Athlete of the week
Taylor Willis commits to Flagler College
Zephyrhills High volleyball player Taylor Willis signed her letter of intent April 14 to play at Flagler College. She plans to study sports management and wants to be an agent for professional athletes. Willis is seen with her parents, James Willis and Jane McCraw.
The 6-foot-2 middle blocker helped Zephyrhills finish 18-6 and reach the regional tournaments as the Class 4A, District 8 runner up. She led the team last season with 100 blocks and 250 kills. The middle hitter and co-captain has been a starter for the Bulldogs the last three years.
“If I had a team full of Taylor Willises we’d win the state championship each year,” said Zephyrhills volleyball coach Dan Muir. “She’s a great player and leader.”
Laura Ackart commits to Southeastern University
Gaither High volleyball player Laura Ackart signed her letter of intent April 9 to play at Southeastern University.
The outside hitter and co-captain led the Cowboys her senior season with 231 kills and 44 aces while adding 161 digs. Her efforts helped Gaither win its first district volleyball championship since 2003.
Ackart will be able to help Southeastern with both its volleyball program and its academic standards. She is also Gaither’s salutatorian and has a 6.6 weighted grade point average. She will study elementary education while at Southeastern.
Is ObamaCare Right For You? Talk To Your Doctor. I Did.
Swallow it down, what a jagged little pill
It feels so good, swimming in your stomach
Wait until the dust settles.
You Learn – Alanis Morisette
By Randall Grantham
Community Columnist
Two things you learn in civilized society are that you never discuss religion or politics in mixed company. Everyone has an opinion just like the saying goes, but you don’t necessarily want to stir up an argument with the other end of that saying at a social setting.
I’ve learned that writing about politics or religion, especially Catholicism, can get people quite agitated. Although the time could not be riper for writing about the struggles the Catholic church is having internationally, I will not touch the subject.
I did talk politics with my doctor, who just happens to be a Catholic. That seems to be as good a way as any to lead into this column about politics, specifically, the Health Care Bill or, for those of you playing at home, ObamaCare.
I don’t understand what all’s in there. I don’t think anybody does. Still, something had to give in our system. We are the only country that relies so heavily on for-profit companies to provide the bulk of our health care programs and it was headed for the tipping point.
I’m not talking about doctors making a profit. They do and they should. I’m talking about the dreaded “middle man,” the insurance companies that scrape the cream off the top and leave many without affordable care or, in some instances, any care.
My doctor, who is also a loyal reader, brought up the subject the other day during my yearly visit. He noted that I hadn’t put in my two cents on the subject and wondered what I thought.
I responded by telling him about a mailer I just received from a local attorney who is running for the State House. He wanted me to sign a petition saying that, constitutionally, the matter is for the states to resolve and that we should support State Attorney General McCollum’s suit against the Federal Government challenging the new law. I had considered writing a letter to said attorney explaining why I would not be sending the signed petition in.
As a sole practitioner, for the past couple decades I’ve gotten my health insurance through my wife’s employer’s group plan. She’s been out-of-work for going on a year now and the COBRA extension that is now costing me over $650 a month will expire this year.
So I started shopping around for health insurance for the two of us: a non-smoking 50 plus male, four years post op from a total hip replacement who takes statins to maintain good cholesterol numbers and a less-than 50 year old woman who, without revealing any confidences, has a few prescriptions herself.
Sure, I’m a big-time lawyer. I can pay some high premiums you might say, although you’d be wrong. Well, so far, it’s not a matter of price. It’s “I’m sorry Mr. Grantham, we won’t insure you for any price!”
What?
So I’m thinking this “can’t refuse coverage for pre-existing conditions” may be a good thing.
“Well, this new government program will ration our right to medical care” some say. Grandma’s not “shovel ready.” My doctor pointed out to me that insurance companies have been “rationing” care for years. We’ve just gotten good at working around it.
“My patient needs an MRI for excessive headaches.” Denied, says the insurance company, “We only authorize MRI’s if one pupil is more dilated than the other.”
Come here Timmy. Let the nice doctor look at your eyes. “Well, what do you know? One pupil is larger than the other.” MRI approved.
