Category: Business

Florida Orthopaedic Institute opens 10th office, in Wesley Chapel

With 25 years of experience treating patients throughout the Tampa Bay area, the doctors and staff at Florida Orthopaedic Institute are excited about their newest office, located in the Shoppes of Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., directly across from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC). The newest office has begun accepting patients, which is helping Florida Orthopaedic Institute meet the increasing demand for specialized orthopaedic care that can help residents of Pasco County stay active.

The Board-certified doctors and surgeons at Florida Orthopaedic Institute have been recognized globally for their expertise. Headquartered in North Tampa, there are nine other locations for patients who live in or near Bloomingdale, Brandon, Citrus Park, Northdale, Oak Hill/Brooksville, Palm Harbor, South Tampa, Sun City Center and Temple Terrace.

Wesley Chapel is the 10th Florida Orthopaedic Institute office, and will offer physician services, physical therapy and X-rays. Additionally, three Board-certified physicians staff the new office:

Christopher Baker, M.D., a fellowship trained specialist in sports medicine and shoulder reconstruction; Brian Palumbo, M.D., who specializes in hip and knee replacement surgery, with a focus on diagnosing and treating hip and knee arthritis, and Timothy Epting, D.O., who focuses on injuries and disorders of the foot and ankle, as well as general orthopaedic conditions.

In order to maintain the highest level of orthopaedic skill, Florida Orthopaedic Institute only employs doctors who have fellowship training.

“This additional training is just part of what sets us apart,” says Dr. Baker, “especially when the sophisticated work of joints is involved. In order to keep our patients active, the precision of the treatment is paramount to success.”

Dr. Baker has been with Florida Orthopaedic Institute for two years and has practiced in the area for five. He graduated cum laude with his M.D. degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville and completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His fellowship at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas (in Spartanburg, SC) gave him an extra year of study in sports medicine and shoulder reconstruction, making him the only fellowship-trained shoulder specialist in eastern Pasco County.

Dr. Baker has been very influential in Pasco County’s high school athletics since he assisted in opening the sports medicine programs at Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills high schools. He also treats professional athletes and has served as the orthopaedic & sports medicine physician for the Tampa Bay Storm Arena Football League team.

Dr. Baker does more than just care for athletes. He also treats patients who have shoulder pain stemming from aging or injury. Many patients avoid shoulder treatment because they are afraid they will need surgery or because of the misconception that pain is a normal part of aging, but Dr. Baker always informs his patients about available alternatives.

“There are a lot of options other than surgery, like physical therapy or cortisone injections,’’ he says. “Our mission is to do what is best for the individual patient.”

Even when surgery is necessary, Dr. Baker says he does not go straight to invasive surgical techniques. He uses the latest technologies and says that many repairs are done with an arthroscope to minimize incisions. Other doctors at Florida Orthopaedic Institute, like Dr. Palumbo, also believe that minimizing surgical trauma and muscle damage should be a high priority for any surgeon.

Before studying medicine, Dr. Palumbo served in the Special Operations Command for the U.S. Air Force. He later earned his M.D. degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he also served as a resident in the Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. He also attended a one-year surgical fellowship at the combined residency program at Harvard Medical School’s Harvard Orthopaedics in Cambridge, MA, and at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital Department of Adult Reconstruction in Boston.

Dr. Palumbo specializes in hip and knee arthritis management, joint replacement surgery and the treatment of problematic or painful hip and knee joint replacements. He is Board-certified by the American Association of Hip & Knee Surgeons and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

One method Dr. Palumbo uses to minimize surgical trauma is the direct anterior approach (DAA) for hip replacement surgery. He explains that, “Rather than cutting through or damaging muscles, (with the DAA approach) you’re simply spreading certain muscles to the side, using their natural tissue planes. It’s like opening a window versus breaking through it.”

For knee replacement candidates, Dr. Palumbo offers partial (rather than total) knee replacements whenever possible. He feels that sparing hip and knee joint muscles and preserving bone (when possible) can lead to improved and faster recovery and exceptional long-term outcomes.

Dr. Palumbo firmly believes in the importance of fellowship-trained, specialized surgeons. “The added training and expertise this provides allows us to care for complex failed and painful joint replacement issues,” he says. “ Approximately 30 percent of joint replacements I perform are re-do replacements for old or failed joint replacements.”

