five years, according to Message Partners PR news release.
Volunteers take no-cost memory tests online every three months to monitor memory changes over time. If changes are observed, volunteers may be invited to an in-person evaluation to determine eligibility for additional Alzheimer’s studies.
To learn more and enroll, visit APTWebstudy.org.
