The day after Presidents Day, The Legacy hosted a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event to celebrate the assisted living & memory care facility’s Grand Reopening.
Congratulations to The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve (18600 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy.) — which was the first full-service assisted living and memory care residence to open in New Tampa when it made its debut more than a decade ago — for hosting a couple of great recent events.
On Presidents Day (Feb. 21), The Legacy hosted a unique celebration to honor its three residents who are all at least 100 years old — Grace Forsythe (age 101), Mary Carbonara (100) and Holocaust survivor Nat Ross (also 100). As part of the celebration, The Legacy executive director Mitchell Edelstein unveiled a unique wall mural adorned with the U.S. flag, an American bald eagle and photos of all ten Legacy residents who also are U.S. military veterans.
The next day, Edelstein and the entire staff at The Legacy hosted a North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event in honor of its Grand Reopening, with amazing food by Chef Josh. For more info about The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve, call (813) 375-9858 or visit LegacyPreserveTampa.com.
Tampa City Council member Luis Viera celebrates the lives of the three 100-year-old residents at The Legacy at Highwoods Preserve (l.-r.) Grace Forsythe, Nat Ross & Mary Carbonara.
A new wall mural honoring all of the U.S. military vets at The Legacy also was unveiled on Presidents Day
These are just a few of the roughly 4,000 people who showed up for BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel’s community open house on Feb. 18. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Scooping his free Island Fin Poké Co. poké bowl into his mouth, Trey Walker paused for a second before answering the question of the day at BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel’s open house last month.
“I don’t like hospitals,” the Tampa truck driver said, smiling, “but if I ever need to go to one, I hope it’s this one.”
Walker was one of an estimated 4,000 people who took part in the area’s newest hospital’s open house on Feb. 18, which featured tours, food trucks, vendor booths and a kids area.
BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel was expected to open to at least emergency room patients today (Mar. 7). The 86-bed, state-of-the-art hospital is located on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. just south of S.R. 54.
BayCare Wesley Chapel president Becky Schulkowski was thrilled to finally unveil the hospital to the public.
“It’s just been extremely exciting, rewarding, and humbling seeing the response from the community,” she said. “I’m being thanked for coming to this community. It just feels like such a blessing…and we will live up to their expectations.”
The new hospital features private rooms with Alexa-enabled services, and a Da Vinci Robotic Surgical System. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel boasts 318,000 sq. ft. of space, and will feature comprehensive medical services and health care resources, including an emergency department, an intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, diagnostic services such as imaging and on-site lab services, and physical rehabilitation. BayCare is investing $246 million in the project, which will be the 16th link in the nonprofit’s chain, which has locations throughout Central Florida. The Wesley Chapel location will be just the second full-service BayCare hospital in Pasco County and will feature outstanding technology like the CT scanner and a DaVinci Robotic Surgical System.
The DaVinci robot drew a few oohs and aahs from those on the tour, its multiple arms coiled like a resting octopus. It allows for very precise incisions and techniques used by surgeons, including things like hernia repairs and colorectal surgery.
“So, if anyone with colon cancer needs to have parts of their colon removed, it can be done with the robot,” Schulkowski said. “The procedures with the robot really allows you to heal faster and get out of the hospital quicker. With some of those bigger surgeries, before we started using the robotic surgery, you would be in the hospital for five days (or more) after that procedure. Now, you can be home in one or two days.…and what most people want is to get out of the hospital and get home.”
Much of the planning that went into BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel was about comfort.
“We really thought about what it feels like to be a patient, and how much most people really don’t like to be in a hospital,” Schulkowski said. “So, we really tried to design it with that perspective in mind, and really make it a comfortable, healing environment.”
That means all of the patient rooms are private, and have integrated Alexa, a voice-controlled virtual assistant that allows you to call your nurse, dim the lights, raise the blinds or the thermostat and other things, with just your voice.
The hospital provides most general surgeries, orthopaedic surgeries, urology and a cath lab to diagnose any heart issues, Schulkowski said.
“We went all out to make sure we had the absolute best technology available for the community,” she added.
While 86 rooms may not seem like a lot, BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel is expandable. Schulkowski said the option is available to build a second tower directly above the ER if needed. “We can pretty much double everything,” she said.