Educating patients is a core philosophy at the Florida Orthopaedic Institute, whose surgeons encourage patients to seek out options to ensure that they are getting a doctor who is experienced in treating their particular type of injury.

Dr. Epting is new to Florida Orthopaedic Institute, bringing expertise in injuries and disorders of the foot and ankle. He also is Board-certified in orthopaedic surgery, with fellowship training from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Prior to joining the Florida Orthopaedic Institute team, Dr. Epting served three years as an attending orthopaedic surgeon at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. He also served as an orthopaedic surgeon in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2010. “My military experience and fellowship training allow me to explore all options for my patients so they can receive the best possible care,” he says.

You can visit Florida Orthopaedic Institute’s new Wesley Chapel office at 2653 BBD, or visit FloridaOrtho.com for more information. Florida Orthopaedic Institute is open Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Call (800) FL-ORTHO to make an appointment or to talk to a staff member. — Submitted to & edited by Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

Connected City bringing promise of hi-tech community to Wesley Chapel

Paul and Marie Miller moved from Tampa to Wesley Chapel two years ago to get away from city living and to enjoy the country life. They bought 10 acres just north of S.R. 54, and figured they would spend their free time on their quiet, rural property.

However, the city may not be such an easy place to escape.

A Connected City, which began planning in late 2014, is coming to a 7,800-acre area running north from Overpass Rd. in Wesley Chapel to S.R. 52 in San Antonio, and west from I-75 to Curley Rd. The Connected City is touted by developers and planners as a first-of-its-kind high-tech community with emphasis on gigabit internet access, job creation, alternative transportation along integrated roadways with two first-in-the-country man-made crystal lagoons all bolstered by a detailed 50-year plan.

Metro Development Group, a Tampa-based company, is leading the planning for the area. It owns about 30 percent of the property in the area, but will welcome the participation of other developers , doing everything from residential to commercial and retail.

Metro is already building one housing development at Epperson Ranch, and will begin construction on another starting next year. It also intends to build developments for office, retail, multifamily and light high-tech manufacturing.

Heidt Design LLC, which was also involved in the adjoining 22,000-acre Villages of Pasadena Hills in Zephyrhills – Pasco County’s largest development — was hired by Metro “to augment Pasco County’s resources to do this very special plan,’’ said Pat Gassaway, Heidt’s president.

The Miller’s property, however, may be in the way of progress.

For the past two months, a series of community meetings have been held at Wesley Chapel Elementary (WCE) to address concerns of residents in the 7,800-acre area, some of whom will be displaced.

A fifth and final community meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 13, 6 p.m., also at WCE — to discuss the connected city corridor, a pilot program which was created by a Growth Management bill (SB 1216) which speeds up the process for creating city-connected corridors. For the 10-year length of the pilot program, there will be no state oversight.

Roads were the hot topic of conversation at the last community meeting. Construction on Overpass Rd. and Curley Rd., where four of the eventual six lanes of both roads are being built, is already under way. The project’s network of roads, approximately 144 lanes miles with 82 additional miles for alternative transportation, were presented to the 50 or so people in attendance at the last meeting on Dec. 2 on large poster boards with residents encouraged to make suggestions.

The Millers took a black magic marker and redrew the one road that concerns them the most — the one planned to run right through their property in the southeast corner of the Connected City area.

“I think the idea of a Connected City is awesome, but as it is right now, the road going through our property isn’t going to let us enjoy our property, our little oasis,’’ said Marie Miller. “I’d prefer this be done on a blank slate of land, not disrupting (existing) landowners.”

Many in attendance at a contentious Dec. 2 meeting say they also will be disrupted, either by the proposed roadways or the construction that will be required to build them. Bigger roads will equal fewer homes and less of their property, they said, especially along Tyndall Rd., the topic of most of the discussion at the last two meetings.

“What’s in this for us?,’’ asked someone in the audience. Others said that the only ones benefiting would be the developers who were making money on the Connected City.

Gassaway, while acknowledging that some residents will be displaced, replied that the roadways and infrastructure, “will benefit everyone in the area.”

At a Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) Workshop at the Historic Courthouse in Dade City a few days later (on Dec. 8), Gassaway told county commissioners that there would be pushback on some of the items, including resistance from some residents on giving up their land and way of life. “But I’ve also had people come to me and say ‘This is a great idea, I can’t wait for you to buy my land,’’’ he added.

