Chamber Luncheon Reveals Wiregrass Ranch Plans & Calls Out Pasco For Non-Compliance Of Its Agreement Regarding The Sports Campus

“Pasco County is in default of our agreement regarding the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus,” said Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter at the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC)’s new office in the Signature Workspace at the Shops at Wiregrass on Mar. 12. ““They are out of time; they are well past the deadline we gave them to get into compliance.”

Although Porter and his development manager Scott Sheridan talked about all aspects of what is already in place and what is still to come to the Porter family’s 5,100-acre cattle ranch (which stretches from S.R. 54 to south of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel) at the Chamber luncheon, the blockbuster news coming out of that meeting, attended by about 70 people, was Porter’s promise to “take back the (160-acre Sports Campus) property and sue the county for its non-compliance of the terms of our agreement,” referring to the “Flycatcher” agreement between Wiregrass Ranch and Pasco County, which was created when the land was donated to the county to build the Sports Campus. “The county was never supposed to manage that property,” despite the fact that Pasco voted to self-manage the Sports Campus beginning on June 1, 2023, after also voting unanimously to find RADDSports — the previous management company of the Sports Campus — in default of its agreement in Oct. 2022. The Board of County Commissioners (BOC) also voted unanimously to spend $6 million of taxpayer funds to buy out RADDSports from that agreement as of June 1 – without ever proving that RADD was in default of its managerial contract.

One of the problems, according to Porter, was that Pasco was already supposed to provide five additional outdoor fields, a trail system, concession stands and additional parking on the property (in addition to the two outdoor soccer fields and 98,000-sq.-ft. arena originally constructed when Phase 1 of the Sports Campus opened in 2020). Not only were those additional fields never built, the county never even put them out to bid until late 2023, when Pasco said it would cost $15.2 million to build them. “But,” Porter asked, “how much less would it have cost if the fields had gone to bid five years earlier, before Covid, as the county had promised?” 

Sheridan also noted that, “We want to make sure that this continues to be an asset to the community…a tourist-development-focused asset — that is its first and primary mission. That is what our agreement with the county says it should be, and not necessarily a county park. The purpose is for it to be a tourist development asset to get people dining in our restaurants, shopping at our retail (stores) and staying in our hotel rooms…adding tax base to our local economy.”

“Scott has a much more upbeat outlook on that asset than I do,” Porter said. “They should already have that (Phase 2) done and they are failing in their agreement with us. The county is four or five years behind on delivering the fields and it’s required that they use an outside operator to manage that asset. We have put them on notice that they have crossed the line on this one and they’ve crossed it badly. Government has no business trying to bring in and run stuff like that. Hopefully, they get it back to where it needs to be because if not, we’re going to solve this ourselves and how doesn’t matter to me.  They made a promise and we’re not going to play games, which is what they’ve been doing. So, we can do it nicely or, if they want, we can go to war.”

When asked about the lack of enough parking at the Sports Campus by Becky Hayes, the general manager of the Residence Inn hotel adjacent to the Sports Campus, Porter said, “I’m not a math genius, but I know that they could have built a helluva lot of parking spots for the money they used to buy out a group (RADD) that they signed an agreement with. They spent more than $5 million on that, instead of using the money to fix a problem.” 

Following the Mar. 12 luncheon, District 2 (which includes the Sports Campus and much of Wesley Chapel) Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman spoke with the Neighborhood News and said that Porter was “absolutely correct in his assessment of the situation with the Sports Campus and he has every right to take back the property because Pasco is not in compliance with that Flycatcher agreement.”

Commissioner Weightman also told the Neighborhood News that he would provide numbers to compare how the county’s Parks & Recreation Dept. has done managing the facility since taking over from RADD, but Porter said that the BOC should never have voted to take over the management of the Sports Campus — regardless of its reasons — and is only now getting ready to send out a Request for Quotes/Proposals from new operators to take over its management.

“So, write the county commissioners because it’s not necessarily them, it’s the staff in that (County Commission) office that keeps making excuses every damn day,” Porter said. “Let’s make it uncomfortable for them until they do something.”

