Special to The Laker/Lutz News

Heroes ‘N Heels needs a few good men to fight breast cancer

By Kyle LoJacono

Without a mammogram, Vivian Noland probably would not be alive today.
“In December of 2009, I noticed that my right breast had some redness, so I decided to go for a mammogram,” Noland said. “The mammogram report informed me that I needed to have a biopsy. I had no insurance and didn’t know what I was going to do. A dear friend told me about the Breast Care Center at (University Community Hospital), and I went there not knowing what was going to happen.”

When she got to University Community Hospital (UCH) she met breast center clinical navigator and Lutz resident Theresa Winsey.
“She was embarrassed because she couldn’t pay for her treatment,” Winsey said. “With the economy being the way it is and people losing their jobs, we’re finding more and more people without insurance. That’s why Heroes ‘N Heels is so important to us because we don’t want to tell people we can’t help them.”
The event started three years ago and has raised nearly $150,000 to give free mammograms to women without health insurance, according to UCH spokesman Will Darnall. He said every $100 raised by the event is another free mammogram for women who would not otherwise get one.
Winsey said other services also are provided with the money for those women. She said neither she nor anyone in her family has had the disease, but she faces it on a daily basis and has seen how the program has helped save lives.
“We’ve diagnosed nine or 10 with breast cancer from the free mammograms last year alone, so the donations really do make a difference in detection,” Winsey said. “… It’s very important to start getting tested because younger women are getting it. I have two women right now who are under the age of 40 being treated for cancer. Yearly screenings save lives.”
Despite the amount of money raised during the last few years, Darnall said “the well has run dry” and to continue to offer the free service, they need community support at the event.
To participate, men need to either donate or get people to donate money to sponsor their walk, which goes around the campus at UCH and the LifeHope building that houses the Breast Care Center. The event starts at 9 a.m. Oct. 2 at 3100 Fletcher Ave with registration at 8 a.m.
While it is advertised as “walking a mile in her shoes,” the actual trek is much shorter, but the catch is the men have to do it in high heels.
“I’ve noticed over the years the husbands and partners of women with breast cancer usually feel very helpless because they think they can’t do anything,” Winsey said. “This is a way to help in the fight. We don’t care how much people want to donate. We’ll take $5 because every little bit helps.”
Last year 60 men participated and Winsey expects about 75 this year. One of those walking is UCH vice president of human resources Jim Hackman. He said there are two main reasons he joined in.
“For one certainly it’s the right thing to do, and two my wife (Terra) is a breast cancer survivor,” Hackman said. “It’s been 12 years. So every opportunity I have to help in the fight against breast cancer I do it.”
It will not be the first time Hackman has worn high heels, but that is only because he has participated in the event the last three years.
“I have a whole new respect for women at this time every year because this is about the most painful thing that you can do to your feet,” Hackman said. “I have to be very careful to stay away from the cracks in the pavement so I don’t break a heel and I usually finish in the back of the pack.
Winsey said her husband, Paul, will also be in the walk, as are a lot of his friends.
“The day after the first time he did it his calves were killing him,” Winsey said. “He could hardly feel his feet. He’s a huge advocate for this though and gets everyone he knows to join in. He sees how it helps people.”
The pain is worth it to help women like Noland.
“I am most grateful for the love and attention that I received from the Breast Care Center, knowing that I did not have any insurance or money to pay for my care,” Noland said. “They treated me like I was a part of their family.”
To sign up for the walk or for more information, call Nikki Powers at (813) 615-7663 or e-mail . People can also show up with donations the day of the event.

If you go
What: Heroes ‘N Heels
Where: UCH’s Breast Care Center, 3100 Fletcher Ave.
When: Oct. 2 from 8 to 10 a.m.
To register: (813) 615-7663,

By B.C. Manion

Lake Front Drive, in the Pine Ridge subdivision of Wesley Chapel, offers a microcosm of what’s happening in today’s local housing market.
There’s a house in foreclosure that’s up for sale, and another being sold in a short sale. There’s a for sale sign stuck in the lawn in front of one house and a for lease sign planted in front of another.

