April 19, 2024
Healthcare
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
Officials say Florida faces health care provider shortage
Florida officials say that a health care provider shortage worsens as the state's population grows larger and older simultaneously.
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Published on 11/9/2023
Stepping Up
Asli Goncer's breast cancer diagnosis in 2018 left the software developer with the challenge of her life. But she set about to overcome the disease with an engineer's mindset. Step by step. Day by day.
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Published on 10/31/2023
Collateral Damage
Advances in chemotherapy and radiation treatment have helped millions of patients survive breast cancer. But that often comes with a cost of severe heart damage. In a 2022 study published by the National Institutes of Health, 40,800 breast cancer survivors — nearly 8% of all survivors tracked between 1975 and 2016 — died of heart disease.
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Published on 10/27/2023
Navigating Breast Cancer
Breast cancer mortality rates in Florida have fallen by nearly 45% over the past two decades, according to the Florida Department of Health. The notable decline is attributed to early detection programs, new and highly effective drugs, and improved treatment and surgical procedures.
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Published on 10/23/2023
Strengthening Couples
A USF study aims to support relationships between Latina breast cancer survivors and their partners.
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Published on 10/19/2023
Promising Access
Before the Promise Fund Women's Health Center opened in 2020 at a FoundCare site in Palm Springs in Palm Beach County, only 10% of FoundCare patients with orders for a mammogram received one.
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Published on 10/16/2023
Tackling Cancer
Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan knows a thing or two about breast cancer. The former First Coast News TV anchor was first diagnosed at the age of 38 in 1999 after finding a small lump during a breast self-check. A biopsy determined that she had triple negative breast cancer, and that led to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.
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Published on 10/16/2023
Helping Babies Thrive
Founders Glenn and Chelly Snow's LactaLogics processes breast milk from donor moms for use in feeding premature babies. The company is locating its headquarters and a processing facility in Port St. Lucie in the former Liberty Medical building on U.S. 1.
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Published on 8/24/2023
Primary Concern
Your child starts missing school due to anxiety attacks. Or you start noticing more frequent and intense tantrums that you thought were things of the past.
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Published on 8/8/2023
Slowing Nearsightedness
If you're nearsighted and of a certain age, the vision care of your youth probably went like this: Someone noticed you squinting at school. Off you went to the eye doctor who likely told your parents it was genetic and had nothing to do with your TV time or reading. You got your first glasses and your eyes got progressively worse over the years. That meant stronger and stronger lenses until they stabilized as an adult.
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Published on 8/8/2023
Wake-up Call
Florida parents may want to start thinking about any scheduling adjustments they'll need to make when state law takes effect that requires later start times for schools.
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Published on 8/8/2023
The Other End of the Needle
Getting one's blood drawn can be a stressful experience for children. Fatima Singletary, a phlebotomist at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, offers some perspective and advice.
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Published on 8/8/2023
Making Space
With the need for pediatric mental health care skyrocketing in Florida and the U.S., Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, which is part of Baptist Health, plans to add a 20-bed behavioral health and wellness unit slated for completion next spring.
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Published on 8/8/2023
Healing by Play
There was plenty of expensive, shiny new medical equipment on display when Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital opened its new expanded facility in Hollywood last fall, but the non-medical additions have proved to be at least as important. It's all part of “Joe D's” commitment to “the healing power of play,” says CEO Caitlin Stella.
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Published on 8/8/2023
Florida's Future
We asked 13 experts in their respective fields to look into their crystal balls. Here are their thoughts on the decade ahead.
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Published on 7/18/2023
Animal Alternatives
For decades, drug discovery has relied on animals for testing the safety and efficacy of potential therapeutic agents, but that process has drawbacks. There are moral dilemmas, of course, related to the potential suffering of lab animals, but ethical concerns aside, animals are often poor physiological stand-ins for humans. Studies show that roughly nine out of 10 investigational drugs proven to be safe and effective in animals ultimately fail in human trials.
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Published on 6/19/2023
Altering Fentanyl
INNOVATION
A University of Florida professor and researchers from around the U.S. have found a way to make fentanyl less addictive. Although fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, helps people with severe...
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Published on 4/25/2023
Home remedy
When Randy Gibson landed in Tampa General Hospital last year with sepsis and an E. coli liver infection, his doctors gave him a choice: He could remain in the hospital to get treated, or he could receive treatment at home. Gibson opted to go home.
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Published on 4/24/2023
Healthy Return on Investment
When store owner Eugene Debs died in 2006, patrons of the corner grocery his family operated in downtown Jacksonville for 90 years lined the streets for his funeral cortege. They did the same for his brother, Nicholas Debs, the last operator of the store, when he died five years later.
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Published on 4/1/2023
An Attack on Poverty
Florida's poverty rate is 13.1%, according to the U.S. Census. In the ZIP codes selected by Florida Blue parent company GuideWell for investments, poverty rates are as high as 32.1%. The Florida Chamber Foundation's Florida Scorecard reports nearly 800,000 Florida children (18.2%) live in poverty, a figure the chamber wants to see fall below 10% by 2030.
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Published on 4/1/2023
Overcoming Obstacles
Physician Kelli Tice needs only to look back one generation in her family to understand the devastation wrought by health inequities: Her grandmother died young from a preventable disease.
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Published on 4/1/2023
Building Healthier Communities One ZIP Code at a Time
Suzanne Pickett was caught by surprise at a baby shower she helped throw for Jacksonville residents in need of help last fall. The CEO of the Historic Eastside Community Development Corp. and other hosts had snacks and gift cards for about 40 new moms and mothers-to-be, and they crossed their fingers that so many would come. They were way off on the headcount.
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Published on 4/1/2023
Virtually Recovered
Treatment for cardiac conditions doesn't end when a surgery or a procedure is complete. For most patients, rehabilitation is as important as the original intervention — yet nationwide, only a portion of the cardiac patients who need that service can access it.
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Published on 2/28/2023
Time and Money Saver
Over the past couple of decades, cardiac CT scans have become a workhorse for evaluating people with chest pain.
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Published on 2/28/2023
