Bean Bar Co. Opens At AdventHealth WC

If you love The Bean Bar Co., located in The Shoppes at The Pointe plaza in Tampa Palms, and you also love working out, we have some great news for you! 

The Bean Bar Co. has now opened its newest location in the first floor lobby inside the Wellness Plaza at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, with all of your favorite coffee, espresso and tea drinks, plus breakfast sandwiches, avocado toast and more! And, you don’t have to be a member at the Wellness Plaza to enjoy this open-to-the-public Bean Bar location! 

Also new inside the Wellness Plaza is a second Wesley Chapel location (the other is in The Shops at Wiregrass) of 3 Natives juice & smoothie bar. 

For info about The Bean Bar Co., visit BeanBarCo.com. For 3 Natives, visit 3Natives.com. — GN, photos by Charmaine George 

AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Cuts A Ribbon On Its New Expansion

Although the title may change hands at some point in the future, Wesley Chapel’s first hospital is still its largest and an exclamation point has been added to that sentence following the Nov. 20 ribbon-cutting ceremony and Grand Opening of AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) hospital’s “North Tower” upward expansion. 

More than 200 hospital staffers, hospital and hospital Foundation Board members, as well as North Tampa Bay Chamber Board members were on hand when AHWC president and CEO Ryan Quattlebaum (left) and chief medical officer Robert Rosequist (with scissors in top photo) cut the ribbon on the 80,373-sq.-ft. expansion. The project adds three additional floors (only the top one of which is open) and 24 more licensed beds, with room for two 24-bed units in the future, as well as 21 additional pre-op and post-op beds, two additional operating rooms, two additional endoscopy suites and one hybrid operating room. 

The expansion also gives the award-winning hospital — which has been named one of the top hospitals in the U.S. by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report magazines, as well as earning an “America’s 250 Best Hospitals” grade by Healthgrades and a 21st consecutive semester Hospital Safety Grade of “A” from Leapfrog — expanded sterile processing and imaging capabilities, including MRI and radiology. 

All told, AHWC now has 193 private patient beds, 34 ER beds, 12 operating rooms, three endoscopy suites, two heart catheterization labs, one C-section suite, and too much other robotic surgery and other advanced technology to mention here. 

Following an opening prayer, Quattlebaum said, “This expansion project is truly monumental for AdventHealth Wesley Chapel. I am so excited to celebrate with everyone here today because this is truly a celebration for our community.” 

Quattlebaum then thanked all of the elected officials in attendance, including District 1 Pasco County Commissioner Ron Oakley, District 2 Commissioner Seth Weightman (right) and District 5 Commissioner Jack Mariano. He also acknowledged and thanked all of the hospital Board members, medical executive committee members, AdventHealth West Florida Division leaders and fellow Pasco County AdventHealth leaders, as well as all of the companies that participated in building the hospital expansion project. 

“The journey at AdventHealth Wesley Chapel is one that reads like a fairy tale storybook, as it relates to health, faith and community,” Quattlebaum said. So, I’ll go back to the beginning — to 2012, when this campus opened (as Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel) with 80 beds and a community that welcomed us with open arms. And, as the community has grown, we have grown with it. And, what that growth really signifies is that we have [greater] access to care.” 

He added that when he first heard about AdventHealth Wesley Chapel, “I was in California and I heard about this amazing place where they have these great, quality stores and the team is so engaged. It really speaks to the heart of what makes Wesley Chapel special — our people. A building is a place where people receive care, but it’s delivered by people and the people who work here are truly what makes us unique and special.” 

Quattlebaum concluded by saying that when they had orientation for the new expansion, he asked his team members where they came from, where home was for them. “One of them said, ‘I live in Zephyrhills but I remember this spot, this part of Wesley Chapel, as a place where we used to come to watch meteor showers.’ And I thought that meteor showers are moments that reminds us how brilliance is possible. It’s fitting that our hospital stands here today because it symbolizes what brilliance can look like. Our mission calls us to continue to be brilliant for our community every single day and to extend Christ’s healing ministry through healing, comfort and hope. While meteor showers come and go, the light and brilliance that extends at this place endures.” 

