When AdventHealth cut the ribbon at the new 13,000-sq.-ft. Medical Group office in the AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Wellness Plaza on July 16, the event was much more than just a ribbon cutting, as the hospital announced that the eight Family Medicine residents who cut the ribbon would be the first to participate in the hospital’s new Family Practice residency program that will train eight new residents a year for three years at the new Medical Group location. Check out all of the news about AdventHealth on pages 4-5! (Photos by Charmaine George)
If anyone thought that Advent Health Wesley Chapel (AHWC), the first hospital to open in our area more than 12 years ago, was going to sit back and rest on its laurels and let newcomers BayCare Wesley Chapel and Orlando Health Hospital at Wiregrass take the lead in local health care, they were sadly mistaken.
Not only did AdventHealth cut the ribbon on a new 13,000-sq.-ft. space for its AdventHealth Medical Group in the hospital’s adjacent Wellness Plaza on July 16, AHWC president Erik Wangsness also announced the start of a new Family Medicine residency program in the new space.
As if that impressive new office, with its eight new Family Medicine residents and state-of-the-art technology wasn’t enough, the hospital also broke ground on July 9 on a new freestanding emergency room in Meadow Pointe and also is getting ready to break ground on the expansion of the hospital itself.
In other words, when it comes to AdventHealth in Wesley Chapel, to quote Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
More than 100 people attended the ribbon cutting for the new AdventHealth Medical Group office on July 16, including District 54 State Representative Randy Maggard and Pasco County Commissioners Seth Weightman, Jack Mariano and Lisa Yeager.
(l.-r) County Commissioner Lisa Yeager, State Rep. Randy Maggard, AHWC president Erik Wangsness & County Commissioners Jack Mariano and Seth Weightman.
“I understand we have a County Commission quorum here,” Wangsness quipped. “We genuinely appreciate the support.”
Also on hand were several of Wangsness’ colleagues, including several of the hospital’s Board members, AHWC Foundation Board members, President & CEO of Administration David Ottati, chief clinical officer Dr. Rajan Wadhawan, Family Medicine founding program director Dr. Omari Hodge, Dr. Robert Rosequist, and AHWC CFO Jonathan Fisher, as well as the eight new residents themselves.
The new facility includes an in-house laboratory, procedure room, classrooms and eleven exam rooms, 4D ultrasound, preventive care, minor procedures and chronic disease management, as well as the residents and their supervising physicians.
Dr. Rajan Wadhawan Dr. Omari Hodge
“Each year, we will bring in eight new residents into the program, so in three years, we will have 24 new doctors who will be serving the community in the clinic and in the hospital in outpatient settings and it’s going to be a powerful way to serve the needs of not only this growing community but throughout Florida.”
He added, “Across Florida, there’s a dearth of physicians. This new residency program is a way that we can bless this community through health care. And, we hope and believe that many of them will choose to stay here when they complete their three-year residencies and continue to serve this growing community.”
Dr. Wadhawan mentioned that the new family medicine program, “is one of three GME (graduate medical education) programs we launched this year in our West Florida division. On July 1, 2024, we had 40 new doctors join these programs as trainees.”
Dr. Hodge, who will be in charge of the resident program, said he was hired by AHWC two years ago. “I took a drive out to one of the beautiful Pinellas beaches and told my wife, ‘I think I can do this.’” He also said he was excited to be starting this program with an outstanding crop of young residents.
The Hub at Lexington, in front of the Lexington Oaks community (and Sentosa Lexington Apts.) on Wesley Chapel Blvd. has started to go vertical, but likely won’t open until Oct. 2025.
If you’ve recently driven by the Sentosa Lexington Oaks Apartments on Wesley Chapel Blvd. (in front of the Lexington Oaks community), you may have noticed that The Hub at Lexington — the 40,000-sq.-ft. dining and shopping center we first told you about back in Oct. of last year, has started to go vertical.
But, don’t get too excited just yet. Co-developer Courtney Bissett-Hayes of Center Connect Development, says that although the walls are now up on Building One and all six foundations for this six-building project are now in place, she still doesn’t expect The Hub at Lexington to open until October of 2025.
“The project will open as a whole, not in pieces,” she says. The build-out will take about 13 months and then the tenants will have six months to build out their spaces.”
Sadly, Courtney, who operates Center Connect with her brother Paul Bissett, also says that no announcements will be made regrading tenants until the end of the first quarter or the beginning of the second quarter of 2025.
Even so, she says The Hub at Lexington, like its predecessor, The Hub at Bexley off S.R. 54 near the Suncoast Pkwy., will provide, “Experiential dining & entertainment,” including 15-20 local and regional restaurants and retail shops. And, as we previously reported, there will be twelve artificial trees (photo from Bexley above) providing shade for the complex, twice as many as at The Hub at Bexley.
Courtney also says that even though Shanks Indoor Golf & Bar’s website still says the indoor golf experience is coming to the complex, she can neither confirm nor deny that at this time.
“What I can confirm,” she says, “is that our 6.5-acre, $24-million project has been designed as a neighborhood amenity, like the Lexington Oaks community’s clubhouse, so we are serious about providing something special for the area.”
