At the NTBC ribbon-cutting event at Inside Out Aesthetics on Nov. 2, attendees got to check out the many treatment rooms at Inside Out’s new location north of S.R. 56. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Even as the holidays approach, the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) is still helping its new and existing member businesses get the word out with ribbon-cutting ceremonies — and we are proud to partner with the Chamber to help publicize these businesses and events. Here are a couple of those events that have been held since our last issue hit mailboxes four weeks ago:
Blue Park Dental
On Oct. 24, Dr. Jordan Brown of Blue Park Dental and his wife Shakirah celebrated the official Grand Opening of the new dental office on Wesley Chapel Blvd. with an NTBC ribbon-cutting event.
Blue Park Dental, the office of Jordan Brown, DDS, is located at 5470 Post Oak Blvd., Unit 170, in the same plaza off Wesley Chapel Blvd. as the new Moe’s Southwest Grill and Jimmy John’s, in Wesley Chapel.
Dr. Brown and his wife Shakirah hosted a Grand Opening and NTBC ribbon-cutting event on Oct. 24, attended by at least 50 people, including members of the Browns’ family, friends and of course, NTBC members.
He told those who were there that he was inspired by the work ethics of both of his parents — Colin and Patricia Brown (who were both in attendance) — and said, “Blue Park Dental is a dental office that advertises comfort, trust and honesty. It emphasizes technology but also makes sure you feel comfort and safety at the same time.”
Dr. Brown also thanked his wife. “You have no idea how much Shakirah has been in this process. She has helped so much, every step of the way, so thank you for being my rock and my support.”
For more information about Blue Park Dental, call (813) 742-6227 or visit BlueParkDental.com.
Inside Out Aesthetics & Wellness
Family nurse practitioner Tracy Burke (left) and licensed esthetician Amanda McEwan.
Then, on Nov. 2, it was Board-certified family nurse practitioner Tracy Burke who hosted an NTBC ribbon-cutting event at the new location of her Inside Out Aesthetics & Wellness — at 27613 Cashford Cir., which is located behind Sam’s Club on the north side of S.R. 56 in the Summergate Professional Park. Inside Out previously was located on an outparcel of The Shops at Wiregrass.
Tracy also thanked the Chamber, as well as all of her friends, clients and her entire family, but especially her son Michael, who recently earned his Florida general contractor’s license and who was instrumental in creating every room in the new med spa to Tracy’s exact specifications.
“I want to thank all of you for coming,” Tracy said prior to cutting the Chamber ribbon. “I have dreamed about having a location like this and now, that dream has come true.” The event also introduced Inside Out’s new licensed medical esthetician Amanda McEwan, who specializes in skin care and custom facials that blend advanced treatments with a holistic approach.
Inside Out also offers neuromodulators, injectables, PDO threads, bio-stimulators, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy & semaglutide for weight loss. For info, call (813) 602-6100 or visit insideout-aesthetics.com.
Lightning Orthodontics
And finally, on Nov. 7, it was time for Lightning Orthodontics, the office of Isis El Ghannam, DDS, to cut a Chamber ribbon.
Located in the small strip plaza at 24795 S.R. 54 in Lutz that also includes Fazoli’s, Lightning Orthodontics (which is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Tampa Bay Lightning) is a beautiful, new office equipped with the latest in orthodontic technology and with room to add additional orthodontists if and when the need arises.
Dr. El Ghannam is Board-certified and says she is especially drawn to challenging cases as she finds it rewarding to make a positive impact on the lives of her patients. She also is a new mom who says the experience has deepened her empathy and enriched her interactions with families.
The office, which promises that patients will be, “heard, understood and cared for with the speed of lightning,” offers online appointments, virtual consults and remote treatment options. English, Spanish and Arabic are all spoken at the office.
For more info about Lightning Orthodontics, visit LightningOrthondtics.com or call (813) 733-0007 and please tell them we sent you!
Yes, we know it’s been a few weeks but because of our once-every-four-weeks print schedule, the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC)’s 2024 Wesley Chapel Fall Festival & Carnival was held the weekend of Oct. 26-27, which was the weekend after we went to press with our Oct. 29 issue, so this is our first opportunity to show you some of the scenes from that always-fun 20th annual event.
Held again at the Tampa Premium Outlets and benefiting the NTBC’s Foundation, a record 7,500 patrons raised a record amount of money and enjoyed carnival and pony rides, live entertainment, food trucks and vendors and of course, a great costume contest. For more info, visit NorthTampaBayChamber.com.