“Downtown Wesley Chapel — Legacy Wiregrass Ranch”

Porter and Sheridan also gave updates on the previously announced (and getting ready to go vertical) 300-bed Orlando Health hospital, the 50-bed PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital (north of the Amberlin Apartments), the other planned medical buildings across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from the BayCare hospital, the 100,00-sq.-ft. Florida Cancer Specialists medical building (on the south side of S.R. 56, next to North Tampa Behavioral Health) and the highly anticipated “downtown Wesley Chapel that we call Legacy Wiregrass Ranch,” Porter said. “This group is the first to see the update on this, although we’ve been working on it for years.”

He added, “It’s not a  Town Center. I am so tired of it being referred to as a Town Center. There are 28 Town Centers (in Wesley Chapel), and I don’t know what those are but this is an actual downtown. Everybody uses that key word (Town Center) and it’s absolutely incredible because it’s usually a Publix and maybe a Rita’s Italian Ice or something like that and it does nothing. That’s what we call ‘commercial.’ But, this is something that’s legit and it has taken a long time, but this is going to happen. Day One, we will have 150,000 sq. ft. (of office), 100,000 sq. ft. of retail and that’s by design. And we’re investing in it ourselves — we’re building 100,000 sq. ft. across the street. Nobody begins with 350,000 sq. ft. in the county and we have that before it even starts building. We don’t want to pull the trigger too early because if you do, we set somebody up for failure.” 

Sheridan also noted, “Ours will be a true downtown urban development, with a 1,500-space elevated parking structure and five-story rental apartments with truly local businesses, including a food hall, on the bottom floor., plus a large green space area for outdoor entertaining. So, this is definitely urban in nature — four- or five-story apartments, a four- or five-story hotel, all just north of Orlando Health. This will be Phase One, about 25 acres, of a true downtown Wesley Chapel – Legacy Wiregrass Ranch.” 

Porter added, “There has to be residential. These are mid-rise apartment buildings, about 900 units. I don’t understand why the county is against rental units. Lifestyles have changed, so we need rental units, which may be five or six years out, not only here but throughout the ranch. But, if I can get them to do five or six stories here, I can get them to do seven or eight stories someplace else (in Wiregrass Ranch).”

Sheridan added that although the downtown area is likely at least two years away from beginning construction, “We are beginning to seek proposals now and there is some infrastructure already happening. But, by the time Orlando Health opens in late 2025, early 2026, the first phase of this will be on the heels of that.”

Porter also noted that although all of Wiregrass Ranch has a development plan, there will still be plenty of green space throughout the community. 

“Nobody cares more about this land and the wildlife on it than I do. That’s why we’ve taken such a careful approach to this development. People call me a control freak, and maybe I am, but we’ve turned down a lot of different things and we’re building a lot of this ourselves because I want this to be successful.”

“We’ve probably turned down ten gas stations in Wiregrass Ranch,” Sheridan added. “We finally allowed one to open (the 7-11 on Mansfield Blvd.) about a year ago and just agreed to a second one. “We have lost deals  — to great users — because we don’t want to give up control to somebody else.”

Porter noted, “One of my concerns is that everybody loves Wawa, but what happens if Wawa leaves? In our case, whoever takes that over would have to go through me again to make it a Kangaroo or something else.”

And finally, Sheridan says that Wiregrass Ranch currently provides, “about $1.4 billion in tax base to Pasco County. At build-out, conservatively, we’ll probably be about $6.5 billion in tax base. That generates huge revenue for the county.”

Kitchen Tune-Up Can Give Your Home A Whole New Look…For Less! 

If you can dream it, Al and Zein Aita’s local Kitchen Tune-Up franchise can make it a reality quickly. (Photos provided by Al Aita) 

Many homeowners look at their outdated kitchen cabinetry and long for a fresh, new look, but want to avoid living in dust, disruption and noise for a month or longer while their kitchen is being remodeled in a major renovation. 

The good news is that a much faster and more affordable alternative is available. 

Kitchen Tune-Up is a hassle-free way to update any kitchen without all of that the chaos. The local franchise was opened in 2021 by Tampa Palms residents Al and Zein Aita, who serve New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and the surrounding areas. Al says they were inspired to open the franchise location because, during the pandemic, most people were not buying new houses. Instead, many were upgrading their existing homes. 

“The demand was there, and this was something we could be passionate about,” Al says. “We want our customers’ kitchens to look good for their families and visitors. The kitchen is the heart of the house. To us, that was one of the selling points. Plus, we wanted to be part of a strong franchise. We are locally owned and operated, but we have the support of a large, well-established company that’s been around 35 years with a presence in 50 states and nine locations in Florida. Having that credibility was very important to us.” 