So my lawyer friend will not be taking my petition to Tallahassee, if he gets elected. Besides, when you look at it, the new law actually leaves a lot up to the states. In an attempt to provide more affordable and accessible coverage to individuals and small businesses, it creates state-based insurance exchanges. Now the states may beef up their oversight of the insurance market.
The Federal Government leaving these decisions up to the individual states? Well, that sounds positively Marxist! Or is it Fascist? I can’t keep up, but that hopey-changey thing might just work out for us after all.
Randall C. Grantham is a lifelong resident of Lutz who practices law from his offices on Dale Mabry Highway. He can be reached at . Copyright 2010 RCG
8 weeks to a better beach body
By Samantha Taylor
Pure Health Studios
Week 2 – Eat Every 3 Hours
You have about seven weeks before summer to get working on a better beach body. Last week I talked about portion control and its positive effect on weight loss. This week’s tip is directly related to last week’s lesson.
If you eat smaller portions you will want to eat more often because you aren’t consuming as many calories in a meal. To have a lean body that is a fat-burning machine, you need to eat every three hours as a way of life.
Now don’t freak out if you only eat once a day. Eating frequently is a habit that can take some time to develop. It also takes more planning because if you don’t have snacks planned, then you may be stuck with food that you should not eat.
I have helped almost 1,000 people lose weight and my experience is that the people who only eat once or twice a day are the ones who always struggle the most with their weight. When you go long periods of time without food on a regular basis, your body thinks food is not plentiful fat. Your body literally thinks you are starving or hibernating because you are not eating enough food. And that perpetuates the cycle of your body storing fat in case you don’t get food again.
Eating only once or twice a day can be a tough habit to break, but it’s a critical part of achieving your better beach body for life. People tell me, “Well I am not hungry.” That is a problem! If you are not experiencing a natural sensation of feeling hungry every three hours or so, that tells me your body is not functioning with a high metabolism. You need to retrain your body to take in smaller amounts of food more frequently and you will start to see the weight fall off.
You know those skinny people who eat all the time? That is one reason why they are skinny —because they have literally programmed their body to not hold onto their fat because they keep giving their body nutrition and calories all day long.
Of course, eating healthy foods is an important part of their success. If you eat pizza, ice cream and fried food every three hours, that is not going to help you lose weight because those are high calorie foods. The way to lose weight and keep it off for life is to feed your body regularly so it’s not in a state of deprivation. I probably eat about six to eight times a day, including meals and snacks.
I had a client who lost 75 pounds eating every three hours while her friends were doing the starvation diets of 500 calories. She still eats every three hours and has kept the weight off for three years while her friends have gained all their weight back.
This works, trust me. Visit my blog for more weight loss tips at www.thisisfit.com. At this site you can enter a loss contest to win a Mini Spa Package from Cameo Salon & Spa in Lutz. Whoever loses the most percentage of weight over the next seven weeks will win.
Quick Travel Snacks
- Kashi TLC Crackers or a whole grain pita with Hummus
- Kellogg’s All Bran Fiber crackers with a few slices of cheese (no more than 10 grams of fat)
- Fruit (½ cup strawberries or ½ cup green grapes or an apple)
- 1/2 banana with 1 T Smucker’s All Natural Peanut Butter and Polamer All Natural Jelly on one slice whole grain bread
- Kashi Autumn Wheat cereal (this cereal is great dry, carry a cup in a sandwich baggie)
- EAS Myoplex protein shake, LITE – Chocolate Fudge (these are premixed and really convenient when you are in a hurry.
- Can of green beans with a tsp. of olive oil and salt and pepper (fresh veggies are better but sometimes you don’t have the time)
- ½ cup of sliced zucchini and squash dipped in 1 T of low fat ranch dressing
- Diced tomato and cucumber salad with Italian dressing
Samantha Taylor is owner of Pure Health Studios in Lutz. She is a nutrition and health expert, certified personal trainer and professional speaker. For more information about her weight loss program, go to purehalthstudios.com or call (813) 909-4939.
Loch Devon residents’ concerns move park entrance
Oscar Cooler Sports Complex expansion nears completion
By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
Residents of Loch Devon Estates in Lutz seem to be in favor of the Oscar Cooler Sports Complex’s expansion as long as the entrance remains on the north side of the park.