North Tampa Bay Chamber President Hope Kennedy hosted a lively “Coffee & Conversation” event on Oct. 1 at the Fairfield Inn in Wesley Chapel with State Senator Danny Burgess. (Photos by Charmaine George)
Anyone who knows District 23 State Senator Danny Burgess is aware that he’s not your typical politician. That fact was obvious during Sen. Burgess’ appearance at the North Tampa Bay Chamber’s “Coffee & Conversation” event at the Fairfield Inn on Lajuana Blvd. on Oct. 1, which proved to be more than just the usual pre-election “Look at all I’ve accomplished” speech most incumbents and candidates engage in when they make public appearances.
In fact, during his conversation with Chamber president & CEO Hope Kennedy and about 40 Chamber members and guests, Sen. Burgess hardly talked about himself at all and was clearly serious when he said he fully supports Wesley Chapel incorporating and becoming its own city! (See below)
He also discussed the seriousness of Hurricane Helene (this was ten days before Hurricane Milton hit Florida) and what the state can do and is doing to help the Gulf Coast recover following the storm to ensure that those affected by Helene can still get insurance after such major storms. He also discussed why Pasco and other counties don’t seem to be spending their impact fees to mitigate the actual impacts of all of this development, and so much more.
Kennedy started the “Coffee & Conversation” event with a moment of silence for the victims of Helene and Sen. Burgess thanked her for doing that because, “One part of you feels bad for driving on as normal, a little bit, but the other part of you feels an obligation to help, too, because that could easily be us. I think anyone who lives in the State of Florida recognizes that, when you see someone else in the path of the storm, there’s a lot of humility that blows over you because the next one could be you.”
He added, “Be thankful that you don’t live on the coast because I can’t even tell you the number of people we personally know who just lost their homes. We have a lot to be thankful for, but we also have to think about, ‘How can we help them?’”
When asked what else the state can do to help the thousands of Floridians whose homes were either completely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by Helene, Burgess said, “Imagine the worst and it’s that bad. Many of those homes are probably going to have to be knocked down and rebuilt, on stilts hopefully, because the surge is coming again. How many of those people now, after the last three storms, are saying, ‘I loved the idea of being on the beach but this isn’t for me anymore?’ The problem is that they could be stuck, can’t get out because whether it’s interest rates or the cost of other homes, it’s cost-prohibitive, so they’re trapped.”
He then mentioned a number of resources available to help the people affected by Helene.
“We have activated the small business bridge loans through the Dept. of Commerce, which is a great resource offering zero-interest loans to businesses impacted by the storm,” he said.
“If you’re involved in the agriculture, like an actual farm or an agricultural business, we’re offering up to a $500,000 bridge loan, through Ag commissioner Wilton Simpson’s office.
“But, for individuals, we have Hope Florida. It’s an amazing connection point for all of the assets that our state provides that nobody knows about, because there’s a communication gap. The reason Hope Florida was created was to solve that problem, plus that gap, for the resident, the individual, the impacted constituent. Please stress this to your readers to call 1-833-GET-HOPE. It was a program established by our First Lady (Casey DeSantis) and supported by the Governor. It’s been an amazing resource. There are Hope Florida buses on the west coast of our state providing comfort care for people, the essentials. Is there an easy, quick fix to this situation? Absolutely not. But, can we do all we can to help our brothers and sisters in need? Yes. And, Hope Florida is that connection point for our state. It’s really still in its infancy, but I think Helene is testing its grit and its resilience and validating that it is needed.”
Kennedy also had Sen. Burgess, who is running for re-election to his State Senate Dist. 23 seat (against Democratic candidate Ben Braver and John Houman, who is running as an independent candidate; see pg. 10 for details), explain the location of his District.
“I was born and raised in Zephyrhills and I’m still there and Zephyrhills is still in the heart of my District, which is awesome, but I represent from the Pasco-Hernando line to the north, Dade City on the north side, Trinity and Odessa to the west and the Polk line at Plant City to the east, all the way down to Brandon to the south. My District includes Dover, Seffner, New Tampa and Wesley Chapel, Land O’Lakes and Lutz. This is home. It’s everywhere I’ve grown up. I love that the municipalities of Dade City, Zephyrhills and Plant City are part of my District. And, all of New Tampa north of I-75. Only Tampa Palms is not in my District.”
