EDITORIAL
Considering that my birthday is in January, I always find the New Year to be a time of reflection, even more so for me than it is about resolutions for the year to come.
We have an awful lot to be thankful for here at the Neighborhood News. We continue to thrive in a market saturated with other publications, we helped launch WCNT-tv and we have provided our 100,000+ readers in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel with more news and information about their communities than any other single media source. I’m not making that up — virtually every day, someone seeks me out to tell me that and thank me for what we do.
It’s been a while since I gave one business our “Advertiser of the Year” award, but there’s no doubt in my mind that one local business has not only spent the most money with us in 2016, it also is at the epicenter of life in our area — Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC). FHWC’s marketing director Tracy Clouser has not only purchased ads in both editions of the Neighborhood News for the hospital, she also stepped up to be the Studio Sponsor for at least the first 16 episodes of WCNT-tv. That sponsorship has allowed my partner — Craig Miller of Full Throttle Intermedia — and I to create 14 episodes of that show to date and not have to worry about losing our shirts while trying to reach a new audience with something so fresh and innovative.
But, FHWC is about so much more than just advertising. The hospital’s presence and visibility on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., a little more than a mile north of the Hillsborough-Pasco county line, has been a major reason why the Porter family has been so successful in developing the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI).
Yes, we’re also happy that the Shops at Wiregrass mall (which opened a couple of years before the hospital), Pasco Hernando State College’s Porter Campus, North Tampa Behavioral Health, Raymond James Financial and The Beach Assisted Living — and some of the most beautiful, new neighborhoods in Wesley Chapel (Estancia and The Ridge at Wiregrass Ranch, etc.) — have all found their way to the Porter Family Trust’s 5,000+ acres, but I honestly believe that FHWC is literally the heartbeat of our area.
The hospital’s CEO Denyse Bales-Chubb also has been visible and approachable and FHWC itself is as technologically advanced as any hospital in the country. Perhaps best of all, the upwards expansion of FHWC already has getting ready to open and will be completed soon, probably before the end of January. I will admit that I did not know much about the Seventh Day Adventists before this jewel of a hospital opened on BBD, but I appreciate and even admire the kind of investment they have made in both of our distribution areas.
Don’t forget that in addition to FHWC, the Adventist Health System also took over what used to be called University Community Hospital on BBD and Fletcher Ave. The renamed Florida Hospital Tampa (FHT) also has been a prominent advertiser in these pages (predominantly in our New Tampa issues), so it’s hard for me to not sing the praises of both local hospitals, especially knowing how many improvements also have been made at FHT — and are still to come in the future.
And, A WCNT-tv Feature Report!
Craig and I have been waiting for the go-ahead from Tracy (who also just completed her year as the Board Chair of our exclusive WCNT-tv webcast partner, the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce) to produce a complete segment about the hospital’s expansion, but it is currently available for viewing now in WCNT-tv’s Episode 14, debuting on YouTube on Jan. 6.
We’re excited to take you on an exclusive video tour of everything FHWC is adding (including some amazing drone video footage from Brad Hall Studios) to make life in our area even better.
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