“If they have a northern entrance to the parking I am very much ok with that,” said Loch Devon resident Tracy Gaschler. “…I am very exited about having the new park in the neighborhood and having a safe place for kids to come and play. My family can’t wait until it’s finally finished.”
However, a year ago residents of the neighborhood off W. Lutz-Lake Fern Road had concerns about the expansion. The problem stemmed from where Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department originally planned the entrance to the new parking lot. The new entrance originally was directly across from the neighborhood’s only entry point.
“The county first planned to widen Lutz-Lake Fern to three lanes from two by adding a right-turn lane into the new parking lot,” said Mark Saunders, president of the Loch Devon Homeowners’ Association. “They also had a cement divider that would force you to turn into the park or into our neighborhood. People would have to do a U-turn in our neighborhood to keep going on Lutz-Lake Fern.”
Loch Devon Drive is a dead-end road with 23 homes and about 100 residents. Sunders has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years.
Mark Thornton, the department’s president, eventually agreed to redesign the park, which has been set for expansion for six years. The entrance was moved from the eastern to the northern end of the complex. The parking lot will remain directly across from Loch Devon’s entrance.
“It cost us about $80,000 more to design the entrance twice, but in the end it was extremely important to the people in Loch Devon that we move it,” Thornton said. “Our goal was to maximize the property. We had to integrate the design to use the most land we could, but we still want to be good neighbors.”
There will be a bike and pedestrian entrance to the parking lot where the original car entrance was planned. Additional trees have been planted along the eastern end of the parking lot to reduce the amount of noise in the neighborhoods.
Thornton went on to explain that the lights at the complex are hooded to reduce the amount of light that escapes into the surrounding communities at night. The hooded lights cost between 25 and 30 percent more than traditional ones.
When asked why the original plans forced people to turn either into the sports complex or the dead end neighborhood, Thornton only repeated that the original plans were designed to maximize the use of the land.
“When we got together with him last year we told him that everybody in the neighborhood was against it,” Saunders said. “I guess he didn’t realize it was a dead end.”
The finalized plans for the new entrance were not available by press time. Thornton said that will be the last part completed because of it being designed twice.
“I would like to see the finalized plans,” Saunders said. “Imagine building a house in Hillsborough County without approved plans.”
The new park, which comes in at a price tag of about $3.7 million, is set to open either in May or June, but the opening date is also not set.
When finished, the complex will add three soccer fields, a shared football and soccer field, the new parking lot and eventually a new baseball and a softball field.
“The Lutz area hasn’t ever had any soccer fields like this,” Thornton said. “People had to travel to either New Tampa or elsewhere if they wanted to play. It will help soccer grow and flourish in north Hillsborough County.”
Organizations work to start a soccer club for kids in Tommy Town
By Suzanne Schmidt
Staff Writer
In Tommy Town in Dade City, many children do not know how to dream of a better future. Two nonprofit organizations are working together to change that by starting a soccer club.
Recently Carlos Crespo, director of Cresportour 22, teamed up with Margarita Romo, executive director of Farmworkers Self Help, to form the soccer club.
Children ages 9 to 18 will be learning to play soccer while also learning about life.
“This is about teaching the kids discipline and teaching them skills,” Romo said. “We want to bring out the self we know they are. It is a tool we can use. Our kids love soccer and they are really excited about this.”
The club is a part of the Teen Dream Team program through the Farmworkers Self Help organization.
“The whole point of the Teen Dream Team is to teach kids to dream,” Romo said. “With the new club, we can use soccer as a way to teach the kids to dream beyond that field. They could become professional soccer players or referees.”
Romo said the children need something positive to look forward to since their lives are filled with so much turmoil.
“In our community, there is a lot of drugs and shootings,” Romo said. “We want them to stop thinking they need a gun and instead for them to think they need a soccer ball. We hope they will learn skills that will one day help the community.”
The program started with Rocio Paulsen, director of the Pasco/Hernando Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
“When Rocio was trying to find out where the Hispanic community is in the area, David West directed her to me,” Romo said. “I showed her around and let her see what we have been doing at the park. We have been using the park to play soccer for four years, but it was very unorthodox. We have not had the ability to make it come to fruition.”