On Wesley Chapel Incorporation
As to why he is hoping Wesley Chapel becomes its own city, Burgess said, “I was driving home through Wesley Chapel with my dad from the Bucs game on a recent Sunday and out of his mouth, not mine, he said, ‘I just don’t understand why Wesley Chapel doesn’t incorporate. This area just has so much to offer. They need to take control of their destiny.”
And, from the man who at age 17 became the youngest mayor in the country when he was elected Mayor of Zephyrhills, “Being the mayor of your town is the best gig on earth.”
Kennedy interjected that the conversation about incorporation, “Has been percolating again. For those who don’t know, it was back in 2012 when the Chamber (then the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce) took a position to facilitate that conversation, but it just became such a heavy lift. We remembered that back in 2009, Will Weatherford (who was our area’s State Representative but had not yet become the Speaker of the Florida House), was able to pass some legislation that actually gave Wesley Chapel the opportunity to incorporate itself without having to go to the state for permission.”
“Is that still on the books?,” Burgess asked.
To which Kennedy responded, “I believe it is. I hope it is. We haven’t looked at it recently, but that’s what started the conversation.”
“If I could accomplish one thing before I’m done,” Burgess said, “I’d like to be able to say ‘Wesley Chapel is officially a city. with its own governing body.’”
And, although the idea received boisterous applause from the Chamber members in attendance at the meeting, most of the online commenters on the post I put up on our Facebook page a couple of days later were mostly against incorporation.
But, NTBC Board member Jamie Hess, who also was in attendance for the coffee event, said that, “We’ve had about five meetings about it and our Board is really going to push for it.”
“That makes me so happy,” Burgess said. “Look, there is a stigma attached to adding — as some of my friends in Tallahassee say — another layer of bureaucracy, but the reality is that it allows you to have a distinct identity, which this community does. But, more than that, there is a missing link when you don’t have that very localized, closest-to-the-people form of government. I just personally believe and yes, I’ve learned this first-hand, that living in a municipality doesn’t mean you’re not affiliated with the county. In Zephyrhills, we had fire services through the county, but the county understandably has a very large footprint and a lot of area to cover. But, as a city, you can control your destiny and most important, your culture — that Main Street feel, that’s what I love the most about it. Wesley Chapel has that feel, but we just need to take control of the ship, especially with everything I know is coming here.”
Kennedy added, “It’s so exciting to be in a community you’re literally building it out of the ground. That conversation that is happening, so stay tuned.”
There was a noticeable groan when I asked where the boundaries for the City of Wesley Chapel would be drawn.
“That’s where it died the last time,” Kennedy admitted. “The Chamber put up signs (on Wesley Chapel Blvd.) but the people in Lutz insisted on them coming down. The Census Designated Places (CDPs) through the U.S. Census Bureau uses natural boundaries to determine CDPs, so we looked at Cypress Creek as that natural boundary, but the Lutz folks wanted it drawn at I-75 which is not a natural boundary. We assume the planned boundary [of the City of Wesley Chapel] would be at the CDP boundary of Cypress Creek.”
Insurance Issues
After moving on from the incorporation discussion, Kennedy said that a survey she conducted through the Florida Chamber of Commerce showed that the #1 issue for most folks in Florida is insurance.
“Given the crisis with the recent storm, insurance is going to continue to be a big issue,” Kennedy said. “Can you give us a lay of the land from Tallahassee’s perspective?”
And, although Burgess sad he was no longer on the Insurance Committee in the Legislature, he said, “We had multiple sessions and special sessions to address that issue. From a legislative prospective, I’m sure there’s more that we can do. However, we did so much in the last couple of cycles that we ripped the Band-Aid off of many issues — from tort reform to how insurers operate to checks and balances in that realm.”
He added, “We are starting to see, and I says ‘starting,’ because I don’t want to be insensitive, because it’s not over, but we are starting to see the fruits of those investments. We are starting to see big insurers re-commit to the Florida marketplace — like State Farm, which is a huge one because they had pulled out, but they’re coming back in. It isn’t going to happen overnight. In government, we probably went a little too long without trying to adequately address the problem. It does take 18-24 months to start to see that pendulum swing back into a balance but I do believe that, after the series of three to four reforms we did over the last couple of years, that we are starting to see a re-stabilization of the market. And I’m speaking as someone who lost their home insurance recently and was put into Citizens (the insurer of last resort in Florida). We’ve only been with Citizens for maybe a month. But, we’re already getting notices from other insurance companies [offering to insure us]. So, it is happening.”