Also planned is a 20-bed observation unit, which could be built next to the ER on the backside of the hospital, by 2027. “That will allow us to cohort what we call observation patients, patients that come in and maybe have chest pain, and we need to run a couple tests and see is it a heart problem? Or is it just really bad heartburn?,” Schulkowski said. “While you’re waiting for those tests, you don’t need to be up in the hospital, you’re just waiting on getting some test results. We’re gonna keep you comfortable, get those test results and then, hopefully, send you on your way.”
It was ten years ago that AdventHealth (then Florida Hospital) Wesley Chapel opened its doors, giving the Wesley Chapel and New Tampa areas newer (and closer) options for care. And, next up is Orlando Hospital Wesley Chapel, a 300-bed facility under construction on S.R. 56.
The nonprofit company that is opening BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel understands that there are options. Schulkowski said her staff is ready to meet the challenge. In fact, one of her pet projects was the sculpture out front — five ribbons coming together. Each ribbon has one of the five BayCare values engraved on it: Trust, Respect, Responsibility, Excellence and Dignity.
“I wanted the very first thing that our community saw when they came onto campus (were) the BayCare values, because that’s what we bring to this community,” Schulkowski said.
Radha Guntuku (left) and Denise Rose sit at the table that started their whole journey together trying to help a family in need of a kidney.(Photo: Charmaine George)
The story of how two New Tampa women combined forces to try to help a Land O’Lakes man find a kidney donor starts with a table.
It was a table that Denise Rose, who lives in Tampa Palms, was ready to purchase from Sylvia Moreta via the Facebook Marketplace a little more than a month ago.
Denise was supposed to pick the table up on a Tuesday, but Sylvia abruptly canceled and asked if Friday would work.
Denise thought that was odd, and worried about a scam, so she took a look at Sylvia’s Facebook page for clues. What she found out was that Tuesday was that Sylvia’s birthday was that Tuesday, but what really jumped out at Denise was that Sylvia was asking for donations for the Florida Kidney Foundation, because her 34-year-old son was in dire need of a kidney.
The Moreta family (l.-r.) Maverick, Kristina, Anthony and Amelia. Anthony is awaiting a kidney donor, less than a year after his brother received a transplant. (Photo courtesy of Kristina Moreta)
That hit close to Denise’s heart. In 2021, she had donated a kidney to her brother Dennis, saving his life. She understood the fear and the worry that likely was gripping Sylvia.
So, Denise called Sylvia, and they talked for an hour, and they shared their stories with each other.
Denise was moved to action. Not only had she had faced the same worries when she donated a kidney to her brother, but she knew someone else who had a similar experience — fellow Tampa Palms resident Radha Guntuku, who contacted the Neighborhood News in 2020 when her son Raj was in dire need of a kidney.
Because Denise was going through her donation at the same time the Neighborhood News had published its piece on Raj’s plight, she found some solace following the story. Raj found his donor in K-Bar Ranch resident Joel Morales, who had seen the same story and was compelled to help.
After Raj received his kidney in March and Denise donated hers in May, she reached out to Radha for the first time, they talked, and she eventually met Radha and Raj.
“It’s like we were living parallel experiences during that time,” says Denise, who has even written a children’s book on kidney donations.
It was only natural, then, that Denise would connect Radha, also once a worried, frightened mother, to Sylvia, who is now going through the same thing.
“I just thought, ‘(Radha’s) gonna want to help Sylvia,’” Denise said. “And, she did. I mean, she responded within a minute of my text. Sylvia was so gracious. I told her. ‘You’re not by yourself.’”
Radha eagerly offered assistance. They began spreading the word, hoping a donor would step forward. Radha used the same contacts she used when searching for Raj, including telling Denise to contact the Neighborhood News, because that’s how she found her donor.
“You know, she’s just giving it back, because you guys helped her so much,” Denise says. “She’s been great. Just trying to help someone out, right?”
For Sylvia, it has been a fear-filled year. Her sons were both always going to need kidney transplants, having grown up with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, which is a disease that attacks the glomeruli, the tiny filtering units inside your kidney where blood is cleaned.
When Sylvia’s older son Victor, who had been on the donor list for a few years by then, had his kidney transplant in May 2022, she thought it would be years before Anthony, who was seven years younger, would need one as well.
But, only a few months later, Anthony wasn’t feeling well and his blood pressure was sky-high, so he had to be hospitalized.
“It was kind of a surprise because his brother is older and he just got a transplant last June, so we were kind of hoping we had a few more years and our (3- and 4-year-old) kids would be a little bit older during this crazy thing,” said Anthony’s wife Kristina. “But, in August, we were told he was in complete kidney failure, that we were really lucky to get him in that day. He ended up staying there for almost a week in the hospital, getting dialysis pretty much every day, which normally you go three times a week for.”