Next up was Commissioner Weightman, who said, “AdventHealth entered Pasco County in 1985 and the reason for that was that Commissioner Oakley’s dad donated the land that AdventHealth Zephyrhills sits on today. And it’s an honor to sit with him today, as Commissioner Oakley has carried on that legacy by being part of that foundation. And, here we are today in Wesley Chapel, on a road that used to be called the ‘road to nowhere.’ But now, that roads leads somewhere, to the North Tower of AdventHealth Wesley Chapel. How spectacular is that?” 

Also speaking at the event were AHWC chief of staff Dr. Kalpesh Patel and Dr. Rosequist, but before the ribbon-cutting and tours of the new wing, Quattlebaum also thanked the AHWC marketing team for putting the event together. 

For more info about AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (2600 BBD Blvd.), visit AdventHealth.com or call (813) 929-5000. — GN, all photos except the rendering above by Charmaine George 

Meet & Greet Held For Ryan Quattlebaum’s Return To AdventHealth Wesley Chapel! 

(Below Left) AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) Chaplain Danny Sierra welcomes new president & CEO Ryan Quattlebaum and his family — (l.-r.) his wife Cristina and daughters Emily and Sophia — back to AHWC during a packed (bottom left) meet & greet event at the hospital on Jan. 29. Quattlebaum has replaced former AHWC president & CEO Erik Wangsness, who left to take the same job at AdventHealth Tampa. (All photos by Charmaine George) 

When Chaplain Danny Sierra — who has been with AdventHealth Wesley Chapel since it opened on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. as “Florida Hospital” — introduced the hospital’s new president & chief executive officer (CEO) Ryan Quattlebaum at a meet & greet event on Jan. 29, he was trying to figure out how best to re-introduce more than 100 guests to the hospital’s former chief financial officer (CFO). 

“I thought about the Bible story of the prodigal son, but then I thought, ‘Maybe not, because he wished his father not well and there are kids here.’” 

Instead, Chaplain Danny went with Philippians Chapter 4, Verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.” 

To which he added, “And, we rejoice that Ryan is back with us. And let us pray more. Lord, thank you for this special homecoming of your son, his wife and his children. You knew them before they were conceived. You numbered the hairs on each one of their heads, and you brought them back to us. And, as a campus with all our friends, we rejoice of this man.” 

Quattlebaum, who served as the CFO at AHWC from 2020-22, left to become the president and CEO of AdventHealth North Pinellas in Tarpon Springs, but returned to AHWC when Erik Wangsness left to take the same position at AdventHealth Tampa. He thanked Chaplain Danny and said he was thrilled to be “back home.” 

First, Quattlebaum thanked the elected officials who attended the event, including Dist. 20 State Senator Danny Burgess and Pasco County commissioners Ron Oakley and Jack Mariano. He also thanked the AHWC Foundation and hospital Board members, as well as the doctors, nurses and staff members in attendance. 

“I’m beyond blessed to be able to be here with each one of you,” Quattlebaum said. “And to be welcomed back. My youngest daughter Emily was born here at this hospital, so I am blessed to be back. My first job in a hospital was in the dish room when I was in high school. So, my roots in Advent Hospitals go way back and this is where my heart is.” 

Quattlebaum also said that he, “ultimately wants to make sure that everyone’s family member gets treated like how our families are treated and I firmly believe that we do this together. So, there’s a whole team of people here as well that’s made that work happen. So I want to acknowledge and say thank you to all of them for this important work.” 

And finally, Quattlebaum said, “What I really care about is people. And Christ’s Healing Ministry was really about people, and this is representative of what our community truly looks like.” He then gave everyone in attendance his cell phone number. 

For more information about AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (2600 BBD Blvd.), call (813) 929-5000, visit AdventHealth.com. — GN 

News from AdventHealth — Wangsness Moves On To AHT; Quattlebaum Takes Over At AHWC; Beam Signing At New Meadow Pointe ER

(01/18/2023) ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL – USA – AdventHealth. AdventHealth Executive Leadership. Matt Rainey/AdventHealth

AdventHealth has certainly been busy the last couple of weeks. On Nov. 8, the new freestanding Emergency Room on S.R. 54 at Meadow Pointe Blvd. had a beam-signing event that you can read about below. Then, just last week, the nonprofit health care giant announced that Erik Wangsness, who has been the president & CEO of AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) since Sept. 2019, will assume the same position at AdventHealth Tampa, effective December 15. Taking over from Wangsness as the president & CEO at AHWC, as of Dec. 29, will be Ryan Quattlebaum, who previously held the same titles at AdventHealth North Pinellas in Tarpon Springs.