The Millers have hope changes can be made so roads bypass their land, but have resigned themselves to the possibility of having to sell.

“We have zero control,’’ Paul Miller said. “We realize they are coming and are going to do what they want to do, we’re just trying to gather the info so we can get the most value for what we feel the value of the property is.”

Gassaway noted that local residents can still have some effect on the roadway plans.

He noted that the most constructive and feasible recommendations from the Dec. 2 meeting could be implemented in the future. While six-lane roads are going to be mostly straight and therefore, “the amount of wiggling you can do to meander around constraints is somewhat limited,’’ Gassaway added that planners can be much more flexible when making changes along a smaller, winding path like Tyndall Rd.

“Well, we’re not aiming for them,’’ Gassaway said of the homes in the development area, but he won’t be able to pinpoint the exact number of the approximately 250 possible homeowners who might be affected until the latest community recommendations are studied.

The Allure Of Speedy Internet

Internet companies are always touting faster speeds to lure new customers. But what if you could upload an hour of high-definition video to YouTube in five seconds, or back up a 500Gb hard drive in less than 10 minutes, or load your entire photo collection to the cloud in half that time?

Those possibilities, and more, are coming to Wesley Chapel.

Last week it was announced that because of the connected city plans, Wesley Chapel will be home to the first planned “Smart Gigabit Community” in the United States to be built from the ground up, with a fiber network offering blazing internet speeds and serving as the backbone for new advances in education, healthcare, public safety and energy and transportation.

The “Smart Gigabit Community” will be the heart of the connected city corridor.

“It will ignite the next generation of American innovation,’’ Kartik Goyani, Metro’s vice president of operations, told commissioners on Dec. 8.

Wesley Chapel is already home to blazing fast ULTRAFi in the Union Park development, and cities like Kansas City and Cleveland and Austin, TX., neighborhoods are home to gigabit speed internet.

But US Ignite, a non-profit organization established in cooperation with the National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will work with Metro Development Group to make the connected city the first to install the network at the beginning of community development.

The allure of gigabit internet, however, has taken a backseat with the older crowds at the community meetings. Instead, residents want to how development will impact the Floridan aquifer, how sewers and sinkholes will be dealt with, and how the area, which has been beset with flooding the past few years, will handle any more water.

Previous meetings have addressed other issues that also have raised the ire of locals. The Nov. 4 meeting at WCE raised concerns about the loss of rural life and the potential impact on the environment. Residents questioned Gassaway about the possibility of fracking coming to the area, while others were concerned about population densities.

A handful of residents wanted to make sure the environment was protected. Of the 7,800 total acres of land to be developed, 1,838 of those are protected wetlands.

Gassaway said the plan will eliminate 178 acres of wetlands, but the remaining wetlands will be enhanced to yield a net gain, bringing the total wetland area in the project to 2,100 acres, although some residents were skeptical due to what they feel are already-weakened environmental protections, no state oversight and a stated desire by stakeholders for speedy permitting.

All local, state and federal rules will be followed in upland habitat management, said Kyle Parks of B2 Communications, which is working with Heidt.

There also have been concerns about traffic, with one resident pleading for cloverleaf exit ramp designs at the existing I-75/S.R. 52 and the planned I-75/Overpass Rd. exchanges to keep traffic flowing, while others worried about the disruption construction would have in an area where many of the roads are two-lane dirt paths and where people have traditionally come to expect to live in privacy.

Some of those roads in the initial designs are planned to go near or through the property of some residents, like the six lanes that split the Millers’ 10 acres.

Miller and others said they hoped once Heidt and Metro saw which homes were disturbed most by roadways, changes in the proposed roadway designs could be made.

While a dozen or so residents raised their hands to ask questions at the Nov. 4 meeting, not everyone expressed skepticism.

Margie Tingley, who owns Tingley Systems Inc., a technology-based company in San Antonio, moved here in 1981, said the Connected City and the progress it promises will be great for the area.

“If this can go forward the way it looks, and everyone can buy into it, the whole area will be put in the spotlight,’’ she said.

Edward Jones Financial Services Can Help You Get Retirement-Ready

By Celeste McLaughlin

William Morales of Edward Jones Financial Services, located across Bruce B. Downs Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel can help you with your retirement and other financial planning needs…and much more.

Morales and office administrator Nancy Carazo previously worked together at the Edward Jones office in Tampa Palms before moving to their current Wesley Chapel location.

