Health

Health News 05/23/2018

May 23, 2018 By Mary Rathman

Hospital recognized for helping to ‘stop the bleed’
The Pasco Board of County Commissioners recently recognized Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point for the facility’s extensive support for the county’s implementation of the “Stop the Bleed” campaign.

The campaign was developed to improve civilian outcomes and survival in the event of mass casualty and active-shooter incidents. It provides civilians with basic first aid training before an event occurs, with emphasis on the use of direct pressure and tourniquets to control bleeding.

Pasco County adopted a policy to ensure that employees and visitors to county buildings are appropriately prepared for events.

The trauma center at Regional Medical donated 112 “Stop the Bleed” kits to Pasco County Fire Rescue.

In addition, Isabella Discepolo from Trauma Services attended the “train the trainer” session for the campaign and offered classes to the community.

The donated kits were dispersed to all AED stations in government buildings to allow for immediate access to tourniquets and other basic first aid supplies necessary for bystanders to administer in intervention during an event.

Sally Jones receives humanitarian award
The Medical Center of Trinity has recognized Sally Jones, RN, as the hospital’s 2017 HCA Awards of Distinction Frist Humanitarian Employee Award winner.

The award honors outstanding individuals for humanitarian and volunteer services, named in honor of the late Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., founder of HCA.

Leigh Massengill, CEO of the hospital, said, in a release, “During Sally’s 40 years at Medical Center of Trinity, she has never wavered from making each and every patient she interacts with feel as if they are the most important person in the hospital. She works cohesively and collaboratively with her colleagues throughout the hospital.”

Jones also is involved in the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, serving as the team captain for the hospital.

Multiple myeloma group aims to provide support, information

May 16, 2018 By B.C. Manion

Camille Wilson wasn’t sure what was wrong with her when she began experiencing pain in the front of her torso, and in her back.

She was sent to a spine surgeon, who did surgery, but also a biopsy, which revealed there was a problem with her blood.

Next, she saw a doctor who diagnosed her with lymphoma — but her son, who is a doctor, urged her to seek a second opinion, and when she did, she was diagnosed and treated for multiple myeloma.

She underwent stem cell transplant, using her own stem cells.

Jim and Camille Wilson host a monthly Multiple Myeloma support group in their home, to help patients who have been diagnosed with the disease. Their support group, which has members from Pasco and Hillsborough counties, is affiliated with the International Myeloma Foundation. (B.C. Manion)

“It was probably 85 percent satisfactory, for the remission,” she said.

She remains on a chemotherapy maintenance program, which does have side effects, she said.

“Sometimes they’re acute. Sometimes, they’re not so bad,” she said. The side effects include rash and itchiness, nausea, leg cramps and neuropathy.

She’s now a four-year survivor of multiple myeloma, a white blood cell cancer that is commonly found in the bone marrow.

“Having this disease is work — to try to keep yourself stable, to keep yourself on top of all of the new things coming out, drugs, therapies, who’s the best doctor to go to,” Camille said.

“I have a primary care physician. I have a primary oncologist, and then I have a myeloma specialist, and that’s what is recommended,” she said.

“The myeloma patient journey is very difficult and can be quite horrific at times,” she said, noting, because she has experienced the challenges, she and her husband, Jim, decided to set up a support group to help others fighting the battle.

“I’ve seen other patients, what they went through, and I felt it was time for me to give back, contribute,” Camille explained.

The group meets on the third Saturday of the month at the Wilsons’ home, 6520 Yellowhammer Ave., in Tampa. The meetings are in the dance studio, Floortime Studio, which is attached to the house.

Meetings generally feature a guest speaker, who addresses issues, such as latest medications, resources that are available and medical questions. Patients, caregivers, family and friends are welcome and there is generally a free lunch, provided by pharmaceutical partners, Camille Wilson said.

The group is affiliated with the International Myeloma Foundation, and the couple travels each year to an annual meeting where they are brought up to speed on the latest information about the disease, and spend time with other support group leaders, sharing what they’ve learned along the way.