For more details about these two latest moves, check out the full stories in the December 10 edition of New Tampa Neighborhood News and the December 24 edition of Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

AdventHealth Meadow Pointe ER Beam Signed! 
Pasco County Comm. Seth Weightman (3rd from left) & the executive team for the new AdventHealth ER in Meadow Pointe sign the beam. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

George Butler, the construction superintendent for Robins & Morton, the firm building the freestanding AdventHealth emergency room (ER) in Meadow Pointe (AHMP), told the crowd of nearly 100 people in attendance on Nov. 8 that, “Today is a major milestone for this project. The next major milestone will be the Grand Opening.”

The milestone in question that day was the signing and raising of a beam that will be above the sliding door main entrance to the ER located at the corner of S.R. 54 and Meadow Pointe Blvd.

“Every time you go through that sliding door, you will all think of this beam that you signed,” Butler said. 

AdventHealth Zephyrhills president & CEO Mike Murrill thanked all of the people & companies that made the project happen. (Photos by Charmaine George) 

Butler was introduced by William Villegas, the chief operating officer of AdventHealth Zephyrhills (AHZ), who then said that, “You’re here with us today because you were part of the process of getting this building off the ground…and by signing this beam, you are acknowledging all of the hard work of the crew that is sitting here. And, each and every one of you has played a role in it, whether as a support member, an executive or an engineer with Robins Morton.” 

Villegas added that, “So far, this building has endured two storms, and it’s still standing. On April 29, 2025, when we open this building, we will be providing 32,000 square feet of capacity with 12 beds, two triage rooms and advanced lab and imaging services that will provide freestanding emergency room services to the Pasco community. As we expand our reach, build facilities, touch more lives and care for more patients in Pasco County, we fulfill our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ. And, that’s what we’re here for, to serve our communities and provide the highest quality of care for our patients. None of this would be possible without everyone here today..”

Villegas, the executive sponsor for the AHMP ER, then introduced Mike Murrill, the president and CEO of AHZ.

“I want to thank William Villegas for guiding this team the last several months,” Murrill said. “He just joined our team six months ago and hit the ground running by connecting our community partners and the construction team and it’s exciting to get to this point in the journey.”

Murrill added, “I would just like to take this moment to thank several of our partners who are here this morning — our Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman, Arash Kamangar of Hunton Brady Architects, George (Butler) and our Robins & Morton construction team, all of the subcontractors who have contributed to this project, ans well as our Division Team. We thank you all for your collaborative spirit, your work with each other and what it means to have something new in this community.” 

Villegas then said a short prayer to thank God and to pray that “the patients who end up at this new ER find healing.”

For more information about the new AHMP ER, visit AdventHealth.com. — GN 

AdventHealth Wesley Chapel Breaks Ground On Expansion Of Main Hospital 

AdventHealth Wesley Chapel president Erik Wangsness at the groundbreaking ceremony for the hospital’s expansion. (Photos by Charmaine George)

When AdventHealth Wesley Chapel (AHWC) opened as the first hospital located in Wesley Chapel almost a dozen years ago (when it was called Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel) with just 83 total beds, the community was told that the plan was to eventually expand the number of beds to 300. 

Since then, AHWC has done a lot more than just go through a name change to AHWC in 2019. First of all, two medical office buildings have opened (the AHWC Wellness Plaza in 2013 and the Outpatient Cancer & Research Center, in partnership with the Moffitt Cancer Center, in 2021). 

In addition, the hospital more than doubled its original 83 beds to 169 in 2016, which also included increasing from four operating rooms to 12 and from 20 emergency room (ER) beds to 35. 

But, along with the recent establishment of the new family care residency program and the freestanding emergency room in Meadow Pointe (as we reported last issue), AHWC held a groundbreaking ceremony for the hospital’s upward expansion on Aug. 15. Although Jannah and I were not personally able to attend that event, photographer Charmaine George did attend and made sure she recorded all of the proceedings for me, so I could write this story. 

