April 26, 2024
Feature
Protecting Nurses from Violence
The head of the Florida Nurses Association vividly remembers the first time a patient attacked her. He kicked Willa Fuller in the chest, knocking the wind out of her and disorienting her for the rest of the day.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Detecting Dementia
Researchers at the Florida State University College of Medicine have identified a potential low-cost method for predicting if a person is at risk of developing dementia.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Commercial Composter
Sunshine Organics & Compost of Jacksonville is a trashy business in the best way possible.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Testing Ground
Draper, a non-profit engineering research company based in Cambridge, Mass., is building a 5.3-acre aerospace and defense campus near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Titusville. The 37,000-sq.-ft. facility will house one of the world's largest centrifuges and serve as the company's test site for guidance, navigation and control technologies.
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Published on 11/30/2023
A Palm-Sized Solution
Like a lot of parents driving the family to Orlando, Rob and Daniella Sladen had some quiet time when the kids fell asleep. Unlike other parents — but somewhat understandable as Daniella was a structural engineer and Rob a project engineer — they spent the quiet time noodling ways to cut the amount of lubricant and oil in aircraft engines.
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Published on 11/30/2023
3-D-Printed Seawalls
Could habitats within Florida's coral reefs and mangroves be saved by 3-D printers? Miami startup Kind Designs believes its 3-D-printed seawalls can trap carbon and mimic those threatened environments.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Life-Like Learning
Tampa General Hospital and the USF Health College of Nursing are investing $4.4 million in building a nursing simulation lab to offer advanced training for nurses, marking the college's 50th anniversary celebration with a leap into futuristic training technologies.
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Published on 11/30/2023
No Barriers
Able Trust is a non-profit organization that works to connect Floridians with disabilities to career opportunities. Recently, the Able Trust teamed up with the University of South Florida's nursing college for a first-of-its-kind summer program to introduce high school students who never thought they could pursue a career in nursing to see the possibilities.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Paving a Path
Each semester, more than 200 people apply for 106 spots in Seminole State College's nursing program, but the school has been hard-pressed to accommodate additional students. It simply doesn't have enough physical space.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Send Nurse Rover on Over
Earlier this year, Orlando Health launched a pilot program at a series of its hospitals using Epic Rover, a mobile application to aid patient care and improve workflow efficiency for nurses.
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Published on 11/30/2023
RNs, In Demand
Pensacola Christian College's School of Nursing was founded in 1977. Denise McCollim is PCC's dean of Arts and Sciences and holds a doctor of nursing practice degree. Heather Hartkopf is a registered nurse and chair of PCC's Nursing Department. In a recent conversation, they discussed nursing education and workforce trends.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Ramping Up
In August, the first cohort of future nurses at Indian River State College's expanded School of Nursing in Port St. Lucie took their classroom seats. The college aims to double its number of nursing graduates to address the state's nursing shortage.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Family Business
One of seven children, Wendi Goodson-Celerin grew up in Tampa, her mother a nurse and Goodson-Celerin showing signs early on that she'd eventually become a nurse, too.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Battling Burnout
In her first year as a nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit, Amber Santos, an assistant professor of nursing at the Keigwin School of Nursing at Jacksonville University, remembers driving to work with tears in her eyes and wondering what she'd encounter on the job.
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Published on 11/30/2023
Mark Wilson: Man on a Mission
In his 15th year as CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, Mark Wilson has vastly broadened the organization's influence into areas that might seem unconventional. Breaking the stereotype of a clubby establishment focused solely on the business community, the Florida Chamber has set ambitious goals — such as cutting Florida's childhood poverty rate in half, helping working families gain access to quality daycare and focusing on mental health — to strengthen the social fabric of the state amid its surging growth.
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Published on 11/27/2023
A Nursing Reboot
The past several years have been challenging ones for Florida's nurses. Prior to the pandemic in 2019, the state had a shortage of about 11,500 registered nurses and RN education programs were struggling to increase capacity because of a lack of faculty, funding and other campus resources.
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Published on 11/24/2023
Uber Nursing
The rideshare concept is pretty simple. You need to go someplace, so you use an app to put out a call to nearby drivers willing to take you there.
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Published on 11/21/2023
UCF's New Nursing Digs
The University of Central Florida will break ground in early 2024 on its new College of Nursing building in Lake Nona. With $43.7 million committed by the state of Florida and $26.2 million raised through contributions, the school is close to meeting its goal for the $70-million project.
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Published on 11/17/2023
In Memoriam: Buffett the Businessman
The late Jimmy Buffett was one of pop music's most successful entrepreneurs, building an empire that included Margaritaville-branded merchandise, restaurants and resorts that date back to 1985, drink mixes and even the 2018 Broadway musical, Escape to Margaritaville.
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Published on 11/17/2023
Text Support
Born in Colombia, Maria Barrera moved to South Florida with her mom when she was 10. Though it was a hard transition, she excelled in math and science and by high school she was tutoring. “I would spend six hours every day after school running around Weston, going to different houses, and working with second-graders to seniors. I loved that — it was my happy place.”
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Published on 11/17/2023
How Sweet It Isn't
Since 2015, the Florida Diabetes Advisory Council has issued an annual report on diabetes and its impact on the state. A key finding from the panel's 2023 report: More than 2.7 million Floridians — about 11.8% of the population — have diabetes. That's more than double the percentage of Floridians affected by diabetes in 1995.
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Published on 11/17/2023
Full Circle
Madeline Pumariega had a childhood common to the offspring of Cuban immigrants in working-class Hialeah. She and her brother routinely gave up their room to aunts, uncles and other relatives newly arrived from Cuba and in need of a place to stay. Home meant family — cousins as close as siblings — along with dominoes, Catholic Mass on Sundays and only Spanish spoken at home. Little Madeline didn't really speak English until kindergarten.
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Published on 11/15/2023
In Her Own League
Cecile Reynaud was driving near her home in Tallahassee in late September 2022, already far down the road into a peaceful and well-earned retirement. Then her cellphone rang.
The name that flashed on the screen was familiar, but the nature of the call was entirely out of the blue.
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Published on 11/14/2023
When Teachable Moments Become Business Advantages
Bridgette Heller laughs as she talks about the first time someone asked her to sit on a company's board of directors. The 62-year-old St. Petersburg native was a rising young executive when a wealthy acquaintance invited her to join the Photo Corporation of America's board.
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Published on 11/13/2023
Florida Icon: Hugh D. Hayes
The goal of a judge should be to do both justice and law. If you are successful, they should be one and the same.
My family was working class. They...
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Published on 11/10/2023