Financial advisor William Morales, AAMS (Accredited Asset Management Specialist), and longtime branch office administrator Nancy Carazo make up the Edward Jones Financial Services team in the Windfair Professional Center, located across Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC).

Morales and Carazo have been serving clients in this location since 2012, when they closed their Tampa Palms office and moved it to Wesley Chapel. Morales had joined the company in 2009, while Carazo celebrated her 21st anniversary with Edward Jones this fall.

“I always wanted a Wesley Chapel branch,” says Morales, who lives in Meadow Pointe with his wife and two daughters, both of whom attend the Pasco-Hernando State College Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch. Carazo also lives in Meadow Pointe, making the Wesley Chapel office a convenient locale for the pair to serve their neighbors and community.

“We are a full-service agency, and I wear many different hats,” explains Morales. “When I work with clients, I may serve as their stock broker, insurance agent and bond dealer. At its core, my work is as a financial planner.”

He explains that he helps his clients in any of five different core areas, depending upon each client’s stage of life and their individual needs:

Planning for a comfortable retirement (for those who are currently working)
Enjoying retirement (for those who have already retired)
Paying for education
Preparing for the unexpected
Saving money on taxes

“In 1922, Edward Jones, Sr., founded the firm, which he passed on to his son, Ted,” explains Morales. “When Ted passed, he left the company to the employees, making it the only financial services firm of its size that is held privately.”

Morales explains that this means Edward Jones is unique in the industry, as it is not a publicly traded company itself, and has no Board of Directors and no shareholders, so his singular focus can be on pleasing his clients. Edward Jones branches are independently owned and small, but they are not franchises. All 11,500 branches throughout the U.S. and Canada are held by Edward Jones, which is headquartered in St. Louis, MO.

Morales works with his clients through a five-step process, starting with “Where am I today?” and “Where would I like to be?” Then, he says, the next steps — “Can I get there?” and “How do I get there?” — are his job. Once he’s worked with his clients through those steps, Morales says he continues to advise them to determine, “How can I stay on track?”

“I take care of financial affairs for a select group of families in our area,” he says, “with about half of my clients working families, and the other half already retired.”

He says this “select group” of both working families and retirees is limited not by any particular criteria, but because he limits himself to maintaining a small group of clients so that he can manage all of their needs well.

“If we get too big, we lose that personal touch,” he says. “(It makes it) tough to deliver the same level of service.”

Morales says the most important thing to do when you’re looking for a financial advisor is to find someone you can trust and can hopefully work with for the rest of your life.

“The person has to be someone you like, someone who makes you feel comfortable,” he says.

Another piece of advice he gives is this: “Don’t let your emotions drive your financial decisions. For example, if your favorite store has a 50 percent off sale, you’d probably run to go shopping. Yet, with stocks, many people get scared when the price drops, so they want to sell, rather than buy.” In other words, he adds, “to meet your long-term goals, don’t let your emotions get you off track.”

Morales also says that many people see the stock market in their daily lives but don’t know what it actually is or how it affects them. For example, you may hear a change in the Dow Jones Industrial Average reported on the nightly news. But, the Dow only tracks the price of 30 large companies, he explains. If you don’t own any stock in those companies, what happens with the Dow is less relevant to you. “It’s much more important to understand what financial products you’re invested in,” he says.

And, educating his clients about those companies (and financial products) is a big part of what Morales does every day. In addition to equity investments, such as stocks, Morales also offers his expertise regarding annuities, retirement plans, estate considerations, education savings, fixed-income investments such as bonds and certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts, life insurance, mutual funds, as well as saving, spending and borrowing solutions.

Satisfied Customers…

Roy and Jane Spencer first encountered Morales when they moved two years ago to the Wesley Chapel subdivision of Watergrass from Arizona. They were working with a financial planner there, but say they weren’t happy with the service they were getting. They had a life insurance policy managed by Edward Jones, so Morales reached out to them, asked them a few questions about the policy, and invited them in to talk.

The Spencers agreed to meet with him, but thought they might be setting themselves up for little more than a sales pitch. They were soon thrilled to find out that they were completely wrong.

“William isn’t a sales guy,” says Spencer. “I’m in sales, so I know when someone’s trying to sell me something. Sitting with him really feels like chatting in someone’s living room. He knows his stuff, and he really cares. ”

Spencer says he left that initial meeting saying to his wife, “This is the type of (customer) service we’ve been missing.” He continues, “The stuff William knows is crazy. I try to do some research on my own, but after I spend an hour with him, I feel smarter and a lot more confident about the future.”