“With almost every meeting (we host), we do go around the group and each person gets a chance to speak about their journey,” Camille said.

“We share our experiences,” she said.

They also share information, such as news on medications, clinical trials, sources of financial help and other relevant data.

Newly diagnosed patients often are afraid and overwhelmed by their lack of knowledge about the cancer.

They need a place where they can talk with others who can share what they’ve learned and can relate to their feelings, Jim said.

“They need someone to talk to,” said Jim, the support group’s co-leader.

“Generally, when they leave, they feel so much better. They know they’re not alone. The roundtable sharing part of it is very effective,” Camille said.

Danny Scott, who lives in Wesley Chapel, has been attending the meetings for just about as long as Jim and Camille have been holding them. He goes to two other support groups, as well.

“You’re seeing and talking to other patients with active myeloma,” he said. “Myeloma is a disease where no two patients react, or are treated the same way.”

“You find out things that work for people, which the MDs or the oncologists don’t really know about,” he said.

There are often practical tips that others have discovered, Scott said.

The support is a good source of information from other patients about various approaches that can be helpful, Scott said. They are also can provide useful information for caregivers.

“You at least have the opportunity to seek out and find different opportunities for dealing with your disease,” Scott said, which can include things such as nutritionists, psychiatrists, psychologists and other sources of help.

Much more is known about multiple myeloma than was in the past, Camille said.

“There’s a lot of hope,” Camille added, noting there are many new treatment advances.

The support group draws members from Pasco and Hillsborough counties, Camille said. At its last session, there were 17 people, including members from Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel and Lutz.

Eventually, Camille and Jim, would like to shift the meeting place to a new location — possibly to a meeting room at St. Joseph’s Hospital-North.

“My husband and I have to set up all of our tables. We’re getting older,” she said. “There might come a day when it won’t be that easy for us to do all of this lugging.

“I’d like to get into a nice meeting room in a medical establishment because we are an educational group for multiple myeloma,” she said. St. Joseph’s Hospital-North is a good location, she said. It has meeting rooms and a restaurant.

Multiple Myeloma support group
When: Third Saturday of the month, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Where: Floortime Studio, 6520 Yellowhammer Ave., Tampa
Cost: Free
Details: The North Tampa Multiple Myeloma Educational Group provides information and support to patients who have been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Friends, family and caregivers are welcome. Generally, there is a program and a free lunch.
Info: Call Camille or Jim Wilson at (813) 624-3872, or email .

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells, white blood cells that make antibodies. A cancerous or malignant plasma cell is called a myeloma cell. Myeloma is called ‘multiple’ because there are frequently multiple patches or areas in bone where it grows. It can appear as both a tumor and/or an area of bone loss, and it affects the places where bone marrow is active in an adult: the hollow area within the bones of the spine, skull, pelvis, rib cage, and the areas around the shoulders and hips. -Source: International Myeloma Foundation

Symptoms and signs of Multiple Myeloma
Symptoms:

Persistent or worsening tiredness due to anemia or reduced kidney function
Sudden pain due to a broken bone in the spine, ribs or elsewhere
Recurrent unexplained infections, such as pneumonia, sinus or urinary infection

Signs

Pain with movement and/or at night/rest
Pain tenderness/swelling of bone areas
Swelling, shortness of breath or evidence of heart or kidney failure

Source: International Myeloma Foundation

Published May 16, 2018

Nurses recognized for excellence

May 16, 2018 By Mary Rathman

The Medical Center of Trinity has recognized two nurses with Excellence in Nursing awards, established to honor outstanding nurses who demonstrate excellence in professional mentoring and compassionate care.

The awards honor those whose work and lives reflect patient-centered and humanitarian values.

Tracy Brown, RN, of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab, received the Excellence in Nursing for Compassionate Care honor.

Brown has 30 years of experience and is dedicated to keeping up-to-date with the latest information in her field of cardiac care to ensure patients are provided with the best of care.

Sue Wegener, RN, in Behavioral Health, was given the Excellence in Nursing Professional Mentor award.