That led Paulsen to contact her father, Crespo, who was a professional soccer player and professional referee and is currently a soccer coach at Sickles High School. In the future, the club is hoping to get a female soccer coach as well.
Romo said she is hoping Crespo will provide structure the children might not be getting at home.
“Most kids don’t have a male figure at home,” Romo said. “It is good for them to see someone who is loving and kind but tough. I want to help the kids that really need the support. There are so many kids that have nothing.”
Crespo said he is looking forward to helping the children see a better future.
“This is the best way for the kids to move forward,” Crespo said. “They will learn teamwork. It is a way to form the personality of the kids; it is not just a sport. It is important for them to see a role model right in front of them and not on TV. We want the children to learn they can work hard and reach their goal.”
Jose Amateco, coach for the club, said he likes the club because it teaches children manners.
“We make sure they do not use bad language,” Amateco said. “We tell them they have to be careful of the words they use. They have to work as a team and they have to treat each other with respect.”
Paulsen said she is hoping the children will learn the game so they can one day become referees.
“It is a way for them to make money,” Paulsen said. “It can give them self-worth and self-esteem so they won’t have to depend on their parents for money.”
The biggest need is to level the field where the children are playing soccer.
“The team will be in charge of keeping the park clean,” Romo said. “It will be another way to teach them discipline. This field is their field and they will have to keep it beautiful.”
The team also needs a number of soccer supplies including soccer balls, shoes with cleats, soccer goals, lighting, a water cooler, snacks, uniforms and more.
The Hispanic Chamber is collecting used shoes with cleats to help out the program.
“We don’t need new shoes,” Paulsen said. “We are just hoping people will go into their kids closet and get the shoes they are not using anymore.”
The Team Dream Team has been around since 1987. Since then the organization has made a lot of changes in Tommy Town in Dade City including getting a health clinic set up and paving the streets. Romo said she has many plans for the future.
“I want to see a day where people will want to move here and have businesses here,” Romo said. “I would like to see this area turn into a place like Ybor City. A lot of people want to pretend like it doesn’t exist.”
For more information, visit http://fshflorida.org.
The Teen Dream Team soccer club needs:
- Soccer balls
- Shoes with cleats
- Soccer goals
- The field leveled
- Lights
- Cooler
- Snacks
- Lawn mower
- Gardening tools
- Trash cans
- Uniforms
- Benches
Boy who cannot eat solid food raises awareness
Child inspires Wesley Chapel golf tournament
By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
Stephanie and Mike Walls knew something was wrong with their youngest son Remington, but years of tests left only confusion and heartache for Land O’ Lakes family.
“He was sick all the time,” Stephanie said. “After we’d feed him he would scream and spit up his food every time and he was not a happy baby. We took him to several doctors and changed his baby formula so many times and tested him for almost everything. We had no idea he had this until he was 4-years-old.”
That “this” turned out to be eosinophilic esophagitis (EE), which prevents Remington from eating any solid foods.
“I don’t really remember eating food,” Remington, 10, said. “I only really remember that I got bad chest pains. It feels like I was having a heart attack or something…It was sharp knife pains in my chest.”
To raise awareness about the disorder, the family is planning the seventh annual Remington Golf Tournament. The tournament will benefit American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of EE and other related diseases.
The tournament starts at 1 p.m. May 1 at Lexington Oaks Golf Club, 26133 Lexington Oaks Blvd. in Wesley Chapel. The deadline to register is April 18. To sign up for the tournament, call Stephanie at (813) 997-2151.
Remington weighs only 60 pounds, which is light for a 10-year-old boy.
“He can’t eat anything solid,” Stephanie said. “Some people with EE can find some things they can eat, but Remington is in that small percent of people who can’t. He can only have this drink formula that has a lot of vitamins, minerals and the nutrition he needs.”
The formula has to be kept refrigerated and Remington has 12 to 13 of the 8-ounce drinks each day. Stephanie, who is a language arts teacher at Pine View Middle, said Remington sometimes gets so hungry at school that he drinks his entire daily supply before lunch. She keeps extras with her in case he needs more during the day.
Remington said the drinks taste like pineapple and orange when he first drinks them, but have a bad aftertaste.