He says his entire experience with Morales has been positive, and unlike anything he’s had experienced in the past.

“I used to think I needed to have millions of dollars to get this kind of advice,” he says. “To have access to this level of service with a more middle income is amazing. And it’s important, because my future is in his hands.”

Morales concurs. “My job is relationship driven. I have to do the ‘nerd work’ and crunch the numbers, but most of what I do is serve my clients, and there’s no cost for advice.”

Morales explains a first-time appointment with him is similar to visiting a new doctor. “I’m going to ask you a lot of personal questions, so I can really understand what’s going on with you financially,” adding that he uses financial questionnaires and conversation to help determine his clients’ needs.

Once someone becomes Morales’ customer, they can choose to pay a flat annual fee for Edward Jones to manage all their assets or the more traditional method, where Morales receives his payment from the mutual funds, insurance policies and other investments he sells.

“One thing that makes us unique from our competition is that there are no Edward Jones investments to sell,” says Morales. “We sell the products of all the other companies, such as Fidelity, for the same cost to you as if you bought directly from them.”

Morales recommends working with a large firm, such as Edward Jones, “because the big firms have oversight. Unlike independent financial planners who don’t work for a larger company, Edward Jones has measures in place to watch what I do.”

Before joining Edward Jones, Morales was president of a mortgage company in New Tampa and served six years in the U.S. Army Ordinance Corps, spending four years stationed in and around Kuwait. Originally from New York City, Morales and his family moved to Tampa, where he graduated from Chamberlain High.

For more information, call branch office administrator Nancy Carazo at 991-7034, and she’ll schedule your appointment with Morales at the Edward Jones office in Wesley Chapel. You can also stop by the office at 2748 Windguard Circle, Suite 101 (in the office plaza behind The Hungry Greek).

Pinot's Palette unleashes your inner Picasso

By Gary Nager

I’m definitely no artist — in fact, I think I definitely have less artistic talent than most of the dozens of people who came out to paint for the Oct. 23 Grand Opening (and Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, or WCCC, ribbon-cutting ceremony) at the new Pinot’s Palette, which is located in the Shoppes at New Tampa plaza, just south of the intersection of S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs {BBD} Blvd.).

So, why do I feel this compulsive need to go back to the tenth Florida location of Pinot’s Palette, a new chain with fewer than 150 locations in the U.S. and Canada that was named the 18th best new franchise in the country by Enterpreneur magazine?

Maybe it’s the fact that Pinot’s Palette allows you to both drink and release your “inner Picasso” while taking a two-hour art lesson that allows you to walk away with your own acrylic-paint-covered canvas and a lot of great memories while surrounded by some great people (and good beer and wine on tap).

The owner of the Wesley Chapel location, James Serrano, is a friendly, outgoing guy who says he has no artistic ability himself, but he “knew a great idea when I saw it.”

Serrano and his equally gregarious crew of mostly college students who do have artistic capabilities will make you feel at home — if your home has a way-cool art studio built into it, that is.

Many of my friends and colleagues from the WCCC and Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary Club were on hand to enjoy our first taste of Pinot’s during Serrano’s VIP Painting Party following the ribbon-cutting — and there were rave reviews all around, even if my finished product looked almost nothing like the art we were supposed to copy.

Pinot’s Palette is located at 1718 BBD. For info, including a list of class times, visit PinotsPalette.com/Wesley Chapel or call 928-8131 and please tell Serrano and crew that the Neighborhood News sent you! — GN

Becca’s Bubbles Brings Pet Grooming Right To Your Doorstep

By Celeste McLaughlin

When your dog needs to be bathed, clipped or shaved, Becca’s Bubbles Mobile Grooming Salon will bring its collection of grooming tools, shampoos, brushes, combs, colognes, bandanas and bows right to you.

Perfect for older pets, pets who get nervous taking a trip in the car, or for any pet parents who don’t have time to go somewhere to have their pet shampooed or clipped, Becca’s Bubbles drives its grooming truck right to your front door.

Owner and groomer Becca Miltz is an animal lover who has lived in Seven Oaks since 2006. She was working as a nanny when she began to look for a purpose for her life’s work.