Of course, after the devastating storm surge of Helene (and now major damage even our area received from Hurricane Milton), Burgess said, “The question is what happens next? Are these individuals going to be able to get insurance after this storm? Because they’re not allowed to pull out right after the impact happens. That’s bad faith and we’re not going to let that happen. It shouldn’t happen and if it is happening, the [State] Insurance Commission needs to know.”
But, looking forward after the repairs, he said, “If a future storm [like Milton] happens and has a similar impact, how do we balance that? Because, at the end of the day, everyone in Florida is paying that price. So, we have a big issue on our hands as a state. So, we have to start having some really tough conversations as to how to move forward on that.”
He also mentioned that auto insurance is another major issue. “Florida is a no-fault state so you carry at least $10,000 in personal injury protection (PIP) and the other person does, too, so no matter whose fault it is, you just take care of yourself. But, $10,000 is a product of 1976. It’s gone the second you enter an ER door. So, that’s inadequate coverage and the biggest cost driver in our system right now. So, if we pass mandatory bodily injury coverage and have a threshold of at least $25,000, that’s how we get back to responsibility and also a balance in the force when it comes to auto insurance rates.”
Burgess also said that because living in Florida is so desirable, the cost of everything here is going up. “Inflation is real,” he said. “Interest rates are through the roof, our homes are valued at far more than we ever purchased them for — because, in large part, of the number of individuals wanting to move here. So, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for but also the ‘back end’ effects and I think those are some of the things we’re trying to rectify.”
Kennedy then opened it up to questions from those in attendance, “But with the caveat that the Chamber is a bi-partisan organization. We are here for pro-business legislation and for having conversations with our elected officials.”
Regarding The ‘Live Local’ Act
Kennedy then asked Burgess about people who make a decent living who still can’t afford to buy or rent homes/apartments in our area.
Burgess said, “The ‘Live Local Act’ was supposed to assist the ‘missing middle’ (class). Its intent was pure and it was a good bill but it did have some flaws. We’re still working through it and there are a couple of things we still need to address, a few gaps that need to be filled, but what it was supposed to do, from Pasco’s perspective, was help those who work in Pasco County be able to afford to live here — or any of many other counties throughout the state. We want the working class middle to be able to afford to live near where they work.”
He added, “It passed unanimously! It wasn’t until after it passed and the Governor signed it that anybody said, ‘Hold the phone.’ So, the biggest ‘kumbaya’ thing ever in Tallahassee became this huge explosion.”
Regarding Impact Fees
Burgess said that impact fees are one of his pet peeves. “If you’re a governmental entity in the I-4 corridor, whether county or city, and you’re hurting for money, I think we need to consider that there’s been a mismanagement of funds.”
Attendee Carlos Saenz (photo below), the owner of two Dairy Queens and Fazoli’s on S.R. 54, said that for two Dairy Queens in Pasco, “I stroked a $140,000 check just for the impact fees. It feels punitive for the privilege of creating jobs in the county.”
And where did that impact fee go?,” Burgess responded. “Did you ever get a notice? We had an impact fee bill this year and in my Senate version of the bill, I wanted to know if the impact fees a county is collecting are going to help the areas that the business or development is impacting.”
Kennedy said, “We actually made a pitch to Pasco County to reallocate some of those impact fees, but they’re so splattered that we couldn’t get a definitive answer [as to how they’re spent].”
Burgess said, “Have you ever looked at your personal finances and said, ‘Where did it all go?’ I think it’s the same principle for the county, or any government, because I’m not just picking on Pasco. If you [had to] put those impact fees in a separate pot and itemized it, maybe you could have insured that it went in a certain direction. We had a bill to do just that but it didn’t pass.”
And, Burgess said, “That’s not only a problem with commercial land. The impact fees alone on a piece of land we wanted to buy in Zephyrhills kept us from putting an offer down. I didn’t have an extra $20,000 to put down for that vacant property.”
When Kennedy asked what could be done about the impact fee situation, Burgess asked for help mobilizing other chambers and business organizations to get behind a possible impact fee bill in the next session. “I love the state organizations but they get wrapped up in politics sometimes,” Burgess said. “I think all of you would benefit tremendously from passing a piece of legislation like a transparency act for impact fees, with them allocated to the area where the impact is taking place — other than the schools. We don’t want to take impact fees from them and the bill that didn’t pass specifically did not take away from the impact fees schools would receive. I think our team has that bill included in our 2025 ‘bill tracker’ for the next session.”