In neighborhoods scattered throughout Pasco County, the story is much the same. There are houses being offered for sale or for rent. And overgrown weeds in front of houses —on blocks of otherwise neatly manicured lawns — announce that whoever once lived there no longer does.
RealtyTrac, a California-based company that tracks foreclosures recently reported that Pasco County had a 60 percent increase in foreclosures, compared with August 2009. The number of foreclosures increased from July to August of this year by 43 percent, according to company figures.
By comparison, Hillsborough County fared better — with a 30 percent increase in foreclosures in August, compared to the previous year’s figure for that month, and an increase of less than 9 percent from July to August.
In actual figures, Hillsborough had one foreclosure in every 171 homes, while Pasco had one in every 136. Florida had one in every 155, a rate of 2.5 times the national average, according to RealtyTrac.
RealtyTrac’s report incorporates documents filed during all three phases of foreclosure, default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.
Local real estate agents said there are a lot of dynamics at play in the rising foreclosure rates.
“It’s complicated,” said Carl Stratton, of Dennis Realty & Investment, 1022 Land O’ Lakes Blvd. in Lutz.
“We have people from all around the country who bought here,” Stratton said, but many of those investors are letting the houses go through strategic foreclosures.
“In this market, it has become almost common place that people aren’t paying,” Stratton said.
Russell Adams, of Russell Adams Realty, 2502 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes, has noticed the same trend.
“These are people who have the ability to pay. It’s a business decision,” Adams said. “It’s going to mess up their credit for awhile,” he said, but that doesn’t seem to bother them.
Unemployment is also playing a role, Stratton said. Families with two wage earners may be down to one, or none — making it impossible for them to meet their previous mortgage payments.
Tougher credit requirements are also making it harder for people to get into the market, Stratton said.
While the economy continues to struggle, Stratton said his office has seen sales improving slowly.
Both he and Adams think it is an excellent time to invest.
“The best time to buy real estate is right now — this very second,” Adams said. The price of real estate and excellent interest rates make for great deals, he said.
“The interest rates are at historical lows. In the 4s. It’s phenomenal. It’s unspeakable,” Adams said. He also noted that the quality of home construction is better than it has ever been because of strict hurricane standards.
Both Stratton and Adams said the demand for rental housing is hot.
Home ownership is decreasing and rental demand is up, Stratton said. Part of the demand is because poverty — at its highest rate since 1994 — qualifies more people for government subsidized housing, he said.
Adams said that people are wary about the real estate market, but said that prices are stable to improving, based on the multiple listing services for 2008. Adams predicts there will be even more improvement after the November election.

By B.C. Manion

Pasco and Hillsborough county college students will have another option next year, when Rasmussen College opens its Central Pasco Campus at SR 54 and Sunlake Boulevard.
The 25,000-square-foot building, now under construction, will offer both traditional and online courses. It is expected to open in July 2011.

The campus will offer bachelor’s and associate’s degree programs through the college’s schools of business, technology and design, nursing, justice studies, education and allied health.
The college pays close attention to what is happening in the marketplace, to ensure that its curriculum is relevant, said Claire Walker, campus president for the Pasco County campuses of Rasmussen College. It works with the community to prepare graduates to be ready to enter the work force, in fields where there is a demand.
The college deliberately selected the SR 54 location because of its convenient location. It is easily accessible from Interstate 75 and from the Suncoast Parkway, Walker said. It also will provide a straight shot into Hillsborough County when the Sunlake Boulevard extension is completed in future years.
The college also liked the location because it is close to a 72-acre site where T. Rowe Price plans to build an office complex that may one day employ up to 1,600 workers.
T. Rowe Price bought the site at the southwest corner of SR 54 and the planned extension of Sunlake Boulevard on July 1, 2009 for $13.5 million, said Brian Lewbart, spokesman for the investment management company, based in Baltimore, Md.
“We did purchase the property with an eye toward having that site for a future expansion in the Tampa area,” Lewbert said.
Economic conditions have put that plan in a holding pattern for now.
“The timeline for our expansion is not certain,” Lewbert said. The company initially would construct one or two buildings of 150,000 square feet and would have room to grow, he said.
The project would represent the first time the company owned land for an operation in Tampa, he added. The plan would be to shift employees working at its leased office space in Tampa to the Pasco site.
The college would like to establish a relationship with T. Rowe Price, Walker said, especially for students in its business programs.
Tuition for Rasmussen College ranges from $395 to $420 a credit hour, with programs requiring about 180 hours for completion, Walker said. Scholarships and financial aid are available for students who qualify, and the college attempts to work with students to help them arrange a schedule that accommodates work and family life.
Walker said she expects the new facility to open with a staff of about 10 people and to gradually add students and staff members. At full capacity, she expects it to have about 1,000 students and 50 to 60 staff members.
Besides opening the new facility, Rasmussen is moving its Rasmussen College West Pasco facility, now located in Holiday, to a new location in New Port Richey. It expects the New Port Richey facility to be open for students in January.
For additional information about the Rasmussen College, go to www.Rasmussen.edu.

