Age-Friendly Care

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SPOTLIGHT

AdventHealth is growing its primary care program geared toward the 65-and-older set. First launched in 2021 in Daytona Beach, the AdventHealth Well 65+ program offers patients everything from longer appointments — up to 60 minutes instead of the typical 15 minutes — to on-site lab work, same-day and next-day appointments, video visits and the ability to reach a team member by phone or online, seven days a week. Doctors have a smaller patient load and work with an expanded team that includes pharmacists, licensed clinical social workers, RN case managers and personal health coaches.

“As we get older, we have more medical issues creep in. When this happens, it requires more time to care for those (patients), and it requires a team that has time to get to know you better so they can deliver the best care for them,” says Robert Rodgers, chief medical officer of AdventHealth Well 65+.

The facilities themselves are designed for safer and easier navigation. Parking is directly adjacent to the entry, and hallways are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. “Wellness suites” are outfitted with exam chairs that can be adjusted to a patient’s height (so there’s no need to step up) and have arms for support. Each office location also has a community room, where patients can participate in educational classes and activities.

AdventHealth Well 65+ has five locations — Eustis, Celebration, Daytona Beach, Winter Park and Zephyrhills — and plans to add offices this year in Altamonte Springs, Sanford, Winter Garden and Tampa. Care is covered under original Medicare and a number of other insurance plans.

AEROSPACE

• Boeing donated $5.1 million to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to build a research center focused on aviation safety. The Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety at Embry-Riddle is slated to open this fall in a revamped 13,000-sq.-ft. building on campus and will include offices, lab space and a classroom for safety-related professional education courses. Work conducted at the center will remain independent of Boeing and will be shared with the broader aviation community.

DEVELOPMENT

• McDowell Housing Partners is building a 96-unit affordable housing project in Eatonville called Enclave at Lake Shadow. The project, consisting of four, three-story buildings, will have a clubhouse, a resort-style pool, a business center and a fully equipped fitness center. All units will be reserved for households with incomes at or below 70% of Orange County’s area median income, which was $46,048 in 2021.

EDUCATION

• Following a yearlong search, John Nicklow was named the sixth president of Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Nicklow, who takes office in July, has served as president of the University of New Orleans for the past seven years and has 25 years of higher education experience as an engineering faculty member and an academic administrator.

INSURANCE

• Proctor Loan Protector, a subsidiary of Brown & Brown Insurance that performs insurance tracking services and loss draft processing for mortgage servicing operations, has moved into Brown & Brown’s former headquarters building in downtown Daytona Beach. More than 300 employees work at the refurbished, five-story building, with the headcount expected to grow to 600 in the next year.

MANUFACTURING

• Osceola County-based Tupperware Brands warned in a regulatory filing that there is “substantial doubt” the company will be able to remain in business amid struggling sales and difficulty raising money to stay afloat.

SPORTS BUSINESS

• The Orlando Magic is partnering with Lead Lake Nona, a startup accelerator run by Tavistock and Lead Sports & Health Tech Partners (a German sports and health tech investment platform), to help early-stage companies test and scale their products and services. Lead Lake Nona will also be the host sponsor for the Orlando Magic gaming team by providing a location for them to train and compete, as well as access to living quarters above the Lake Nona innovation hub.

TECHNOLOGY

• CMG Clean Tech is purchasing 309 acres in Osceola County, where it plans to build its U.S. headquarters. The Paris-based company — which develops solar panels and tiles, lithium batteries, electric vehicle charging stations and other devices — will employ more than 1,200 people earning an average of $75,000 at its Green Garden Village renewable energy technology manufacturing park.
• ThreatLocker, a Maitland-based cybersecurity company, is acquiring the assets of the northern Virginia software company HyperQube and appointed Craig Stevenson, HyperQube’s CEO, to its leadership team. HyperQube has a platform that allows companies to replicate an entity’s IT infrastructure for use as a carbon copy to test out the impact of a cyberattack.

TRANSPORTATION

• SpeedBird, an Orlando-based luxury private jet company, is merging with Northern Jet Management, the largest private jet service in the Midwest. Combined, the company will have 209 employees, more than $110 million in revenue and 37 aircraft with dedicated terminals in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Orlando; Naples; and additional offices in Milwaukee and Chicago.

TOURISM

• Disney is slashing 7,000 jobs — 3% of its global workforce — as part of an effort to cut $5.5 billion in costs. The three rounds of cuts, which began in March, will make up about $1.5 billion of that total. All aspects of the corporation are expected to be affected, but the cuts are not expected to affect hourly frontline workers at theme parks, Disney Parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro said in an e-mail to employees earlier this year. Walt Disney World Resort is Central Florida’s largest employer.

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