Burgess agreed about having impact fee caps and thresholds on the state level, “But, I think for us to put artificial caps on everything without knowing what the true costs of the impacts to these areas are, we might still be needing to fix something on the back end, like with Live Local. I think the first step is transparency and that the impact fees are going to the areas being impacted. And then, from the transparency piece, we’re going to be able to identify ‘That’s extortion.’ A lot of my colleagues in Tallahassee just want to blow the whole system up, but that will create a lot more problems than you solve. So, I’m of the mind, as a military guy, to tactically find where the impacts are taking place before attempting to cap it or moderate it.”
Kennedy added, “Our Board also suggested that the county should have an ordinance to re-allocate those funds from ‘Capital’ to ‘Operational,’ so they could use what’s already there to get the ball moving, but we hit a brick wall with that as well. So, we want to work through the state instead.”
Burgess agreed that impact fees should be something that’s uniform across the state, “since there should be nothing to hide, in theory.”
Defining Beauty Wellness & Med Spa owner and Family Nurse Practitioner Karma Nguyen (in gray) celebrated the Grand Opening of her new location in the New Tampa Prof. Ctr. in Pebble Creek by demonstrating how her Evolvex body sculpting/contouring machine works. (Photos by Charmaine George)
It’s been another busy month+ for Grand Openings and North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC) ribbon-cuttings in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
On Aug. 29, Defining Beauty Wellness & Med Spa officially oopened its new location — in the same New Tampa Professional Park off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. in Pebble Creek as before, but in a larger suite, so owner and Family Nurse Practitioner Karma Nguyen could better serve her growing number of patients and clients with more treatment rooms and more types of treatments available (as we told you about in our last issue).
Grand Opening attendees got to see Karma demonstrate how her newest Evolvex body sculpting/contouring machine works and she also introduced permanent jewelry services and much more, as more than 50 of her patients, clients, friends and family were on hand to wish her well — and receive great “swag bags” and special offers on services.
Defining Beauty Wellness & Med Spa is located at 8907 Regents Park Dr., Suite 330. For more info, call (813) 955-0408, or visit DefiningBeautyMedSpa.com. Memberships are available and members receive anniversary gifts and invitations to special events.
Chamber Keeps Cutting Ribbons!
As for who’s been cutting North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbons recently, on Aug. 22, our friends and local Realtors Chad and April Emory officially celebrated the Grand Opening of their Emorys Rock Realty, in one of the biggest Chamber ribbon-cutting events we’ve been to recently.
Broker Chad Emory (with scissors) and his wife and fellow Realtor April (in front in white) celebrated the Grand Opening of their Emorys Rock Realty on Aug. 22. (Photo by Gary Nager)
More than 100 people were on hand at the Signature Workspace in The Shops at Wiregrass to celebrate with Chad, the firm’s Broker, and April. They served delicious food from Rock & Brews, Falabella Family Bistro, Bubba’s 33, Texas Roadhouse and Main Event.
Chad and April also thanked their family and friends — Mackenzie Maldonado for the beautiful balloon arrangements for the event, Vanessa Suarez for the stunning floral arrangements, Radiant Wellness Spa, AdventHealth Center Ice, Lisa Moore from the Hilton Garden Inn Tampa- Wesley Chapel (who helped plan their event) and the Hampton Inn & Suites, as well as Chamber president & CEO Hope Kennedy for her warm introduction. The Emorys also thanked their real estate team members Michelle Leann, Amanda Downing and Vanessa Suarez.
It’s hard to believe that the Emorys could take enough time out from being at literally every Chamber ribbon cutting and every event throughout the Wesley Chapel and surrounding areas to plan, much less host, such a spectacular event. Congrats, you two!
Emorys Rock Realty is located at 28210 Paseo Dr. For more information, visit EmorysRockRealty.com or call (813) 404-2286.
Chiropractic Physicians Dr. Abigail & Dr. Thomas Farrar (both holding scissors) of Eden Chiropractic in the Brookside Professional Park on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel cut their Chamber ribbon on Sept. 5.
We also want to congratulate Eden Chiropractic (in the Brookside Professional Park off S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel) owners and chiropractic physicians Abigail and Thomas Farrar, for hosting another well-attended North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting event on Sept. 5.
The doctors Farrar turned their Grand Opening into a fun scavenger hunt and gave away raffle tickets for a number of great prizes to those who completed a row of a Bingo card.