In 2017, Wegener developed and implemented a Mental Health Awareness Night for Girl Scouts, to educate Scouts and their families about mental health issues.

Wegener also is the chair for the hospital’s Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk, raising funds and spreading awareness.

She also spearheaded and integrated education pertaining to Trauma Informed Care and how it impacts the nursing practice throughout the hospital.

Pasco Schools seeks to address students’ mental health needs

May 9, 2018 By Kevin Weiss

Pasco County Schools is searching for additional ways to better serve its students’ mental health needs.

As part of that effort, the school system brought together student services staff and community mental health providers on May 4 for the district’s first-ever Mental Health Symposium. The seminar’s aim was to raise awareness of students’ mental health, build capacity of staff to respond, and increase collaboration between schools and mental health providers.

The daylong event featured a panel discussion on mental health, plus a series of breakout sessions, which covered such topics as eating disorders, anxiety, school-based violence prevention, trauma reduction and supporting recovery, non-suicidal self-injury, connecting mental health services, and so on.

Pasco County Schools’ first annual Mental Health Symposium featured a panel discussion and breakout sessions concerning eating disorders, anxiety, school-based violence prevention, trauma reduction and supporting recovery, non-suicidal self-injury, and connecting mental health services. (Kevin Weiss)

About 280 student services staff — school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, school nurses and dropout prevention teachers — participated in a morning or afternoon session, said Dave Chamberlin, Pasco Schools student services supervisor.

Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning kicked off the event with a brief introduction, during which he underscored the necessity of the district to provide quality education and to meet students’ mental health needs.

“We have got to be singularly focused on meeting those social and emotional needs of our kids,” Browning said, “before they can even learn to do mathematics or science.”

The symposium, which coincided with Mental Health Awareness Month, was at the district’s offices. Planning for it began in September.

In the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland that left 17 dead, Browning noted there’s been a renewed emphasis on mental health, and student and staff well-being.

Offering one possible solution of his own, Browning stated he’s a “huge proponent” of trauma-informed care, an organizational structure and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing and responding to the effects of all types of trauma.

“We’ve got to get out and educate our teachers — training our teachers and school-based staff about trauma informed care,” the superintendent said.

That suggestion, among many others, was presented during the hour-long panel discussion featuring community mental health providers, a student, and a parent with experience interacting with the system of care.

Access, awareness and availability of mental health services seem to be ongoing barriers, panelists suggested.

Helping younger children
There’s a great need for more pediatric psychiatrists and pediatric bed space in the county, said Craig Leech, program manager for the Land O’ Lakes-based Morton Plant North Bay Hospital Recovery Center.

Leech explained the recovery facility is only able to utilize 20 of its 25 pediatric beds at a time, and there’s oftentimes a waiting list of several days for children to get the mental services and treatment. “At any given day, we are full and do not have bed space. We are the only pediatric receiving facility in Pasco County,” he said.

Another panelist, Doug Leonardo, senior vice president of Chrysalis Health, said more flexibility is needed in providing mental health services for children.

He advocates conducting school behavioral health screenings to flag potential mental health problems with students at a younger age.

“We need to do a better job at getting upstream of these issues. We have universal screenings in schools for hearing and speech…I don’t know why we would not want to do the same things for mental health issues,” he said.

Leonardo, who’s helped provide mental health and substance abuse in Pasco County and other areas for more than 20 years, also supports creating more community partnerships among schools, law enforcement and mental health professionals.

He emphasized the importance of encouraging parents to be unafraid to seek help for their children who may suffer from mental illness.

“We can treat the kids but, if we don’t have the parents engaged and bought in and helped, it doesn’t really work, so we really need that family system to be involved,” the health professional said.

While health experts described some of community resources available to youth, many students are unaware of what’s available to them, Anclote High senior Emily Leopardi said.

Leopardi overcame a broken home and dysfunctional family life, and is on track to graduate high school and attend Hillsborough Community College in the fall. Growing up, she was fortunate to receive counseling and assistance from Youth and Family Alternatives Inc., and Baycare Behavioral Health.