“It’s really hard because it changed our entire lives,” Stephanie said. “People don’t realize how much of their lives involve food. We can’t go out to eat at restaurants. We still sit down and have dinner as a family and he has his drinks, but it has changed basically everything we do.”
According to APFED, Walls’ condition starts with an increase in a certain kind of white blood cells, called eosinophils, in the esophagus. Those blood cells attack any food that a person swallows and then continue to damage the esophagus.
“That’s what causes the pain,” Stephanie said. “It can cause scar tissue to build up and make is esophagus hard and unusable. It could cause him to need a feeding tube.”
APFED’s Web site, www.epfed.org, states common symptoms of EE include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal and chest pain, difficulty swallowing, loss of appetite, anemia, difficulty sleeping, weight loss and stunted growth. The symptoms are not specific to EE and vary widely, so most people are misdiagnosed as having acid reflux or other diseases. There are no accurate estimation of how many people in the United States have EE.
While EE forces a drastic change in eating habits, no evidence has shown that it shortens a patient’s lifespan. Medications are available to reduce some of the symptoms of EE, but there is no cure.
“The medicines didn’t help Remington,” Stephanie said. “His condition got worse and spread to his small intestine. We knew his life was at risk, so I started looking online to see if I could find anything about what could be causing this. I came across the APFED Web site and was directed to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. They specialize in treating EE.”
The Walls travel to the Cincinnati hospital several times a year, which is difficult with Remington’s nutritional requirements.
“It has become tricky to travel with his drinks,” Stephanie said. “I usually send most of them ahead of us so that I know they’re waiting for us, but the airports don’t like us traveling with all the liquid. They usually want us to check them, but he needs to have them every couple hours and I’m always afraid they will get put on the wrong plane.”
Despite his hardships, Remington is still able to participate in sports.
“I play baseball and it’s my favorite sports,” Remington said. “It is a tradition in our family because my dad played in high school…I play second base, shortstop and catcher. I like playing second base the best because I get the most balls hit to me.”
Remington’s favorite baseball team is the Tampa Bay Rays and his favorite player is Carl Crawford. He said he would like to be a baseball player when he grows up.
“He’s a very determined kid,” Stephanie said. “He doesn’t want to be known for the disease. He’s a strong fellow and can show people that determination can take you a long way.”
Julianna Zobrist to sing at pregnancy center benefit
By Sarah Whitman
Senior Staff Writer
Julianna Zobrist, Christian recording star and wife of Rays baseball player Ben Zobrist, will perform at Praise & Worship Extravaganza, a fundraiser to benefit Oasis pregnancy center in Land O’ Lakes. The event begins at 6 p.m. April 24 at Myrtle Lake Baptist Church, 2017 Reigler Road.
Oasis offers counseling and support services to women who are pregnant or think they may be pregnant.
“I love what Oasis is doing,” Zobrist said. “It’s phenomenal how they are reaching out to help so many women. I am happy to help raise awareness about the cause.”
Zobrist grew up in Iowa where, as a pastor’s daughter, she fell in love with Christian music at a young age. Her debut album, “The Tree” is a mix of contemporary Christian and techno-dance tracks. She wrote or co-wrote all of the songs. The lyrics are rooted in traditional Biblical scripture while the music maintains a modern sound.
“I’m going to sing one song from the album and one song I just wrote at the fundraiser,” Zobrist said. “They are both slower, more move and groove style.”
Before Zobrist takes center stage, a choir made up of 200 singers from throughout the Tampa Bay area will perform. Martha Threadgill, pianist for the Florida Baptist’s Woman’s Choir, will direct the group.
“It’s going to be a fun night,” Threadgill said. “We’re going to sing one or two hymns and some contemporary Christian. We are excited to have Julianna performing as well. She is very talented.”
Zobrist loves performing but said a busy schedule prevents her from touring full-time. She divides her time between Nashville and Tampa, where she and Ben live during baseball season. Ben uses his wife’s title-track “The Tree” when he steps up to bat at home games.
The couple has a 1-year-old son, Zion, who travels with his parents wherever they go. Last baseball season, Zobrist coordinated her concert schedule with her husband’s games to make certain the family would be together.