For Sylvia, the news was devastating.
“It is very hard for us,” said Sylvia, who lives in Lutz. “More for my husband. I have stronger faith, so I relied on God in order to survive. With this one, I feel numb. I am in shock. I think the surprise is still affecting me.”
While there have been glimmers of hope, Anthony is still awaiting a donor. It can be a difficult process, because while many people may want to donate, the percentage of finding perfect matches is still pretty low.
Despite knowing that the day would eventually come, Sylvia says it wasn’t any easier last May when Victor was in the hospital receiving his transplant.
“I would say when we saw (Victor) in the hospital, probably around May of last year, I think it really hit us hard,” Kristina says. “Anthony said, ‘The clock is ticking.’ And, he was trying to make sure to kind of get everything in order because of our kids.”
A donor for Anthony is waiting in the wings, Kristina says, but nothing has been finalized. She knows better than to get her hopes up too much,
Anthony receives dialysis at a facility three days a week at 5 a.m., and continues to work as an auto mechanic at Tampa BMW. Victor, a police officer who received his kidney from a friend, continues to offer support and advice.
Denise and Radha are diligently scouring the area, online and offline, for a suitable donor. They understand. They want to help any way that they can.
And, Sylvia continues to have faith for her son, even though some days it is harder to maintain than others.
“Remember what I told you about my faith? Well, God did it once, he’s going to do it again,” Sylvia says. “I think it’s going to happen like the first time, I really do. But, I have been scared. I get a little anxious. I have my days. And then, I have to go back to trusting that something good is going to happen.”
Potential kidney donors for Anthony Moreta must have the O blood type. If you know of anyone who might be willing to donate or want to help yourself, call Anna Harrop, RN BSN CMSRN, Living Donor/Pre-Kidney Transplant Coordinator, at (727) 588-5618. To help the Moreta family, visit https://gofund.me/02e64627.
No one can say that Tampa Mayor Jane Castor isn’t true to her word.
After promising a few weeks ago at a community forum at Coffee Speaks & Tea Talks in Pebble Creek (as we reported last issue) to come take part in a trash pick-up event planned by Clark Elementary fourth grader Makenna Reel, the mayor, despite having to be at the Gasparilla Distance Classic in downtown Tampa at 5:30 a.m., showed up for the roadside trash pick-up right on time.
“I was still a little surprised,” said a smiling Makenna. “She could have been there or not been there, but she took time out of her day to be there.”
Castor met with many of the volunteers and posed for pictures while encouraging the cleanup of the parking lot at The Walk At Highwoods Preserve shopping center, at the corner of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. and Bruce B. Downs Blvd., only a mile or so from Makenna’s school.
“This is our home and I think it’s critically important that we keep it clean,” Castor said. “To see litter out in the community, it sends a message that we don’t care about Tampa. So, it’s a huge focus of mine, and I’ll continue to focus for the next four years on keeping Tampa clean.”
Makenna started the Green Clean club at her school after builders of a new roof at Clark left debris behind. She also planned the Feb. 25 cleanup, and was joined by more than two dozen volunteers, who collected about 20 bags of garbage. Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, which provided the bags and gloves, also picked the trash up after it had been collected.
Makenna said the event, her first outside of school property, was a success and added that she’d like to do more.
“I was thinking about going to Flatwoods Park, or maybe I’ll take some suggestions,” Makenna said. “I want everyone to be a part of it.”
According to Pastor Phil Hunter, he picked the name Citrus Grove Church as a nod to Florida’s most famous produce, as well as to growing as a person. (Photos: Courtesy of Pastor Phil Hunter)
When Pastor Phil Hunter chose Citrus Grove Lutheran Church as the name for his new congregation in Wesley Chapel, he took inspiration from Florida’s most famous produce, saying that it reminds him of people’s lives.
“It’s a nod to the development in Florida and that people are now growing where the oranges used to be,” Pastor Hunter says. “But, also, that there’s not just one tree by itself (in a grove). At Citrus Grove Church, you have other people supporting you and growing with you. You’re not alone.”
Pastor Hunter and his wife Andrea moved to Wesley Chapel from Wisconsin in mid-2020 with two kids, who are now ages five and three.
They have since also become foster parents and are now raising five kids ages five and younger.
Pastor Hunter says when he saw the opportunity to be a missionary pastor to start a new church in Pasco County, he thought it sounded like fun.