“I would like to see more support in the schools that focus on mental health, and resources for students like myself who’s family life is challenging. …Without the help of these providers, students like myself can fall through the cracks,” she said.

Other panelists, including moderator Monica Rousseau, said reducing the stigma associated to mental health problems must remain a focus.

Rousseau, coordinator for the Pasco County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP), referenced a study that more Americans are starting to understand mental illness is very much a chronic illness, like any other physical illness; yet more and more people are associating mental illness with violent tendencies, she said.

“We have shootings, we have a lot of big news stories that are really skewing the way people view people with mental illness, so it’s really important to be stomping out that stigma,” Rousseau said.

Some issues related to children’s mental health services might soon be mitigated with the recent passing of Senate Bill 7026 (“Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act”).

Besides its various school safety mandates, the new law creates mental health assistance allocation for every school district in Florida.

It also requires school districts to deliver a plan focused on delivering evidence-based mental health treatment, assessment, diagnose, intervention services and so on.

For school districts like Pasco, it marks a “big sea change,” Leonardo said.

“We’re going to start asking school districts to do things that I think, historically, they haven’t focused on doing. It probably happens sporadically, but now it’s being mandated,” Leonardo said.

With a solid foundation and framework, and an influx of funds from the new law, Leonardo noted the district and county as a whole is “in a really good position to make some meaningful changes.”

Published May 9, 2018

Health News 05/09/2018

May 9, 2018 By Mary Rathman

Derby league gives back
Revolution Roller Derby, a mixed-gender Flat-Track Roller Derby League, hosted a battle between its own Valkyries and The Bradentucky Bombers to benefit Sunrise of Pasco County Domestic & Sexual Violence Center.

The league collected goods, including all-gender clothing, toiletries, children’s books and gift card, to support Sunrise.

Revolution Derby will continue to collect donations through the month at SpinNations Skating Center, 8345 Congress St., in New Port Richey, on Mondays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

For information on the Sunrise center, visit SunrisePasco.org.

For league information, visit RevolutionRollerDerby.com, or email .

Griswold celebrates 10 years
The Tampa Office of Griswold Home Care marked 10 years in business with a series of activities targeted at organizations serving seniors and the disabled.

The office awarded grants from the Jean Griswold Foundation to both the Tampa and Pasco County Lighthouses for the Visually Impaired and Blind, and Gulfside Hospice & Pasco Palliative Care.

The project theme, “Ten Years of Service, Ten Acts of Caring,” aligns with both Griswold Home Care’s mission to provide quality care for seniors and the disabled, and its late founder Jean Griswold’s compassion and empathy that drove her to start the company in 1982.

Opening in January 2008, the Tampa office expanded into Pasco County, and now covers clients from Brandon to Hudson and from Thonotosassa to Westchase.

For information, visit GriswoldHomeCare.com, or call (813) 343-0272.

Green Dot program teaches violence prevention

May 2, 2018 By Kathy Steele

Central Pasco Huddle hosted a community discussion and learning session at the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library on violence prevention.

The huddle is a locally organized group of the Central Gulf Coast chapter of the Women’s March Florida.

Its members, who come from Wesley Chapel, Land O’ Lakes, and Lutz, meet monthly in Land O’ Lakes, said huddle member Charity Henesy-Brooks.

The goal is to find activities “to make Pasco better for people,” she said. “We’re going to do more events like this for Pasco’s women and children.”

Green Dot coordinator for Sunrise of Pasco County, Aubrey Hall, led discussion on violence prevention at Land O’ Lakes Branch Library. The workshop was sponsored by the Central Pasco Huddle of the Women’s March Florida. (Kathy Steele)

Aubrey Hall, Green Dot coordinator with Sunrise of Pasco County Inc., led the recent workshop – “Embrace Your Voice.”

Combatting violence in all its forms “is daunting,” she said. “How do we change something that is so ingrained?”

Cultural change isn’t something that happens quickly, she added.