“I wanted to find something I felt passionate about, where I could be hands on,” she says. “So many people go to work every day and don’t love what they do. I want to love my work.”

She was researching opportunities in both daycare and working with animals, and she learned about the Tampa Bay Pet Grooming Academy in South Tampa. It felt like the perfect fit, so she enrolled.

She completed an intense, nine-week course at the grooming academy. “I had equipment in my hands from the beginning,” she says. “There were always dogs there, so I learned quickly.”

She graduated in May of 2015 and launched her business in June.

“This is where my heart is,” she says. “I get to spend all day with dogs.”

Becca’s brightly colored mobile grooming truck shows up at your doorstep at your scheduled appointment time. Inside, the truck houses a grooming table and all the equipment she needs to make your dog look his or her very best. She doesn’t need a hose or anything from you, because her truck is fully equipped with power, water, a heater, vacuum and even a bathroom and microwave. She has two dryers, including a soft dryer for older pets who need special care.

In fact, the entire grooming experience is a good fit for those types of pets.

“I can accommodate dogs who are older, who need more assistance and more help feeling comfortable,” says Becca.

Diane Johnson is a Meadow Pointe resident who says Becca does just that for her golden retriever.

“My dog, Seabee, is 10 1/2,” explains Diane. “As she gets older, it’s been harder for me to get her to the place I had been having her groomed. And at her age, she requires special care. Becca has always provided that for us.”

Diane happened to see a Facebook ad for Becca’s Bubbles, so she decided to give it a try.

“I love the fact that Becca’s Bubbles just pulls right into my driveway,” she says. “Becca’s service is phenomenal.”

Diane says her two other dogs, a chocolate Lab and a Chesapeake Bay retriever, don’t require much grooming because they have short hair, but that doesn’t stop them from climbing in the Becca’s Bubbles truck.

“They march right up into the truck and look at everything,” Diane says.

“We are extremely satisfied with Becca’s Bubbles,” she adds. “For the quality, and the peace of mind, it’s worth every penny.”

Becca says, “I’m very pro-animal. I’ll do anything I can to help your pet have a great grooming experience.”

Services

Customers can choose between three packages. First, the bath package includes trimming nails, cleaning pads, cleaning and trimming ears, shampoo, conditioner, cologne, bandana, and a de-shed treatment. The next option is a full groom, which includes the bath package, plus clipping the entire dog. Becca also offers a face, feet, and tail clip, so the dog is bathed and trimmed neatly in the areas where it most needs it.

Additional services, such as a flea bath and even teeth brushing, are also available.

She says most clients schedule their grooming on a regular basis, usually every four weeks, but there is no commitment required.

“I generally go to people’s homes, although I could also visit their office or another spot,” says Becca. “All I need is a parking spot or a driveway.”

For pricing information, visit the company’s website at BeccasBubbles.org. Becca is offering all first time clients $5 off, and a multiple pet discount of $5 off each additional pet. She’s offering a Black Friday special, too. If you call by Nov. 27 to book your appointment, your pet will get a free blueberry facial and a toothbrush included in its grooming package.

Becca explains that the blueberry facial is a deep conditioning treatment and massage that actually can brighten the color of your dog’s coat.

Why Try Becca’s Bubbles?

Becca says the biggest benefit to your pet is the personal service she provides. Your pet is never in a crate, and never with other animals, which could inadvertently expose him or her to disease and parasites. Becca’s clean, sanitary, professional environment doesn’t require a car trip for your dog, which is just the start of the stress-free experience she provides.

And it’s not just your pet’s well being that she cares about. Becca looks forward to using her skills and tools to care for animals who aren’t lucky enough to have a pet parent yet.

“I could maybe even save a life,” says Becca. “Dogs look so scruffy at the pound, but they’re so fluffy in the pet store. If I can donate my time, maybe I can do good for an animal who needs it.”

She explains she is currently talking with shelters where she just might be able to save lives. She hopes to clean up the dogs and give them cute bandanas or bows so they are more attractive to potential owners.

Becca’s Bubbles serves Wesley Chapel, New Tampa and surrounding areas. Appointments are available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., with evening appointments available for an additional charge. To schedule your appointment with Becca’s Bubbles, call 997-2796 or email Becca@beccasbubbles.org. You also can get more information online at BeccasBubbles.org or find her on Facebook by searching “Becca’s Bubbles Mobile Grooming Salon.”