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St. Joseph’s Hospital-North expands
Extensive hospital expansion keeps patients, visitors and staff in mind By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com
St. Joseph’s Hospital-North has completed a $75 million expansion, and began welcoming patients to its more spacious facility this week. The project doubled the hospital’s capacity — increasing it from 108 beds to 216 beds.The hospital also has upped its inten-
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sive care unit beds from 12 to 24. And, has more room to deliver services, accommodate visitors and enhance employee work areas. Sara Dodds, the hospital’s director of operations, provided a walk-through tour of the addition to The Laker/Lutz News last week, before it opened for patients. The expansion will allow the hospital to respond to the area’s fast-paced growth, Dodds said. “There’s definitely a need. There’s so many new homes going up around us. “We’ve been overcapacity for quite some
time,” she said. The hospital’s primary market is within 5 miles, and its secondary market is within 10 miles. “The growth going on in our primary and secondary service areas is much faster than the rest of Florida and the rest of the country,” Dodds said. In designing its expansion, the hospital sought feedback from its existing staff and incorporated their ideas into the design, she said. See HOSPITAL, page 15A
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Traveling back to 1861
The thunderous sounds of canons and rifle fire filled the air at a recent Civil War reenactment at the Florida Pioneer Museum and Village, at 15602 Pioneer Museum Road in Dade City. The three-day event, which concluded March 1, gave those attending a chance to get a feel for what life was like in the 1860s. Actors, dressed in period clothing and uniforms, remained in character, as they mingled with visitors. They set up realistic campsites and gave informational talks — leading to the reenactment of the Battle of Santa Rosa Island, a Civil War battle that took place Oct. 9, 1861, on the barrier island near Pensacola. Above, Al Stone, of Zephyrhills — portraying Gen. Robert E. Lee — gazes into the distance while observing actors playing Confederate soldiers, preparing for battle. Stone, who is semi-retired from his 25-year-long career of playing General Lee, studied Lee’s life for five years, before taking on the role. Over the years, he said he has been part of 30-plus documentaries and private projects for National Geographic, and the History and Discovery channels. For more coverage on this story, turn to page 1B.
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The site is located at the corner of of heading toward a construction start Magnolia Boulevard and Wesley Chapel Amici Plaza in spring with an opening likely Boulevard, which is also known as County ksteele@lakerlutznews.com by the end of 2016. Road 54. Pasco County records show a conceptual Pasco County is moving forward with acOwners of Amici Pizza & Deli are planthe plan with about 3,000 square feet for Road ning to build a new stand-alone restaurant, for quisition of right-of-way along County restaurant, and about 1,800 square feet 54 to prepare for the expansion of the twowith additional retail space, on Wesley retail. the lane road into a four-lane road at Chapel Boulevard. “We’d like to have our own building and 54 junction of State Road 56 and State Road The new restaurant is a short distance a bigger kitchen,” said Andrea Mannino. from the existing Amici restaurant in Grand No decisions have been made on the adSee PIZZA, page 13A Oaks Square, at Wesley Chapel and Pet Lane. ditional retail space, he said. Andrea and Josephine Mannino, are
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JANUARY 27, 2016
Pasco administrator to retire in
By Kathy Steele
ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker expects to be very busy over the next year and a half. She’ll be crossing off a to-do list, one by one, before leaving in 2017 to go on a lengthy road trip with her husband. The couple will hit the road with their recreational vehicle and their motorcycles, on a tour of as many baseball parks and national parks as they can squeeze into a year. “That’s been our dream,” Baker said, so letting her contract lapse in July 2017 makes sense. But, don’t expect a lame duck administrator. “There’s no kicking back here,” Baker said.“This isn’t me slowing down. ” Baker has told Pasco County commissioners she won’t seek renewal of her current two-year contract, which makes her
2017