“I am a wife and mother first,” Zobrist said.
Zobrist said, being a mom, she understands the need for a place like Oasis.
“I understand now more than I ever did,” she said. “I can’t imagine going through a pregnancy by myself without the support of my husband and family. Women in that situation need to know there are people out there who will show them compassion.”
Myrtle Lake church member Sandra Porter understands the pain of handling an unexpected pregnancy. She had an abortion 26 years ago and is now a volunteer at Oasis, helping women understand they have other options.
“I still agonized over that choice even though there was no one to help me see there was another option,” she said. “That agony of 25 years was taken away last year as a result of me seeing that God’s plan for me was to help with crisis pregnancies.”
Porter began organizing the Praise & Worship Extravaganza months ago and hopes the event will help spread awareness about what she considers an invaluable cause. She sought out Zobrist to headline because she respects the singer’s values and thinks the music will attract a large crowd.
“We are hoping to fill the church with people,” Porter said.
Zobrist said music has the power to bring people together and make a difference in the world.
“Music reaches beyond barriers to people of all cultures, backgrounds and religions,” she said. “It has the capacity to reach anybody.”
Admission to Praise & Worship Extravaganza is free. A love offering for Oasis will be taken. For information, call (813) 406-4965.
Wound center receives national award for excellence
Big city services in small community
By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
Pasco Regional Medical’s Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine opened just three years ago, but it has already received the country’s highest award twice for treating chronic injuries.
The facility received the Center of Distinction award April 9. The honor is given annually by Diversified Clinical Services, a national wound care management company. The wound center has earned the award two straight years and as a result also received the Robert A. Warriner, M.D., Center of Excellence award.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” said Dr. Emilio Dominguez, who has worked at the wound center since it opened in March 2007. “It recognizes the hard work the staff here puts into caring for our patients. It’s a true multi-disciplined effort and requires a lot of people to get the job done. We have a superb nursing staff, director and doctors, so we have all the pieces to the puzzle to offer the best care for our patients.”
The award is given nationally to the top six percent of chronic wound clinics. Centers are evaluated for the percentage of patients they heal, the speed of patient’s recovery and the patient’s satisfaction with their care.
“I’m so pleased and nothing short of thrilled to receive the award,” said Mary Alice Hendricks, wound center program director. “It speaks to the quality of care we offer here…We are the only center offering hyperbaric therapy in east Pasco County. People usually have to go to big cities like Tampa to receive this kind of treatment, but we offer it here in our small community.”
Hyperbaric therapy places a patient into a chamber with 100 percent oxygen with two or 2.4 times atmospheric pressure depending on the wound.
“The higher level of oxygen allows for quicker healing of certain (injuries), and the increased pressure allows the oxygen to get into the blood plasma as well,” said Marty Barthle, hyperbaric safety director and registered nurse. “Blood plasma can go into more areas of the body than red blood cells because (plasma) is much smaller. That lets the oxygen get deeper into wounds and allows for more complete healing of some problems.”
Barthle, who has also worked at the wound center since it opened, said the injuries most commonly treated with hyperbaric therapy are bone infections, severe diabetic foot wounds and radiation injuries to bone or soft tissue. Patients go into the chambers for two hours at a time five days a week.
“We call it going on a dive because the chambers were first made to treat divers who got the bends, which happens to divers who come up from deep water too fast,” Barthle said. “We have TVs and DVD players for the patients to watch while they are in the chambers and we can talk to them through a telephone.
“Someone is always monitoring the patients while in the chambers for their safety and for everyone else here,” Barthle said.
Barthle went to say the chambers are constantly monitored because the pressure could potentially be a safety hazard if something went wrong.
The majority of the patients seen at the wound center are older, which is due to the nature of chronic wounds.
“When people get older they have an increased chance of developing a nonhealing wound,” Hendricks said. “We also see younger people who have had some type of traumatic injury especially to the spine that affects their circulation. When circulation is limited so is someone’s ability to heal.”
Besides the hyperbaric therapy, the center uses a variety of methods to treat chronic wounds, which include: infectious disease management, physical therapy, vascular evaluation, nutritional management, diabetic education, nuclear medicine and debridement.