She also says that Center Connect plans to build 10 “Hubs” in and around the tri-county area (Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough), with Bexley and Lexington being just the first two. “We will probably announce the third location fairly soon. All of the Hubs will be in front of well-established master-planned communities.”
For leasing info at The Hub at Lexington, call Courtney Bissett-Hayes at (813) 340-7936.
When you visit The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel, located off Wesley Chapel Blvd. in Lutz, you’ll meet the team of (l.-r.) Alexis, Megan, Scarlette and Maggie. (Photos provided by Primary Care of WC)
Scarlette Owens, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, has spent her entire career caring for patients. First, as a nurse in obstetrics and gynecology, then as a nurse practitioner.
With decades of practice in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area, the word has gotten out that Scarlette is a knowledgeable, experienced primary care practitioner who listens to her patients and treats them with compassion and care.
When Scarlette found herself at a career crossroads, the timing seemed perfect for her to open a new primary care practice of her own.
So, Scarlette joined fellow nurse practitioner Megan Dudley, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, to open The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel just after Memorial Day weekend of this year. The office is located in the new Cypress Bend Professional Park, off Wesley Chapel Blvd., next to Harley Davidson of Wesley Chapel.
The letters behind their names mean Scarlette and Megan have advanced credentials and participate in ongoing training to treat both female and male patients, ages 18 and up. They have each received a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree, earned credentials as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) and have earned Board certification as family nurse practitioners (FNP-C) by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board.
Both Megan and Scarlette say they were looking for more flexibility in their work/life balance and thought that opening a new practice, with each of them as part owner, would give them that opportunity.
Megan, as the mom of 10-year-old twins, wanted a schedule that would allow her to chauffeur her kids to soccer games and figure skating practice. Scarlette, after 18 years in internal medicine as a partner at a local Florida Medical Clinic office, was looking to slow down with a schedule that allowed her to work just four and a half days each week.
As a member of the clinical faculty at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, Scarlette says she has trained many nurse practitioners.
“I made a big leap to leave all of that behind,” she says, adding that she had signed a contract to work for a company that was putting primary care practices inside of Walgreens pharmacies. At the last minute, that company pulled the plug on the practice and told Scarlette they no longer had a job for her. She attempted to return to primary care, but the right fit wasn’t available, so she started working in urgent care for Florida Medical Clinic.
“I loved the crew there,” Scarlette says. But, she also says that her former patients were tracking her down, asking her where they could see her for primary care again.
“It was very humbling,” Scarlette says. “You’re busy doing your job, so you don’t realize how much your patients appreciate you and want to see you.”
In addition to Scarlette and Megan, The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel has two employees who are both cross-trained as front desk staff and medical assistants, Alexis and Maggie. Scarlette says she expects them to become the leadership team as the practice grows.
Megan and Scarlette look forward to being your primary care providers, too.
There also are two other providers in the office. Fellow Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Patricia Moore, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, is a part-time provider who focuses on women’s health. While she’s trained as a primary care provider, Patricia can take the time to have more lengthy conversations surrounding women’s issues and problems, such as hormones, bladder issues and contraceptives.
And, occupational therapist Irfan Choudhry, OT/PTA, is expected to offer occupational therapy services at the practice starting in a couple of months.
Scarlette and Megan say they are both focused on being available, accessible and good listeners, proactive in decision making and taking care of people.
“So many people can’t get in to their primary care provider for six months,” explains Scarlette. Or, she adds, they may have an urgent issue — such as an infection or low blood sugar — and they’re told they can wait three weeks for an appointment or go to the emergency room, because those are the only options.
“They don’t feel cared for,” Scarlette says. “I saw it from the urgent care perspective. All these people were there because they couldn’t get into primary care.”
Telehealth Benefits
So, at The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel, the team has Telehealth appointments available every day. If someone is on vacation and needs antibiotics or has high blood pressure or is having an allergic reaction, they can speak to a health care provider right away.
“We are small, but that’s what makes us special,” says Megan. “We know our patients expect us to have knowledge and experience but we also want to have kindness and personal interactions. I hope people feel listened to, heard and valued. That’s what we’re here to do.”
Megan says she often has patients she recognizes from her kids’ school or activities in the community, since she and her husband have lived in Wesley Chapel for more than 10 years now.
“We live here, we’re raising our kids here, we go to church here and they go to public school here,” Megan says. “We’re entrenched in our community, and I love that I’m home from work in less than 15 minutes.”
Scarlette says it means a lot to her that her patients continue to seek her out.
“As a former OB nurse, I have patients who remember that I was the one who told them they were pregnant, and I’m still seeing them,” she says. “And now, those babies I delivered are all grown up and sometimes I see them, too.”
One of Scarlette’s long-time patients is Donna, who asked that we not use her last name. She says she first met Scarlette nearly 20 years ago.
“She is always so responsive and caring,” says Donna. “When I first became her patient, she spent so much time going through my chart, making sure she was very familiar with everything. She really listens and doesn’t just run in and out of the room.”