last day July 9, 2017. the jail and construction of new fire stations By then, Baker will • Relocating have worked 35 years central Pasco more government offices to in public service, 24 Baker also plans to fill vacancies for a of those years with few key leadership positions that remain, Pasco County. cluding an assistant county administrator infor Her to-do list, in public safety and administration. short form, includes: Progress has been made, Baker said, but • Completing mas- government services still could be more ter plans and updates customer-friendly. for storm water, solid A culture that was decades in the waste and tourism making is being changed, she said.“You don’t • Funding and building a diverging get to dia- turn a canoe.You’re turning mond road design to ease traffic congestion a ship.” Public service wasn’t Baker’s first at State Road 56 and Interstate 75 career choice. • Completing the State Road 56 extenOver the years she worked sion as a waitress, • Nurturing SunWest Park, the county’s flight attendant and a theater manager. She also served in the U.S.Air Force Reserve. fledgling aqua park Her undergraduate degree was in • Replacing and repairing aging busiinfra- ness administration. structure and roads damaged by the It wasn’t until she accepted a secretarial summer flooding • Making progress on the expansion of See RETIRE, page 11A Michele Baker
Kumquats reign supreme at area festival By Kathy Steele ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
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Saturday, January 30, 2016 9 AM - 5 PM Historic Downtown Dade City
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Amici Pizza plans stand-alone location
Mark Pizzurro, Joe Traina and Peter Abreut
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The first kumquat tree in St. Joseph took root more than 100 years ago, when C.J. Nathe planted it in his backyard. He added a few more, and soon he had small grove on an acre of fertile ground. a The kumquat king, as Nathe was later dubbed, transformed a quiet back road community into the Kumquat Capital of the World. An open house will take place on Jan. and Jan. 29 at the Kumquat Growers 28 packi h d
Margie Neuhofer and her h
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Actors portraying Union soldiers fire rifles and a large Gatling gun on wheels toward the incoming Confederate troops, during a reenactment of the Battle of Santa Rosa Island. This reenactment took place during the Civil War event at the Florida Pioneer Museum and Village in Dade City on Feb. 29.
Larry Fentriss, plays a fife, which is a flute-like musical instrument, for the 37th Alabama Infantry Confederate soldiers. The native of Williamsburg, Virginia said he started playing the fife in fifth grade. He began taking part in Civil War reenactments last year.
MOSI focusing Therapy dog helps more on community address mental illness outreach By Kevin Weiss
kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has added a therapy dog to expand its efforts to better serve the needs of people facing significant mental health and substance abuse issues. The therapy dog is the newest member of a Behavioral Health Intervention Team (BHIT) the law enforcement agency established last year. The team’s primary task is to keep tabs on individuals who have been held involuntarily in a mental health treatment facility for up to 72 hours, through a state law known as the Baker Act. They focus on approximately 500 people who are Baker Act repeats — through a proactive approach that includes frequent visitations, welfare checks, expedited behavioral health resources and criminal justice diversion programs. Now, K9 Charlie, a 1-year-old pitbull-mix, has joined the team, to aid and comfort those who are struggling. Charlie came to the local law enforce-
ment agency by way of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office’s Paws and Stripes program. That program trains dogs from local animal shelters, preparing them to become PTSD dogs, therapy dogs, and child victim advocate dogs. Charlie was rescued from the streets in October. The new animal assisted therapy dog program strives to better “build a connection” between law enforcement and the mental health community, said Cpt. Toni Roach, who oversees the 15-member BHIT, which includes a captain, two sergeants and 12 detectives. Charlie helps “to comfort and ease some anxiety and build that stress relief,” when the sheriff’s office comes knocking on the door for visitations and welfare checks, Roach explained. “Law enforcement and people with mental illness, there’s that stigma that we’re there to take them into custody or arrest them for a crime,” Roach said. But, Charlie’s calming presence for someSee THERAPY, page 15A
By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
In just a few years, the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) has gone from being millions of dollars in debt to being financially sustainable, operating in the black. The turnaround of the North Tampa organization has come under the new leadership of Julian McKenzie, who was promoted as museum CEO in 2017 after serving less than a year as its CFO. The museum leader led a restructuring effort that saw the organization downsize its East Fowler Avenue campus from 300,000 square feet to about 55,000 square feet, while trimming just about 10% of overall exhibit space. “The big issue for MOSI was it was trying to be too much for too many people,” McKenzie said, during a recent North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting. Museum leadership had to reconfigure See MOSI, page 15A