Tampa mayor urges passage of transportation tax

By Molly McGowan

A mobility forum last week at Wharton High began with the ironic announcement that Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio would show up late because she was stuck in traffic. When she did arrive, however, Iorio referenced her experience as a perfect example of the importance of establishing proposed transportation improvements for the region.

She reminded the public that an upcoming referendum that would help fund these plans — a 1 percent addition to the current sales tax — will be on the ballot Nov. 2, and to consider the fact that the Tampa Bay area is playing catch-up to other metropolitan regions. Though the vote only involves Hillsborough County, Iorio said that Pasco and Pinellas counties will be looking to Hillsborough to see how the plans play out, and may eventually have the chance to vote on similar referendums.
Iorio cited Charlotte, N.C.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Atlanta, Ga. as similar regions that had successfully used sales tax referenda to improve and create bus and light rail systems, and said that following suit is important for Tampa and surrounding areas.
“This is the issue of the 21st century for our community,” Iorio said. She said Tampa is a sprawling, successful metropolitan area, “but the one thing we don’t have is an investment in a modern transportation system.”
The overall 2035 Regional Long Range Transportation Plan, as it is collectively referred to, would not only establish light rail connecting the University of South Florida (USF), downtown Tampa, New Tampa. the Westshore area and Brandon, but would also work with the Aviation Authority to provide rails that led directly into the Tampa International Airport for the ease of airport personnel and passengers.
Existing bus systems would also be improved. Instead of buses that ran once every hour, the system would be expanded to buses arriving at stops every 10-15 minutes, with express bus systems running in managed lanes solely for the express buses, as well as in mixed traffic.
For an hour before the meeting, which was Sept. 22, information displays were set up by the planning partners, where the public could assess visuals of the future plans and ask questions of the representatives. The planning partners consisted of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority (TBARTA), the Federal Department of Transportation (FDOT), the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) and Hillsborough and Pasco counties Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).
The TBARTA projects most likely to affect the Pasco area are plans for a short distance light rail from USF to Wesley Chapel and an express bus service in mixed traffic and managed lanes along the SR 54/SR 56 corridor from New Port Richey to Wesley Chapel. The FDOT’s plan for widening I-275 from four lanes to six, from north of Livingston Avenue to CR 54, easing congestion in the Pasco area, would begin construction in the spring of 2011. In addition to the interstate’s widening, the apex where I-275 and I-75 intersect is already under construction to help eliminate weaving caused by struggles to merge lanes. In regards to these specific improvements, Interstate Program Manager Adam Perez said, “It’s definitely going to ease congestion — that’s for sure.”
Pasco County Commissioner Pat Mulieri commented that the current widening of SR 54 would favorably impact the Pasco area. Mulieri explained that the idea behind the Pasco MPO plans is “connecting density and growth with multi-modal transportation,” creating an urban service area.
“We had a few hiccups along the way,” Mulieri said, but the additions to SR 54 are successfully underway.
At the end of the meeting, the floor was open to the public so they could ask questions of the representatives assembled. Several people stepped up to the microphone to speak, representing mostly the Tampa and Hillsborough areas, and making statements about the projected transportation plans, rather than asking questions.
Regardless of the fact that not one person actually asked a question, both sides of the issue were represented, with some in full support of the plans and others extremely wary of the 1 percent tax increase and the fact that the improvements would take so long to complete. The final determination of whether the tax increase and transportation plans will pass depends on citizens of Hillsborough County, who will cast their votes on Nov. 2, either for or against the referendum.