In fact, Kitchen Tune-Up today has more than 180 franchises serving nearly 300 protected territories throughout the U.S. and Canada. The company’s website — KitchenTuneUp.com — offers a design tool to mix and match the desired design and options. 

“It’s a way for the customer to get their imagination going, to get them to follow their initial idea,” says Al. “We use it initially to start the conversation. We explain the process from A to Z and give each customer a quote on the spot.” 

Working with Kitchen Tune-Up has many advantages over a traditional kitchen renovation, as it can transform any kitchen in as little as five days, with minimal disturbance to the home and lifestyle. The process begins with a free in-home consultation that lasts about 45 minutes. 

Al and Zein’s technicians are trained and certified, and use only high-quality materials and products. Their customers also get a warranty on the workmanship and materials, as well as a customer service guarantee. 

Best of all, a Kitchen Tune-Up offers considerable savings off the cost of a complete kitchen remodel, depending upon the products and services you choose. Customers also can finance their projects with low monthly payments and no interest for the first twelve months. 

Available Services 

Among Kitchen Tune-Up’s available services is Cabinet Re-dooring, which replaces your old cabinet doors and drawer fronts with new ones while keeping the existing cabinet boxes. Customers can choose from hundreds of styles and colors to match their taste and budget. 

Cabinet Refacing covers the existing cabinet boxes with new wood or a laminate veneer and installs new doors and drawer fronts. Customers can change the style, color and material of their cabinets and add new features like soft-close hinges, pulls and knobs. 

“Cabinet Re-dooring and Refacing are quick ways to upgrade the kitchen without the demolition and the mess,” Al says. “We keep the shape of the kitchen, but we update it. We give your cabinets new functionality and a beautiful, new look. (During construction, our) customers still have access to their cabinets, fridge and oven. They can function around us as we install and do the work.” 

New features, such as built-in trash cans, spice racks and other items, also can be added to make the kitchen more practical. 

Customers also can transform their cabinets with Cabinet Painting. This service upgrades your existing cabinets with a durable, professional-grade finish. You can choose virtually any color and add new hardware and accessories to complete the look. 

All it usually takes to get started working with Kitchen Tune- Up is one 45-minute consultation in your home.

“Painting is a cost-effective way to upgrade the kitchen without changing much about it,” Al says. “You just upgrade the color. The cabinets will look new and factory-painted without breaking the bank.” 

Al recalls customers who called him after someone else painted their cabinets and they didn’t like the outcome. 

“I’ve heard this story so many times,” he says. “Yes, we can even re-paint your already-painted cabinets to be something that still looks new.” 

Kitchen Tune-Up also designs and installs new custom cabinets for any kitchen. You can choose from various real wood types, finishes, door styles and storage solutions to create your dream kitchen at your initial consultation, where sample doors are brought in so you can see and feel the quality of the doors and decide upon the services you want to select. 

“If you have a special area of your house where you are looking to add a cabinet, a bar area, or something that does not fit the standard-size cabinet boxes, we’re able to custom-build something that will look nice and blend in with the rest of the house,” says Al. “That’s a unique service that we offer.” 

Kitchen Tune-Up also offers countertops and backsplashes as an accompanying service to refacing, re-dooring and painting. 

Client F. Lopez compliments the service he received in a 5-star Google review. 

“I did not like the color and shine from a previous painter. (Kitchen Tune- Up) stripped, refinished my current kitchen cabinets, and they came out great. No complaints, and the work was done timely and professionally. The gentleman doing the labor took pride in ensuring everything was neat, clean and looking its best. Communication was also wonderful! Would highly recommend their services.” 

Once you select your products and services, the doors are returned for their second confirmation, measurements are taken and the details and goals are finalized. The timeline from initial consultation to scheduling and ordering to completion averages between five to no more than 30 days. 

Kitchen Tune-Up can offer many affordable solutions that full kitchen remodeling companies may not provide. Al and Zein and their technicians are hands-on with their customers, instead of turning them over to some third party. 

“We take the customer step-by-step,” Al says. “If there are any issues, we can take care of them immediately. We try to do these services quickly and professionally because everyone is busy, and their time is limited. We know some people have kids and pets. We don’t want to be in their way for too long.” 