“It was snowing in May 2020 on the last Sunday I preached at my old church in Wisconsin,” he says.
Prior to coming to Wesley Chapel, Pastor Hunter served as pastor at Bethel Church in Menasha, a bilingual English/Spanish church where he taught, preached and counseled people in both languages.
He says the church here in Wesley Chapel is all English, but he is willing to serve neighbors who speak Spanish, and that a Spanish service could be a way Citrus Grove might grow in the future.
Pastor Hunter says Citrus Grove Lutheran Church, which opened in December 2021, is continuing to grow and is open to everyone.
Citrus Grove is a mission congregation of the WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) network of churches. It started because a congregation in Zephyrhills was getting smaller and closed its doors, and requested that a new church from the nationwide organization be formed in the Wesley Chapel area.
Although WELS originally started in Wisconsin and remains headquartered there, there are now 1,300 member churches across North America, including nine in the Tampa Bay area.
Pastor Hunter comes from a line of pastors, including his dad. He knew he wanted to follow in those footsteps, so attended Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN, and earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in 2011. He then attended Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary outside of Milwaukee to earn his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree in 2015. During that time, he spent a year working at a church in suburban Atlanta.
“Being part of a larger church body is a long-term partnership,” he explains. “Some new churches have to grow very fast, but we have a church body that sustains us and supports us over the long haul. We don’t need a ‘gimmick. (We) can build more realistically.”
Visiting Citrus Grove
“We’re here to help people in Wesley Chapel have healthier hearts and more fruitful lives,” Pastor Hunter explains. “We sing hymns, have hymnals and Bibles in our church, teach from a section of the Bible every week, and emphasize people learning the Bible for themselves and using it as a guide for their lives.”
The church started gathering as a small group in the fall of 2020 and opened its doors publicly in December 2021, meeting at Pinecrest Academy on S.R. 54.
Pastor Hunter says the best way to learn about the church is to show up any Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m.
“We meet inside the cafeteria,” he says. “It’s not fancy and there are no bells or whistles, but we meet you in the parking lot and our members will walk you in. Your kids can join my kids in the Kids Zone.”
The church is participating in events and doing outreach to let people know they are here to serve the community.
“We’re meeting our neighbors, bringing lunch to offices, bringing our volunteers to events — especially those that support worthy causes, being a presence at different events around town,” Pastor Hunter explains. “We can also donate supplies and send a financial gift to agencies in our area that are doing a great job, and encourage people with notes, cards and prayers.”
For example, he says, the Wesley Chapel District Park on Boyette Rd. recently needed breakfast food for an event for underprivileged kids and their parents, so Citrus Grove Church members cooked and delivered breakfast, as a way to let the community know they care.
He says he recognizes that Wesley Chapel is known for being a beautiful place to live with lots to do.
“All the shopping, dining and entertainment can be fine, but it can also wear a heart down with guilt, debt, and insecurity,” he says. “It can cause people to look around and say, ‘I have everything I could want, but I’m angry, lonely, or jealous. What am I missing here?’”
He says people don’t need more entertainment. They need to look deeper.
“My encouragement to (Neighborhood News) readers,” he says, “is to not put off thinking about the biggest questions of life. Have those big conversations with your kids and your spouse about our purpose in life and what happens after this life. I’m here to encourage you to find answers to those big questions.”
Elaine Miller and her husband, Ralph, are members at Citrus Grove Church who want to grow and serve alongside others in Wesley Chapel.
“We had been involved in a mission congregation that our son and daughter attended in Minnesota,” Elaine says. “We watched it grow from meeting in a cafeteria to meeting in a strip mall, to now they have their own building.”
The Millers retired to Florida from Minnesota, and say they love living in Wesley Chapel.
“People in Florida seem so much happier, and we love the sunshine.”
Elaine also says she likes that her church is relaxed and comfortable, and that the people are friendly and welcoming. “If you need anything, people are willing to help out. It’s like a family.”
She adds that the world around us can feel very uncertain and like it’s constantly changing.
“Covid kind of turned us upside down, too,” Elaine says. “But, the church provides a constancy because God is constant. There’s a sense of peace (here) that I think a lot of people are looking for.”
Citrus Grove Lutheran Church meets Sundays at 9:30 a.m. inside Pinecrest Academy, located at 33347 S.R. 54, near New River Rd. in Wesley Chapel. For more information, visit CitrusGroveChurch.com, or call or text Pastor Hunter at (813) 788-4126.
