Offering comfort and camaraderie
Members of the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club prepared and served a brunch to residents of Hope Lodge, a facility that houses patients who are receiving long-term cancer treatments at Moffitt Cancer Center. The club aims to uplift the patients’ spirits with a home-cooked meal and fellowship. For information, visit GFWCLutzLandOLakesWomansClub.org.
Hospital to participate in Rose Bowl
Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point received an invitation to participate in the 2019 Donate Life Rose Parade float hospital CEO rose dedications.
Only a select group of hospitals in the area have been asked to prepare a handwritten message honoring the patients and families who, with the support of hospital staff, have saved and healed lives through the gift of organ, eye and tissue donations.
The float has grown into a national tradition featuring dozens of participants, including those who have received transplants, those who are living donors, and deceased donors memorialized in “floragraph” portraits integrated into the float’s design.
One of the trademarks of the annual float design is the Dedication Garden, which provides an opportunity for the CEOs of hospitals; transplant centers; and organ, tissue, and eye recovery organizations to dedicate a Donate Life rose.
Sharon Hayes, Regional Medical Center’s chief executive officer, will prepare the 2019 note to be placed in the float.
Buccaneers team up for breast cancer
Florida Hospital (soon to be AdventHealth) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers teamed up for the sixth annual Treasure Chests 5K and Fun Run on Oct. 21, to celebrate breast cancer survivors, and to benefit breast cancer research and patient services in Tampa Bay.
The race started and ended at the Buccaneer’s indoor practice facility at the AdventHealth Training Center. All racers were invited to the Breast Cancer Awareness football game.
The Honorary Race Starter was Carol Henderson, a three-time survivor currently living with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. Henderson also received pre-game VIP access and pirate ship passes, and was recognized on the field during the game.
Medication disposal
National Take-Back Day, on Oct. 27, garnered more than 587.3 pounds of medications gathered in Pasco County alone.
The Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention reminds the community that people do not have to wait for the next Take Back Day to dispose of unused or unwanted medications in a safe manner.
Pasco County has seven permanent drop boxes for safe medication disposal (both prescription and over-the-counter). Find the nearest location by visiting PascoASAP.com.
Medications also can be disposed of by using a Deterra Bag. These bags deactivate the ingredients of medications, making them safe to dispose of in the trash and unavailable for misuse. Bags are free, and can be picked up at the Florida Department of Health offices in Dade City, New Port Richey and on State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel.
New rehabilitation program for women
The Salvation Army Tampa Adult Rehabilitation Center, 13815 N. Salvation Army Lane in Tampa, will now be able to offer help and education to women for their drug and alcohol problems. The center has been providing a six-month to 12-month residential program for men.
A separate residence will be constructed and will contain 10 bedrooms (each bedroom will house three women), an intake office, library/two classrooms, offices/conference room, kitchen, dining room, great room, recreation room, fitness room, laundry/hair-cutting station, and two resident managers’ rooms.
The center also will have a chapel to seat 250 persons for both the men and women, their families and friends, and the public.
The new program is expected to start up in December.
For information, call S. Richard Hodder at (813) 972-0471, ext. 59079.
Two initiatives become law
The office of Congressman Gus Bilirakis has announced that H.R. 6, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act has been signed into law.
The SUPPORT act is part of the bipartisan legislative package and will help continued efforts to combat the opioid crisis by advancing treatment and recovery initiatives, improving prevention, protecting communities, and bolstering efforts to fight deadly illicit synthetic drugs like fentanyl.
The second initiative is the Sober Home Fraud Detection bill (H.R. 6092), which provides standards for Sober Living Homes.
These two Bilirakis-authored provisions mark the 25th initiative the veteran lawmaker has written that have become law since 2015.
Tampa hospital launches expansion
Florida Hospital Tampa, part of the West Florida Division of Adventist Health System (soon to be AdventHealth), broke ground on a six-story, 300,000-square-foot patient and surgical tower at the corner of Fletcher Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in Tampa.
The project will include 24 brand-new operating rooms, a new hospital entrance, and more than 100 all-private dedicated surgical care beds.
The $256 million tower will be named The Taneja Center for Innovative Surgery, recognizing the family of Jugal and Manju Taneja, who provided the largest donation ever to Florida Hospital West Florida Division.
The center is expected to open in 2021, and will also include several hundred additional parking spaces, and a redesigned landscape.