On hand for the event were District 54 State Rep. Randy Maggard, Pasco Commissioners Jack Mariano (Dist. 5), Seth Weightman (Dist. 2) and Board Chair Ron Oakley (Dist. 1), and Pasco Fire Chief Tony Perez, as well as members of both the hospital’s Governing Board and its Foundation’s Board and the AdventHealth Division office. AHWC president Erik Wangsness also introduced Bill Porter of the Porter Family Trust and Scott Sheridan of Locust Branch, LLC, the developer of Wiregrass Ranch, “since we are located on the Porter family’s land,” Wangsness said. 

Wangsness also thanked those involved in the design and construction of the hospital expansion, including the AdventHealth Office of Design & Construction, architects HuntonBrady, design engineers Smith Seckman Reed, Atwell civil engineers and general contractor Batson Cook. 

“This hospital is not yet 12 years old,” Wangsness said. “It opened in 2012 with 83 beds but was designed to grow with the community. We’re at 169 now but this expansion will allow us to add 72 inpatient beds, which is important for us — even though there are other facilities opening around us — since this community continues to grow in a meaningful way.” 

Several different groups took part in the groundbreaking. This photo includes State Rep. Randy Maggard (far right) and three Pasco County commissioners, as well as the hospital’s management team. 

“Case in point,” he added, “We have around 20 patients waiting at our Emergency Department this morning for admission. We need the [additional] capacity to continue to serve this growing community. And, the development isn’t going to stop, so it’s time for us to continue to grow.” 

In addition to the inpatient beds, Wangsness said the expansion will add a couple of additional operating rooms, endoscopy suites, pre- and post-op beds, additional imaging, a PET-CT (positron emission tomography-computed tomography) suite and a hybrid lab (a traditional lab that also can double as a surgical operating room), “that will help us grow in the severity of the patients we can serve. I want to thank all of you for joining us on this warm, muggy morning.” Wangsness also said the expansion should be completed by the end of 2025. 

Also on hand were Bill Porter (left) of the Porter family & Scott Sheridan of the Wiregrass Ranch development team. 

Wangsness then introduced Rep. Maggard, who said, “We all know how important it is for Advent to be doing this for our community. I can truly say that when I go to Tallahassee, people know [there is] no district like we have, District 54, with the community partners we have here. It is special and I feel very honored to be able to help in any way I can to help this area grow.” 

Rep. Maggard also mentioned Pasco Hernando State College and its nearby Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, which recently expanded its nursing program (as we reported last issue). “We can see a future that’s bright for our area.” 

He also mentioned that the need for health care facilities will continue to grow. “We expect a 20% population growth for Pasco County by 2045,” he said. “If you think the traffic’s bad now, just wait.” 

Comm. Oakley also said he was honored to be on the Foundation Board for AdventHealth, and to be on-hand for yet another major event for the hospital, “which is such a great community partner.” He also said that AHWC’s competition, with one additional hospital built and 1-2 others being built, means all of the hospitals “will be competing to be number 1. The benefactors of that competition are the people of Pasco County.” 

Wangsness said that because Comm. Oakley mentioned AHWC’s competition, “I just want to say that we’ve been recognized by Newsweek magazine three years in a row as one of the ‘World’s Best Hospitals.’” 

Comm. Weightman, whose Dist. 2 includes the hospital, then also thanked the Porter family for its vision for Wiregrass Ranch. 

Norm Stein

“It wasn’t long ago that this was all wide open… with cows roaming around…and Bruce B. Downs was a road to nowhere. But, we’ve grown in incredible leaps and bounds over the past decade. The vision of Wiregrass Ranch and AdventHealth…it’s just such a fantastic place to be for our community. The investment that Advent continues to make…and the jobs… it’s just phenomenal.” 

Speaking of vision, the final speaker before the groundbreaking was former University Community Hospital president and long-time AHWC Board member Norm Stein, whom Wangsness credited with having the vision for the need to build a hospital in Wesley Chapel. 

“It was Dec. 14, 2010, when we had another groundbreaking,” Stein said. “The late Don Porter had walked into my hospital and told me of his idea to build a hospital in this part of Pasco and to have a college that could provide nursing students for that hospital. And, he wanted to see both of those institutions come together on his property. And you know what? It wasn’t easy, but it happened.”