Visit KitchenTuneUp.com/tampa-north-fl or call (813) 822-5911.

Orlando Health Meets The Local Community At Chamber Event At PHSC 

(Above, l.-r.) NTBC President Hope Kennedy, PHSC Porter Campus Provost Dr. Davina Jones, Pasco EDC VP Mike Bishop, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter, Orlando Health VP John Walsh & Turner Construction VP Kim Neuscheler provided more than 150 attendees (photo below) with information about Wesley Chapel’s newest hospital at an NTBC-sponsored panel discussion on Feb. 21. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

Although Wesley Chapel already has two full-size, full-service hospitals located within a couple of miles of each other, the area’s largest hospital is now being built less than a mile from AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, the first hospital to open (more than a decade ago) in any of Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes (33543, 33544 and 33545). 

And, although Orlando Health Wesley Chapel has not yet begun going vertical, when the nonprofit hospital operator asked North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) president & CEO Hope Kennedy if she would be interested in hosting a community meeting to introduce Orlando Health to the local community, Kennedy says she jumped at the opportunity. 

“It was a no-brainer for us,” Kennedy said after the meeting was held on Feb. 21 at Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, which is located within a few hundred feet of the new hospital site now under development at the corner of S.R. 56 and Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. 

Kennedy asked Porter Campus Provost Dr. Davina Jones if she would be interested in having the meeting at PHSC, where the Chamber hosts its monthly Business Breakfasts, and the event was quickly put together. 

More than 150 NTBC members and a number of local contractors interested in working with Orlando Health on the project came to the meeting, which featured Kennedy, Dr. Jones, Pasco Economic Development Council VP Mike Bishop, Wiregrass Ranch developer JD Porter, Orlando Health VP of Facility Development & Asset Strategy John Walsh and Kim Neuscheler, the VP & general manager of Turner Construction Tampa, which is building the new hospital. 

Walsh said the 103-year-old Orlando Health decided to make its first foray into Pasco County and Wesley Chapel because of the area’s “amazing growth and opportunity,” especially after recently acquiring Florida Medical Clinic, the 52-office physician group that will allow Orlando Health to not only staff the new hospital, but create new partnerships in the area. 

When it is completed, Orlando Health’s will be the largest of the three hospitals in Wesley Chapel, at 395,000 sq. ft. and 300 total beds (although the $300-million first phase will include about 102 beds — 90 medical/surgical and 12 ICU and six operating rooms, with room for 78 additional beds in the building’s shell). It also will include two large (one 60,000 and the other 80,000 sq. ft.) medical office buildings on the same 35-acre site. 

Walsh also said that in addition to the Tampa office of Turner Construction, all of the subcontractors also will come from the local area, which explains in no small part why so many of those providers attended this community event. 

“This is such an exciting opportunity for Pasco County and the Wesley Chapel area,” Kennedy said. 

Walsh also stressed that although Orlando Health is building a hospital, “this is not a one-and-done kind of project…we’re also already working in Lutz to put in a free-standing ED (emergency department); we’re also building the two medical office buildings, which will have an ambulatory surgical center, imaging center and an array of acute care facilities and physician specialists to keep us all healthy, so maybe we won’t have to go through the doors of the hospital (which will need about 400 employees when it opens). It’s important to have that whole array of services. This is not ‘sick care,’ it’s health care.” 

Walsh also mentioned the possibility of adding 10-bed “micro-hospitals,” as needed to serve communities located further from the hospital that couldn’t necessarily support a full-size hospital of their own. 

“The most important things we build in a community is not the buildings,” Walsh added. “It’s the relationships.” 

Porter, who admitted that, “Our biggest fear was that this could turn out to be an albatross if we built too many hospitals,” also said that he knew Orlando Health was a great partner to work with and that, despite the presence of what will be three hospitals by sometime in 2026, “With all the growth out here, this area is actually still underserved. We’ve got a long, long way to go.” 

And, when Kennedy asked about what PHSC could do to help ensure that there is a useful workforce for the new hospital, Dr. Jones responded that, “As a State College, with a history as a Community College, we have a responsibility to know what the needs are in the communities that we serve. So, we’re asking ourselves now, ‘Do we have…are we offering… the right programs…to serve the business community that’s here?’ Our goal is to never get too comfortable and to always be willing to change with the community’s needs.” 