She said, though, that she’s encouraged by the #metoo movement, which is prompting people – mostly women – to come forward to tell their stories.

Green Dot is a violence prevention program that seeks to enlist the help of bystanders — who witness violence in everyday situations.

Green Dot provides educational awareness, training and actions that can reduce sexual assault, dating/domestic violence and stalking.

Green Dot serves more than 300 colleges and universities across the country.

Sunrise at Pasco works with students at Saint Leo University.

“To stop violence, we first have to recognize what it is,” Hall said.

Examples of violence include physical, sexual, verbal, economic and psychological assaults where one person has real or perceived power over another person.

People often overlook economic issues, Hall said. But, she noted: “Economic abuse is present in 98 percent of domestic violence abuses.”

She also explained that stalking can go beyond physically shadowing another person.

“You can be stalked by someone you never see now because of social media,” Hall said. “It’s so normal to like and follow.”

Hall led the workshop participants through a series of activities to identify early, immediate and after signs of sexual assault, stalking and dating/domestic violence.

She also addressed bullying.

Participants watched videos that had no sound to help them learn how to recognize body language cues, in different scenarios, of stalking and domestic violence. The videos show bystanders reacting to each situation.

“Being able to identify behavior, that’s going to be key,” Hall said.

Working in two teams, the workshop participants came up with ways that bystanders could choose to intervene, either directly or indirectly, to stop or calm down volatile situations.

They also discussed the barriers that often prevent bystanders from becoming involved.

Sometimes those barriers are the fear of becoming a target, or of being retaliated against, or of being uncomfortable, or not knowing where to seek help.

The Green Dot program offers the “three Ds” as guidelines to follow.

Those are:

Direct action: Asking someone to stop his or her behavior.
Delegating action: Calling 911, human resources or the school’s campus police. (The key is “making sure it’s someone who can do something,” Hall said.)
Distraction or delay: This can be done by possibly asking a question. “Do anything that allows the tension to break,” Hall said.

The Green Dot program launched at the University of Kentucky in 2006, as a sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking prevention program. It was funded with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The program was adapted for high schools, and expanded to other colleges. A nonprofit, known as Green Dot, etc Inc., was established, and its headquarters moved from Kentucky to Washington D.C.

In 2017, it also got a new name – Alteristic.

For information, visit SunrisePasco.org/green-dot-rev.

For information on Central Pasco Huddle, email .

Published May 2, 2018

Health News 05/02/2018

May 2, 2018 By Mary Rathman

New donor record
Donate Life Florida, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the public to save and enhance lives through organ, tissue and eye donation, announced a new donor record.

Ten million Floridians have signed up as donors through Florida’s Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, the third largest in the nation.

The strength of Florida’s donor registry is due in great part to the work of the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles and Florida tax collector offices, where residents completing driver license applications can sign up.

Because of the partnership, 95 percent of the state’s 10 million registered organ donors have come through the state’s tax collectors and DHSMV.

Since the registry was established in 1997, donors who had registered prior to death made possible nearly 37,000 life-saving transplant surgeries in the state. Donors helped even more through tissue donation.

To learn more, visit DonateLifeFlorida.org.

Lauren’s Kids charity
Lauren’s Kids, a statewide organization to prevent childhood sexual abuse through education and awareness, will be the Pasco County Tax Collector’s charity of the month.

Individuals who have vehicle registrations coming due in May can trade in existing license plates for a Lauren’s Kids specialty plate. The tags also may be purchased for newly registered vehicles.

Those that purchase the specialty tag will be entered into a drawing for a gift card.

Cash donations also will be accepted at any of the five tax collector offices.

For information, call Greg Giordano at (727) 847-8179, or visit PascoTaxes.com.

For information on the nonprofit, visit LaurensKids.org.

Treadmill challenge
The Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA was the winner in the Treadmill Tuesday Tie-Breaker, an annual competition meant to inspire community members to become more physically active and adopt healthier lifestyles.