Eden Chiropractic specializes in the Gonstead Method, created by renowned chiropractor Clarence Gonstead in the 1920s. The Gonstead Method (or Technique) focuses on how a patient’s nervous system is functioning to better determine the underlying cause of misalignments in the neck using X-rays and other instrumentation, as well as hands-on palpations and visualization. Eden Chiropractic provides chiropractic services for adults, children, women who are pregnant and even for women who are trying to get pregnant.
For more information about Eden Chiropractic (29141 Chapel Park Dr.), call (813) 815-8135 or visit EdenChiropracticFL.com.
Dr. Karan (left) & Dr. Agam Patel (both holding scissors) cut a ribbon at Palm Endovascular on Sept. 18.
Next up was the Chamber ribbon-cutting at the new Palm Endovascular medical office, located at 2344 Crestover Lane, in the Cypress Ridge Professional Park (behind Pet Paradise) on the north side of S.R. 56.
Palm Endovascular combines the talents of renowned interventional cardiologist Dr. Agam Patel and radiologist Dr. Karan Patel, at a unique facility where minimally invasive outpatient vascular disease surgeries that normally would have to be done at a hospital can be done in the office’s surgery center — without having to visit a hospital — thanks to its cutting-edge technology. Among the conditions the doctors Patel can treat include peripheral arterial disease, varicose veins, deep vein and uterine thromboses, spinal compression fractures and more.
Then, on Sept. 19, Family Nurse Practitioner Aimee Talbot, MSN, APRN, FNP-C (right), cut an NTBC ribbon at her new Embodhi Integrative Wellness & Medspa, located at 16007 N. Florida Ave. (just north of Bearss Ave.) in the Magnolia Center in Lutz.
At her event, Aimee said she currently is focusing on Botox® and fillers, but she also will be adding direct integrative primary care, hormone optimization, medical weight loss, and IV therapy services as Embodhi grows. The Embodhi website says that, ““Our mission is rooted in the belief that Divine Health is our inherent state, accessible to all.”
For more information, call (813) 252-7633 or visit Em-bodhi.com. — GN
Despite the fact that it’s been a long, hot summer, the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce (NTBC) stayed busy with several ribbon-cutting events in Wesley Chapel.
The first (which we didn’t have room to write about in our July 23 issue) was held in June at Rise Dispensary (top photo), the second medical marijuana dispensary to open in Wesley Chapel.
Located at 28053 Wesley Chapel Blvd. (in the former Russell’s Western Wear building), Rise (which has nearly 100 dispensaries in 14 U.S. states, including 18 in Florida) sells “flower,” edibles, vape cartridges and live resin in Indica, Sativa and Hybrid strains (and some CBD, too) for those ages 21 and older with valid medical cannabis cards and offers both in-store pickup and delivery.
For more information about Rise Dispensary, visit RiseCannabis.com or call (813) 612-6120.
Next up was the July 10 NTBC ribbon-cutting event at the new Wesley Chapel branch of FiCare Federal Credit Union, located at 26444 Silver Maple Pkwy.
As explained by president and CEO Denelle Miller (with microphone in the left photo), FiCare started as the credit union for employees of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa 60 years ago. But today, FiCare also has branches serving health care professionals in Lutz, Clearwater and Gainesville, with standalone ATMs in hospitals in Dunedin, Clearwater, Bartow, Riverview, St. Petersburg and Safety Harbor. The credit union’s “Contact Center” for all of its branches is now at the Wesley Chapel location.
“FiCare exists to serve our members,” Denelle said. “We are the credit union tailor-made for healthcare professionals nationwide. We serve you with complete financial services, competitive rates, and personal care extending beyond your financial health.”
For more information about FiCare FCU, visit FiCareFCU.org or call (813) 600-5920.
And, last but not least, was the NTBC ribbon-cutting at the beautiful new Laceleaf Med Spa on July 11. Owner Lisa Rezvan (photo right) and her staff (below) showed attendees how they can “Enhance (their) natural beauty” with aesthetic services like microdermabrasion and others that get rid of age spots and spider veins; a variety of injectables (Botox®, Dysport®, Juvéderm® and Restylane®); laser pigment removal, skin resurfacing and skin tightening; regenerative medicine such as peptide therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and vitamin B12 injections; and skin treatments such as chemical peels, hydrafacials, RF microneedling and treatments for acne scars and sun damage.
For more information about Laceleaf Med Spa, which is located behind (but in the same building as) the new Moe’s Southwest Grill (at 5490 Post Oak Blvd.), call (813) 705- 7277 or visit LaceleafMedSpa.com.