Meanwhile, Bishop agreed with Dr. Jones and talked about the growing life sciences in Pasco and the need for more partnerships. 

“Our challenge is to bring business to this county,” he said. “But, if we all work together, we can address the challenges we all face.” 

And, speaking of those partnerships, Neuscheler said that Turner, as one of the leading health care builders in the U.S., always strives to be a good community partner, giving “opportunities to smaller, local companies to do business with us, with our Turner Construction School, which many of you already have gone through, and is something we’ve done since 1969. We will be holding another one of those in October.” She added that veteran- and minority-owned companies will definitely be offered the opportunity to participate in this process. 

Neuscheler also noted that the hospital’s foundation should begin being built sometime in April or May, with vertical construction taking about six months once the foundation is laid. 

The panelists all also talked about innovation as an important part of the new hospital, which includes in construction, doctors, nurses and other hospital personnel and the equipment that they will be using — from robotic surgery to 3D printing, artificial intelligence and more. 

Walsh said that the merger with a respected partner like Florida Medical Clinic will help ensure that the right doctors will staff the hospital. 

“One of our mottos,” Walsh said, “is that we don’t just care for you, we care about you.” 

InnerVision Psychiatry — For Psychiatrist-Led Outpatient Ketamine Treatment

(L.-r.) Amanda Thompson, Dr. Joseph Pullara and Dr. Simon Chamakalayil of InnerVision Psychiatry, which is located in the Summergate
Professional Center behind Sam’s Club north of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel. (Photos by Charmaine George)

Isn’t it frustrating to feel like you’re out of options or settling for an incomplete solution to a problem? Many people with treatment- resistant anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are in that boat. However, Drs. Simon Chamakalayil and Joseph Pullara of InnerVision Psychiatry, in the Summergate Professional Center behind Sam’s Club in Wesley Chapel, may be able to offer these patients another treatment option — Ketamine.

What’s Exciting About Ketamine?

Ketamine was approved in 1970 by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) as a general anesthetic, but also has been used off- label (without formal approval yet from the FDA) for short-term pain relief and sedation, chronic pain management and migraines. In recent years, Ketamine has been increasingly studied for use in patients with psychiatric conditions, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and even suicidal ideation.

The exact way that Ketamine works to help patients with psychiatric conditions is not completely understood, but it is believed to be related to the drug’s psychedelic properties, which can cause feelings of detachment or disconnectedness. Since this is a new treatment approach, it can be helpful in patients who did not receive enough relief from more traditional treatments.

Unfortunately, because Ketamine has been available for more than 50 years, it is no longer protected by a patent and can be sold by any pharmaceutical company. This greatly reduces the potential profit that a pharmaceutical company can make off of Ketamine, even for a new use, and has eliminated those companies’ incentives to pursue the large- scale clinical trials required to submit for and receive FDA approval for Ketamine as a psychiatric treatment.

In 2019, Janssen Pharmaceuticals did successfully get FDA approval for one form of Ketamine called Esketamine, under the brand name SparavatoÂź. While this helped legitimize the use of Ketamine for psychiatric conditions, Esketamine was only FDA approved for treatment-resistant depression and depressive symptoms in adults who have acute suicidal ideation or behavior. Also, it is only available as a nasal spray that must be given under the supervision of a healthcare provider.

But thankfully, barriers for pharmaceutical companies do not stop independent research. In fact, it was while reading promising findings about Ketamine in medical journals when Dr. Pullara first became interested in Ketamine.

Is Ketamine safer than other anti-depressants or anti-anxiety/PTSD medications? It, like other psychiatric drugs, has side effects and potential for abuse if used in high (more than medically required) doses. Drs. Chamakalayil and Pullara are aware of this and take measures to minimize these issues.

As both doctors explain in a variety of posts and videos on Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, they use only low-dose Ketamine in their clinic, as that is the dosing that was mainly studied and supported by the medical community. In order to ensure patient safety and deter potential abuse, they only give Ketamine by intravenous (IV) infusions in their clinic under healthcare provider supervision, as opposed to oral Ketamine that could be given at home. “Monitoring is important,” says Dr. Pullara. “We don’t support at-home or oral Ketamine because it can be risky without monitoring.”