The total distance and number of local participants for the Tampa YMCA were: Bob Sierra North Tampa YMCA, 281 participants, 684.81 miles; Dade City Family YMCA, 46 participants, 75.28 miles; East Pasco Family YMCA, 131 participants, 224.69 miles; and New Tampa Family YMCA, 132 participants, 269.57 miles.

In addition to participating at a neighborhood Y, community members were also able to join via social media.

Health News 04/25/2018

April 25, 2018 By Mary Rathman

New appointments at Trinity medical center
The Medical Center of Trinity has appointed Cathy Lowe, MSN, MBA, CEN (certified emergency nurse) as associate chief nursing officer.

Lowe comes from the HealthTrust Transitional Leadership program, where she served as an interim director of emergency services at multiple HCA sites for the last three years.

Lowe has a Master of Science in Nursing and Master of Business Administration from Anderson University.

She also has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Indiana University and an Associate of Science in Nursing from Fayetteville Technical Community College.

The hospital also has appointed/promoted Ankit Patel, Pharm.D., into the new position of vice president of operations. He has been the director of pharmacy services since 2014.

Patel earned his Doctor of Pharmacy at Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and completed a pharmacy residency at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. He also was the interim pharmacy director at South Bay Hospital.

During his tenure as director of pharmacy at Trinity, he initiated the first Pharmacy Residency Program in the HCA West Division.

Patel received the Health Trust Supply Chain Outstanding Leadership Award in 2017.

Woman’s club hosts brunch
Members of the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club hosted and served a brunch to the Hope Lodge resident patients who receive extended treatment at Moffitt Cancer Center.

The lodge provides a home away from home for patients and spouses, and it give the club a chance to prepare and serve homemade meals, along with conversation and fellowship.

The women’s club also donates puzzles, board games and other items for the residents.

For information about the club, visit GFWCLutzLandOLakesWomansClub.org.

Battle of the Belts
The trauma center at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point sponsored the $500 prize, which went to Fivay High School, for the most-improved seatbelt use in the “Battle of the Belts.”

The competition promotes seatbelt use among teens, who have the highest fatality rate of any age group for motor vehicle crashes.

The Pasco County campaign is conducted at participating high schools with partners Safe Kids/Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.

Several award categories also included: Poster Contest won by Jessica Vernak, Anclote High School; Essay Contest won by Tyler Riccardo, J.W. Mitchell High; Public Service Announcement won by Anclote High; Campaign Book won by Mitchell High; and Battle of the Belt Champion 2018 was Land O’ Lakes High School.

Seeking a sensory room to serve students with autism

April 18, 2018 By Kevin Weiss

Dan Reyes has often witnessed the benefits of a sensory environment for his 13-year-old son, Jacob, who has autism.

Each Sunday, his family attends LifePoint Church in New Tampa, which has a sensory room devoted to children with special needs.

“He absolutely loves going into that room,” Reyes said. “He’s happy in there. He’s active, and it’s a very engaging room when sometimes other environments are not.”

Weightman Middle School seventh-grader Jacob Reyes is one of many students with autism who could benefit from a sensory room. (Courtesy of Dan Reyes)

The caring parent also wants a similar setting made available for Jacob and his fellow classmates at Weightman Middle School, in Wesley Chapel.

So, earlier this month, Reyes launched a GoFundMe page to build a sensory room at the school, where his son is a seventh-grader.

Throughout the school year, Reyes worked closely with school administration and teachers to develop a budget plan for a fully equipped sensory room — something he hopes “will have a lasting impact for years to come.”

A sensory room is a specially designed room that combines a range of stimuli to help individuals develop and engage their senses. These can include lights, colors, sounds, sensory soft play objects, and aromas within a safe environment that allows the person using it to explore and interact without risk.

These rooms are credited with helping those who have learning difficulties, such as developmental disabilities or sensory impairments, to learn to interact with the world around them, and build up their confidence.

Such rooms often include a variety of items with vestibular input (items that allow users to spin, swing or hang), visual input and lighting, olfactory (smell), proprioception (items that allow the user to be squished or hugged), tactile, touch, feel, and auditory output.