Dominguez has been working in wound healing for 10 years in Pasco. He went to medical school to become a doctor for internal and infectious diseases, not to treat chronic wounds.
“There isn’t a special residency for wound healing,” Dominguez said. “When I was first asked to open a wound center I took a step back. I just said ‘what,’ but I’m very glad I decided to get into wound healing.”
Dominguez is currently part of Florida Medical Clinic and works with Pasco Regional as an independent practitioner as are the other two doctors at the wound center, Petros Tsambiras and Keith Rosenbach.
“Everyone here is great to work with and care only about helping our patients,” Dominguez said. “I look back now and know I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.”
Those treated seem to feel the same way about the center.
“Our patients are so appreciative of the treatment they get,” Hendricks said. “Some have been dealing with a chronic wound for months or years. It gives them a new lease on life to finally be healed.”
For more information on the wound center, call (813) 479-0225.
Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine
- Affiliated with Pasco Regional Medical Center
- Opened March 2007
- 6,000 appointments last year
- 500 new patients last year
- 1,700 hyperbaric therapy treatments last year
- Address: 6215 Abbott Station Drive in Zephyrhills
- Phone: (813) 479-0225
Bay City Fliers host tournament in Land O’ Lakes
By Suzanne Schmidt
Staff Writer
Soaring high above the field at Conner Preserve, it is almost impossible to tell the planes are only half-scale models or smaller because they maneuver like a full-scale plane.
The Bay City Fliers, a club in Land O’ Lakes for people who like to fly model airplanes, meets at the Conner Preserve, 22500 SR 52 in Land O’ Lakes. Members of the club meet and practice their aerobatic maneuvers every day of the week and weekend.
On April 17 and 18, the club will host a tournament with people coming from all over the southeast. The tournament will start at about 8 a.m. and will continue until sunset each day. On Friday, many of the fliers will be practicing at the field.
“For each division, there is a set of 10 maneuvers we get to practice ahead of time,” Hall said. “At the competition, we also have an unknown round where we get the maneuvers and we don’t get to practice them. Then at the end we get to do a free-style round.”
The competitions have five divisions including basic, sportsman, intermediate, advanced and unlimited. For each division, the maneuvers become more complicated.
“We all start out with 10 points when we do our maneuvers and then they take points away when we make a mistake,” Hall said. “You rarely see anyone with 10 points, even the best fliers get 8 or 9 points.”
Each flier gets three rounds to fly the maneuvers and the score is only kept from the best round. The points are tallied from every competition in the southeast, then the top 10 in each division fly in the regional competition in November. More than 40 people from Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, and Virginia will be competing in the event.
Butch Hall of Odessa will be competing in the tournament in the intermediate division. Hall’s plane is 42 percent of the size of a full-scale aerobatic plane and it has a 20-horse-power engine. Hall used to be a charter pilot and an aerobatic instructor.
“I have been flying radio control airplanes since 1959,” Hall said. “They used to be much smaller than this and they weren’t that reliable. They would fly away and crash a lot.”
Dade City resident Charlie Poulton, president of the club, said the competitions are all about the bragging rights.
“Everybody thinks they are better than everybody else,” Poulton said. “These competitions are great because they bring the best out to compete against each other. At the end of the day, we will know who is the best.”
Poulton was a national champion in 1993 and 1994 and that is why he doesn’t compete anymore.
“It was exciting, but I don’t have anything to prove anymore,” Poulton said.
One of the first things a flier learns is how to fly in a straight line. According to Rich Ernst of Brooksville it is much harder than it looks.
“The idea is that first you learn to do something simple and then you build on that,” Ernst said. “It is harder then you think because the wind changes. It is an integral part of every maneuver.”
Ernst said he likes to fly model planes because it reminds him of his old job when he used to build rocket engines for Pratt & Whitney.
Jerry Jakubowski of Dade City flies a 25 percent scale model.
“I love the freedom and the control,” Jakubowski said. “It is great when you can’t fly yourself. It is a lot cheaper than taking flying lessons and the planes are a lot cheaper to repair.”
The club is a part of the International Miniature Aerobatic Club and it is patterned after the International Aerobatic Club, which is made up of pilots of the full-scale planes.
For more information visit, www.mini-iac.com.