He adds that many of the main side effects of Ketamine — including nausea, vomiting, dizziness, drowsiness and increased heart rate and blood pressure — are often temporary and can be monitored and improved upon by adjusting the infusion rate.

A plus for IV Ketamine therapy for anxiety, depression and PTSD treatments is that it does not need to be given every day. The initial treatment — aka, the loading doses — are usually six doses over a two-week period. After that, if the Ketamine is helping, the patient will continue on maintenance treatment, which is based on managing symptoms.

Dr. Chamakalayil explains on InnerVisionPsychiatry.com that after completing the initial six treatments, they recommend bi-weekly treatments for the following month. After that, the frequency depends upon each patient’s need, ranging from every other week or monthly, every two to three months, or even every six months.

Perhaps the best part is that patients can experience an improvement in their symptoms much faster than they can using older treatment options.

“Ketamine works more quickly and differently than traditional anti-depressants,” says Dr. Chamakalayil. “With other drugs, it usually takes at least four weeks just to see an effect. With Ketamine, you can see a benefit within a few days to the first week.”

The Matthew & Maya Cases

There have been a few public cases in which Ketamine has been associated with bad outcomes, such as with “Friends” star Matthew Perry and locally, with Maya Kowalski.

Maya Kowalski did not suffer harm from Ketamine, but her healthcare team was concerned about her Ketamine use at a young age, and at her mother’s insistence. However, they initially did not know that Maya has a rare disease called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) and Ketamine was medically prescribed at higher doses to manage her pain. As stated earlier, for psychiatric conditions, only low-dose Ketamine is recommended.

Maya’s mother Beata ultimately committed suicide herself when doctors at All Children’s Hospital in Tampa feared she was abusing her daughter. The Kowalski family successfully sued the hospital in the now- famous “Take Care of Maya” case, which will reportedly be appealed to a higher court.

As for the unfortunate death of Matthew Perry, the doctors explain the circumstances behind his Ketamine use.

“By now, we have all seen the headlines
 “Matthew Perry died of the ‘acute effects of Ketamine,’” says Dr. Pullara. “The level of Ketamine found in his system was consistent with that of someone undergoing high-dose anesthesia. These high doses, combined with the sedative effects of buprenorphine, lorazepam and clonazepam found in his system, put him at a significant risk of sedation and respiratory depression. This is why the autopsy listed drowning as a ‘contributing factor’ in his death.”

He adds, “It was reported that Matthew was indeed undergoing IV Ketamine infusions for depression, similar to those offered at InnerVision Psychiatry. But his last infusion was about 1.5 weeks before his death, and as the autopsy report itself points out, the Ketamine in his system ‘could not be from that infusion therapy, since Ketamine’s half-life (time required for 50% of the drug to be eliminated by the body) is 3 to 4 hours or less.”

The Doctors Behind InnerVision

Dr. Pullara was born and raised in Lutz. After completing a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Biological Sciences at Florida State University in Tallahassee, he attended medical school at the American University of the Caribbean in St. Maarten and received his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree in 2015.

Dr. Pullara’s dedication to research-guided treatment advances led him to co-found The Journal of Psychedelic Psychiatry with some of his colleagues during his four-year psychiatry residency at the University of Kansas in Kansas City, MO, where he also served as chief resident. He currently serves as one of TheJournal’s deputy editors.

After finishing his residency in 2020, Dr. Pullara returned to Florida and began working at Lakeland Regional Hospital as a psychiatrist, where he met Dr. Chamakalayil, who was similarly interested in Ketamine for use in his psychiatric patient population.

Dr. Chamakalayil completed a combined BS/MD program in 2015 at the Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, PA. Afterwards, he was a general psychiatry resident at Temple University Hospital, also in Philadelphia, where he also served as chief resident.

Discovering a passion for helping children and adolescents, Dr. Chamakalayil obtained further specialization in child and adolescent psychiatry by completing a two-year fellowship at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, where he served as clinical chief fellow, in 2021. After completing his training, Dr. Chamakalayil relocated to central Florida to work at Lakeland Regional Hospital.

While working at the hospital together, both doctors saw difficult cases of patients requiring hospital admission for psychiatric care — and experienced exciting success when using Ketamine to treat these patients.