Some examples include swings, bouncing chairs, lava lamps, fluorescent light filters, scented oils, scented playdoh, therapy balls, mini trampolines, textured puzzles, vibrating kids toys, sound pillows, and indoor wind chimes.

Several of those items will be purchased to meet the needs of current, as well as incoming, students.

As of April 16, nearly $4,000 of the $35,000 goal has been raised on the GoFundMe page.

Additionally, the school has held a beanie baby sale, sponsored dinners and set up other fundraisers at local restaurants to make the sensory room project a reality.

Weightman Middle has about 30 students in its Access Points Social Behavior Communication Program, geared toward students with severe and continuous behavioral needs, communication and sensory needs associated with autism spectrum disorder.

For the time being, the school is utilizing a makeshift sensory space that accommodates just one student at a time. It includes a handful of donated and purchased sensory items like a piano mat, drumsticks and tumble balls, along with some other handmade playthings.

But, Weightman staff hopes to have a full-size sensory room ready by the start of the 2018-2019 school year.

This is an image of a sensory room, which is specially designed to combine a range of stimuli to help individuals develop and engage their senses. The rooms are credited with helping those who have learning difficulties, such as developmental disabilities or sensory impairments, to learn how to interact with the world around them, and build up their confidence. (Courtesy of Edutopia)

The designated room would take the place of a regular-size classroom situated in the school’s Exceptional Student Education (ESE) unit, where it’s expected to exhibit a “nature theme” on walls and carpeting.

Teachers would have the possibility of scheduling classes in the sensory room, or could take students there, as needed. The room could also be utilized at the beginning of the school day or in 30-minute break periods.

Assistant Principal Laurie Johnson, who supervises the school’s ESE department, said such a space would allow special-needs students to self-explore and find items that best meet their sensory needs to calm their behaviors.

For instance, one student may relax by spinning. Another may enjoy a swinging motion. Others, moreover, may utilize a punching bag to release frustration.

“If their sensory needs are not met, then often they can start to experience behavioral problems,” Johnson said.

Without that sensory input and output, students with autism may exhibit aggressive behaviors, such as biting and self-harm, educators explained. Others may resort to crying or the inability to stop moving.

“It’s not that they’re acting out ‘just because.’ They are acting out because they have a need and it’s not being met,” said varying exceptionalities teacher Loretta Seekins.

Having those sensory needs met helps those students become more attentive during lessons, Seekins said.

“You’re not going to get any educational benefit by a student that can’t focus,” she said.

The teacher added a sensory room would also reinforce and enhance communication and socialization skills among the school’s autistic population.

Seekins said the idea is to help students become more acclimated to being in environments where others are doing things, talking and socializing.

“It’s not something that will happen overnight, but you’re building toward that,” she said.

School behavioral specialist Leslie Monticco agrees such a room is imperative for nonverbal students to better express themselves and self-regulate. “To have somewhere to go as an escape is huge,” she said. “It is a need.”

Weightman Middle Principal Rachel Fowler has fully endorsed the sensory room.

She stressed the importance for students to receive support for all their needs, not just academically.

“We do a lot for social interaction and having that space outside of a regular classroom is essential, so they can remove themselves and truly use those other senses to help their brain,” Fowler said.

To donate to the sensory room project, visit GoFundMe.com/sensory-room-for-children-wautism.

Published April 18, 2018

Lutz ER gets new manager

April 18, 2018 By Mary Rathman

The Medical Center of Trinity has appointed Bernadette Melendez as manager of its new ER 24/7 in Lutz.

Melendez began her career in corporate accounting and human resources until 2006 when she began her nursing career.

She received an Associate of Science in Nursing in 2006 and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in 2012, from Ohio University; and went on to get a Master of Business Administration in 2017.

Melendez comes from Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor, where she served as CN II in the emergency room and assistant nurse manager of PCU.

She has extensive experience in emergency management having served as preceptor, charge nurse and magnet champion for a 42-bed Level II trauma center, and charge nurse and preceptor for a free-standing emergency room