A celebratory swim
Wesley Chapel resident and mom Michelle Deaton will celebrate Mother’s Day and her 50th birthday, five years cancer-free.
She will celebrate by swimming 2 miles in the ocean with her 12-year-old son Wyatt by her side, to make waves to fight cancer for the Swim Across America Tampa open water swim. Hundreds of swimmers and volunteers will join them at North Shore Park in St. Petersburg on May 6.
Michelle was diagnosed in 2018 with a rare form of breast cancer, when Wyatt was just 7 years old.
Her son signed up for Swim Across America with Team Tampa Elite Aquatic Manta Rays and has been swimming for them for the past four years.
Last year, the Deaton family cheered on Wyatt and his swim coach Brian Ahern who swam 2 miles together, to raise $6,000 for cancer research for Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
To learn more about the Swim Across America Tampa open water swim, or to register to swim, donate or be a land or water volunteer, visit SwimAcrossAmerica.org/tampa.
Hospital names new leader
Phil Minden is now serving as president of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.
He also is continuing to serve as president of St. Joseph’s Hospital South in Riverview, pending the completion of a national search for his replacement there.
Minden has been part of BayCare since 2016, when the health system acquired Bartow Regional Hospital, where he was president, according to a news release.
He remained in Bartow until he became president of St. Joseph’s Hospital South, in January 2019.
St. Joseph’s Hospital was founded in 1934 by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. The 615-bed hospital is located at 3001 W. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., in Tampa.
BayCare operates two facilities within The Laker/Lutz News region, BayCare Wesley Chapel in Wesley Chapel and St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz.