Dr. Pullara, who eventually moved from Lakeland to Wesley Chapel with his wife and two children, felt strongly that patients in his hometown area shouldn’t have to travel all the way to Tampa or Clearwater for psychiatrist- led Ketamine treatment.

Looking To The Future

Together, the doctors opened InnerVision Psychiatry in Wesley Chapel in November of 2021, becoming the first clinic offering IV Ketamine infusions for anxiety, depression and PTSD in Pasco County.

Converting a former Sylvan Learning Center location from the bottom up, they creating a tranquil, state-of-the-art facility for their patients. Working with their office manager Amanda Thompson and a team of four nurses, the clinic is open by appointment only during the weekdays to offer Ketamine infusions.

All patients must complete a screening form to ensure that they are good candidates for Ketamine treatment. It’s important to note that InnerVision does not treat pain, so any patients looking for Ketamine for pain relief are referred to pain management providers.

The doctors do not believe in a quick, walk-in treatment approach. They always provide a one-hour consultation to new patients to learn their treatment and medication histories and the symptoms they are experiencing before starting Ketamine treatment. If necessary, they will touch base with a patient’s primary care provider and psychiatrist. Then, on each appointment day, there is a pre- and post-treatment check-in to make sure patients are comfortable and feeling well before and after receiving Ketamine.

Even though the office just hosted a ribbon cutting event in January, the doctors estimate that they’ve already helped about 50 patients. Even better is that they’ve already heard great feedback from several of those patients.

One of Dr. Chamakalayil’s first patients at InnerVision was struggling with severe anxiety and PTSD since childhood. Like all of the clinic’s patients, this patient had already tried several different treatment options in the past and was therefore diagnosed with treatment- resistant disease.

After receiving the loading dose Ketamine treatments, Dr. Chamakalayil recalls that the patient said, “This is the calmest I’ve felt in my entire life. Now I understand what calm means.”

Later, after completing the loading doses, the patient provided an update. With the guidance of the patient’s psychiatrist, the patient stopped taking the two oral anti-depressants that the patient was previously taking. In the patient’s own words, “Ketamine saved my life.”

Right now, the doctors are focusing on Ketamine infusions. But, they believe strongly in evidence-based medicine and are keeping up with the latest research on other psychedelics. They are hopeful about offering patients new treatment options for difficult to treat psychiatric diseases in the coming years.

“There are promising clinical trials for mi- domafetamine or MDMA (the active ingredient in the street drug ecstasy) in PTSD treatment,” says Dr. Pullara. “It’s possible that by the end of this year, MDMA could receive FDA approval. Currently, there are only two FDA-approved treatments (for PTSD), so this would be the third. We would be interested in providing MDMA treatment to patients upon FDA ap- proval and the release of more research data.”

Dr. Chamakalayil also is looking to make a change. His family is still living in Lakeland for now, but they hope to make the move to Wesley Chapel soon, so they can be closer to the clinic— especially since he and his wife are expecting to welcome their first child in May.

InnerVision Psychiatry is located at 27774 Cashford Cir., Suite 102. The clinic is open by appointment only, Mon.- Fri., 9 a.m.–5 p.m. For more info, call (813) 428-5420, visit InnerVisionPsychiatry.com. The website also has links to the clinic’s social media pages, which are regularly updated with easy-to-follow, informative posts and videos.

Fields Insurance Moves To Wesley Chapel To Help With Home, Auto & More 

When you trust Fields Insurance to find you the right home, auto or other insurance policy, you’ll deal with the married team of Nancy & Michael Fields. Their office is located in the Medallion Corporate Park just north of S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

As the owner of five insurance agencies in Tennessee, and with more than two decades of experience, Michael Fields knows his way around the insurance business. 

When their only daughter, Bethany, graduated from Ole Miss University and took a job in Tampa, Michael and his wife Nancy decided to move to the area, too. 

In 2021, Michael acquired a Brandon-based insurance agency and Nancy retired after 33 years as a schoolteacher to help her husband with the newest branch of the family business. 

Over the past two years, they have bought a home in Grand Hampton and decided to move the agency to the Medallion Corporate Park, just north of S.R. 56 and east of I-75. 

Now, they have set down roots, are leaning in to their new community and are excited to help their neighbors. 

“We treat people like they want to be treated,” says Michael. “It’s important to be a person of integrity, and a person who can be trusted.” 

