Saddlebrook Hosts FHWC’s Successful Women’s Health & Wellness Day

By Matt Wiley

Complimentary health screenings, a keynote speech from breast cancer survivor, and Pasco clerk of court, Paula O’Neil at Wesley Chapel's Saddlebrook Resort.
Complimentary health screenings, a keynote speech from breast cancer survivor, and Pasco clerk of court, Paula O’Neil at Wesley Chapel’s Saddlebrook Resort.

Calm and collected, Pasco County clerk of Circuit Court & comptroller Paula O’Neil spoke about her recent diagnosis as if it were a faint memory from another life. Few would suspect that the popular public official is still actively battling the deadly disease, as she spoke to hundreds of women about her experience fighting breast cancer.

On September 21, more than 700 women from all over Tampa Bay attended the inaugural Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) Women’s Health & Wellness Day at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel, taking part in breakout sessions with guest speakers and an exhibit room full of pampering and health screening opportunities, including mammogram registration, screenings for oral cancer, blood pressure and glucose, a grip strength test, a self-breast exam, as well as a balance test, body mass index (BMI) and body fat analysis from the FHWC Health & Wellness Center. The hospital also introduced its “Pink Army” campaign that encourages women to make sure that they get their annual breast cancer screenings.Continue reading

Bruce B. Downs ‘Segment D’ Widening Could Begin In 2017

By Matt Wiley

The portion of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in yellow (aka “Segment D”) above is the last phase of BBD to be widened. The project likely won’t begin before 2017.
The portion of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in yellow (aka “Segment D”) above is the last phase of BBD to be widened. The project likely won’t begin before 2017.

The previously unfunded final segment of the widening of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in New Tampa could begin sometime in 2017.

According to the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), BBD “Segment D,” which will widen the road from four to eight lanes from Pebble Creek Dr. to County Line Rd. and is estimated to cost more than $11 million, is ranked second on the MPO’s Long Range Transportation Plan and is part of the MPO’s 2014-15 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

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New Tampa Chamber Business Expo Draws A Crowd To Holiday Inn Express!

By Gary Nager

New Tampa Chamber of Commerce president Regina Ramalheira and VP Neil Heird gave away a variety of great prizes at the crowded Chamber Business Expo on September 26 at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near Muvico.
New Tampa Chamber of Commerce president Regina Ramalheira and VP Neil Heird gave away a variety of great prizes at the crowded Chamber Business Expo on September 26 at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near Muvico.

Congratulations go out to the New Tampa Chamber of Commerce, which hosted a highly successful Business Expo and annual meeting at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites on September 26.

More than 30 Chamber member businesses took part in the Expo, where everything from new area banks to Avon products to a newly opened boxing-for-fitness gym were on display for an estimated crowd of more than 200 attendees.Continue reading

St. Andrew Presbyterian Church Can Help You Keep God In Your Life

By Kathleen Schiop

Pastor David Shelor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Tampa Palms leads a children’s service.
Pastor David Shelor of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church in Tampa Palms leads a children’s service.

We have many responsibilities in our everyday lives, including work, paying our bills, raising our children, maintaining our physical health, and so many more, that it can become easy to ignore our spiritual well-being in lieu of the more “earthly” concerns in our lives. Many of us are just concentrating on getting by without realizing that we need to nourish our souls as well. Faith in God can give us solace, courage and hope in times of sorrow, desperation and help us better deal with our daily challenges.

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City Grill Opens!

By Gary Nager,

City Grill's Cuban Cigars Appetizer
City Grill’s Cuban Cigars Appetizer

You may or may not have noticed that there’s a cool, new restaurant that has opened at 5429 Wesley Chapel Village Market on S.R. 54 just east of I-75. Athough a lot of Wesley Chapel residents already are loving the place, what you may not yet have sampled, living here in New Tampa, is the elegant new City Grill, which is one of the first true sit-down, non-chain restaurants in Wesley Chapel, Continue reading