Donna says she’s already seen Scarlette at The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel for both an in-person well check and sick visits via Telehealth.
“The whole staff is so personable,” Donna says. “They seem so genuine and caring. And the office is beautiful.”
The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel accepts many major health insurance plans, Medicare and some plans from the “Obamacare” marketplace. Patients also can self-pay if they don’t have insurance.
The Primary Care of Wesley Chapel is located at 2935 Pearson James Pl., off Wesley Chapel Blvd. It is open Mon.- Fri., 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For appointments or more information, call (813) 991-4243 or visit PrimaryCareWesleyChapel.com.
Tampa City Council member Luis Viera (2nd from left) was among those who attended the organizational meeting for the Ashington Estates at Tampa Palms Neighborhood Watch program. (Photos by Charmaine George)
When Tampa Police Dept. (TPD) Chief Lee Bercaw and District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera co-hosted the New Tampa Public Safety Town Hall meeting on July 1, Chief Bercaw told those in attendance that if they want to be an even greater asset to their local law enforcement officials, they should join their community’s Neighborhood Watch program — or start a new one if their neighborhood didn’t already have one.
Ashington Estates at Tampa Palms resident Kevin Kelly took that advice to heart, as he immediately began to organize a new Neighborhood Watch group for his subdivision of about 100 homes. On July 5 — the Friday afternoon of the 4th of July holiday weekend and less than two weeks following the TPD Town Hall — there were ten TPD officers, Viera and several of Kelly’s fellow residents meeting inside the gates of Ashington Estates, only a few weeks after the series of violent crimes that touched New Tampa.
And, although the TPD officers outnumbered the number of Ashington residents who stopped by the organizational meeting while yours truly and photographer Charmaine George were on hand, Kelly said he was encouraged by the turnout and support that day.
“We had about 14-15 residents in attendance overall, including drive-bys,” Kelly said after the meeting. “We currently have 21 in our neighborhood watch group and two of those signed up for our Facebook group since the roll call.”
As his community’s new Neighborhood Watch coordinator, Kelly also said he was, “very pleased with our police turnout. It shows their interest in Neighborhood Watch groups and the synergy those groups bring to the Police Department. I honestly only expected about 10 neighbors for this first roll call, so we surpassed that by a little.”
Those who did attend basically heard the TPD officers recap what happened during New Tampa’s week of three violent events that left four people dead and two others injured, with only one arrest having been made. The officers explained that the incident that occurred on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. on June 17 was being investigated by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO), but that TPD always works closely with HCSO and was being updated on that case.
Meanwhile, the Ashington Estates neighbors talked about things like people from other neighborhoods fishing in their pond, as there had never been any actual crime reported in their community, but TPD Major Brett Owen explained that hosting regular Neighborhood Watch meetings and occasional events will help keep the police — and the community — informed about anything that does happen inside those gates.
As to how Kelly hopes to increase participation in the program, he said, “I’m trying to get some work parties together for small jobs in the neighborhood’s common areas (trimming, painting, etc.), which I’ve already suggested to our Homeowners Association’s president.”
Kelly also said that he hopes to see, “more social media interaction within our group. It’s been a bit slow up to this point, so regular interactions should generate interest. Our information mechanisms of choice currently are Facebook and WhatsApp.”
Kelly also said that the Neighborhood Watch’s next meeting has not yet been planned, but that there were now “tentative plans” to do something for National Night Out (Tuesday, August 6), but that nothing specific had yet been planned at our press time.
Congratulations to Florida Penguin Productions and the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) for hosting a super-successful third annual Summer Rum & Seafood Festival.
Despite heavy rains that delayed the start of the event, this year’s Summer Rum & Seafood Festival on July 13 at the Tampa Premium Outlets was four hours of tasting samples of rum (and other spirits), great bands, local vendors and, of course, lots of seafood.
More than 1,000 patrons came out to enjoy samplings from nine different Florida-based distilleries including: St Pete Distillery, Everglades Distillery, West Distilling, Tarpon Springs Distillery, 90 Miles South, Lugo’s Craft Distillery, Preez Distillery (photo below), Reif Rum Spirits and American Freedom Distillery.
Entertainment this year included popular southern rock & country band Southbound 75 and Turn It On Again, A Tribute to Phil Collins/Genesis. Turn It On Again did an amazing job of covering the catalogs of Collins and his former Genesis bandmate Peter Gabriel.
Among the fun returning events were the hermit crab races (bottom right), a live mermaid tank (below, right) and 10 different seafood vendors offering everything from crab legs to crab cakes, shrimp skewers, whole snapper and more.
Among the favorite seafood trucks were crab cakes from New Tampa’s own Charm City Eats (top photo) and From the Soul to the Sea’s shrimp bowl (above).
Major sponsors of this year’s event were Universal Roof and Pasco County Recycling ,with a media shout out to MOR-TV.
According to Drew Cecere of Florida Penguin Productions, admission fees and sponsorships for the Rum & Seafood Festival raised $2.600 for the North Tampa Bay Chamber Foundation. — GN