Fields Insurance helps people with personal and commercial property and casualty insurance. That’s primarily auto, home, renter, boat and motorcycle insurance, although they also write some life insurance policies, as well. Michael says that, since coming to Florida, he’s also written a lot of policies for vacation homes, condos and mobile homes. His agency helps both individuals and businesses, including offering business property and liability insurance. 

One designation that sets Fields Insurance apart is being recognized as a “Ramsey Endorsed Local Provider.” Dave Ramsey is an author and radio host who offers financial advice. While he’s recognized nationwide, he’s based out of Nashville, so Michael says Ramsey is extremely popular in his home state. People who take Ramsey’s classes and want to be connected with a trusted partner can be directed to Fields Insurance. 

“It puts us in a category that says we are an agency of integrity,” says Michael. “We always try to give you the insurance you need at a price that best fits within your budget.” 

While Michael will always strive to get his clients the best possible insurance at the lowest possible price to fulfill their needs, he says the most important thing is that he finds them the right insurance. 

“We are educational in the way we approach business,” he says. “We make sure people don’t sacrifice coverage to get the lowest rate.” 

The Challenges Of Florida 

Michael says that right now, prices across the board for auto and especially, homeowners insurance in Florida are very high, and that’s something that is out of his control. However, he says you can trust his agency to work with you and always act in your best interest. 

He adds that as an independent agency, Fields Insurance is able to work with a number of different top-rated companies, including Liberty Mutual, Allstate, Nationwide, Progressive, Safeco, Florida Peninsula, Slide, Cabrillo Coastal and more, although the companies that are writing new homeowners policies in Florida right now are definitely limited. 

A Little History 

Michael started out in the insurance business in 1999 in Memphis as an associate agent with Nationwide Insurance. In 2011, he went through a three-year training program as a “replacement agency executive” and became the primary agent at that location in 2014. 

In 2017, Nationwide made all of its agents independent, so he no longer sells exclusively Nationwide products. Since then, Michael has opened four more agencies in Tennessee and one in Florida. 

Wade and Pamela Simpson, who live in Seffner, were at a loss when they inherited a family home in Dunellon that was built in 1986 and still had its original roof. 

“I had been with State Farm for 25-30 years and they couldn’t help me,” says Wade. “I couldn’t even get other companies to talk with me. I was calling everyone and someone suggested this new company in the area, Fields Insurance. So I called, and Michael answered the phone.” 

Wade adds that he couldn’t believe the west Tennessee dialect he was hearing — which sounded exactly like his own — and that he and Michael discovered they were born and raised in neighboring towns in Tennessee. 

While it was fun to discover that connection, Wade says that what really stood out was how Fields Insurance was able to get a policy for his newly inherited home when others couldn’t. 

“I have recommended Fields Insurance to two dozen people in the last six months,” says Wade. “I say, ‘Quit calling everybody. Call Fields!’” 

Wade says that his State Farm agent later told him that his policy on a home he owns in Tennessee was going to be cancelled, so he reached out to Fields Insurance again, and again, Michael was able to help. 

“I saved tons of money,” Wade says, so he also switched his policy on his Seffner home to Fields Insurance, as well. “What a relief!” 

Wade also says that, for many years, he has rented a parking lot to park cars in during the Plant City Strawberry Festival. Last year, the doctor he rents the parking lot from told Wade he needed to have a $1-million liability policy. 

“I didn’t have a clue who to talk to about that,” Wade says, “so I called Fields and they had a policy for me within a week.” 

And, Wade adds, “Talk about customer service! They called me again (a few weeks ago) to ask if I need another policy for this year’s Strawberry Festival” (which begins Feb. 29). 

Michael says he invites those who are insurance price shopping or who have questions about insurance to give him a call anytime. 

“Quotes are free,” he says, “and it doesn’t hurt to get a quote. We try to work with everyone the best we possibly can and make it as simple as possible.” 

And, Nancy adds that they love serving the communities of Wesley Chapel and New Tampa. 

“We love the community connection here,” she says. “We’ve gotten season tickets to the Bucs and we’ve gone to Lightning games with our daughter. We love all the restaurants and how close everything is to us here.” 

Fields Insurance is located at 2600 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Ste. C1, in Wesley Chapel. For more information or for a quote on your home, auto, business or other property insurance needs, call (813) 651-0094, visit FieldsInsuranceAgency.com.