Florida Hospital and USF Health have formed a strategic alliance, combining Adventist Health System’s innovative approach to patient-centered care with the University of South Florida’s leading research, to deliver cutting-edge medical therapies in hospital and outpatient settings. Through this unique public/private partnership, Florida Hospital is making an investment of approximately $14 million in four key specialty areas to bring enhanced patient care, state-of-the-art technology and expanded services to Tampa Bay.

“Our partnership with USF Health will bring their leading-edge research right to the doorsteps of residents in communities where we have hospitals in Tampa Bay,” said Mike Schultz, President and CEO of the Florida Region for Adventist Health System, the parent company of Florida Hospital. “Patients in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties will no longer have to travel for personalized and state-of-the- art medicine in the specialties where we have affiliations with USF Health.”

In September 2011, the Florida Hospital announced that it was developing strategic health care partnerships, including one with USF Health. Today, both organizations announced how the partnership is translating medical research advancements into cutting-edge patient treatment in the following specialty areas: cardiology at Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute, breast health at Florida Hospital Tampa, neuroscience at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, and surgical oncology, melanoma and breast cancer at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital in Tarpon Springs.

“Through these critical specialties, we’re going to transform how patients experience health care at Florida Hospital in our area,” said Dr. Stephen K. Klasko, CEO of USF Health and dean of USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “Patients will have greater access to our world-class physicians and the new scientific discoveries at USF Health. As important, USF Health will also work with Florida Hospital and its patients to create personalized, coordinated care in cardiology, breast health and other targeted specialties.”

Cardiology

Cardiovascular patients at Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute will benefit from research collaboration and USF Health’s exploration in genomic screening for personalized health care. Genomic screening uses an individual’s genetic profile to customize the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease to each patient.

“No other providers in Tampa Bay will be able to replicate the level of how we begin to tailor procedures to individual patients to maintain their heart health,” Dr. Klasko said.

“Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute will now combine its personalized health care delivery and clinical research with USF Health’s leading academic medicine and research,” said John Harding, President and CEO of Florida Hospital Tampa Bay Division. “This innovative partnership will give health care consumers a broader range of treatment options for cardiovascular disease.”

Breast Health

Women across Tampa Bay have been experiencing the benefit of a comprehensive diagnostics center exclusively dedicated to breast care at Florida Hospital Tampa. Recently, USF Health partnered with an existing breast program composed of Florida Hospital Tampa, Community Medical Imaging and Tampa Bay Breast Care Specialists to build an even more comprehensive breast health and cancer program. This collaboration brings together private practices, academic medicine and a hospital to form a renowned team of expert radiologists, radiation oncologists and breast surgeons. Based at Florida Hospital Tampa, this multidisciplinary approach to breast care provides a comprehensive range of diagnostic services, cancer treatments and research protocols to patients, while offering a higher level of coordinated care. One of the major patient benefits is reducing the time from screening to diagnosis to treatment. Providing rapid diagnosis — often within the same day — increases early detection, which is a critical factor in successful outcomes for breast cancer patients.

Neuroscience

The new Neuroscience Institute at Florida Hospital Zephyrhills will have a team of USF Health neurosurgeons on-site who are trained in the treatment of brain, spine and acute stroke procedures. Time is an important factor with most medical issues, but especially with stroke and neurological conditions. The new 24/7 dedicated stroke team includes academic neurosurgeons from USF, neuro-interventional radiologists, board certified neurologists, emergency physicians and certified registered nurses to coordinate care from triage to diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Patients will have access to the latest evidence-based treatments from USF, including brain surgery, spine surgery and minimally invasive treatment of aneurysms. Having all of these services offered in one location means patients will no longer need to travel outside Pasco County, saving precious time, which is a critical factor for neurological procedures.

Surgical Oncology, Melanoma and Breast Cancer

To round off the partnership, patients in Pinellas and west Pasco counties will benefit from enhanced medical expertise at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital. USF Health physicians will now be available for patients – a plastics and reconstructive surgeon trained in the most advanced technologies and treatments for breast cancer and other oncological disorders, and an internationally known surgical oncologist specializing in the treatment of malignant melanoma, complicated skin cancers and breast cancer. The partnership creates a comprehensive and coordinated approach to cancer care that gives patients the option to receive state-of-the-art treatment without leaving their community.

“These four affiliations are the foundation for Florida Hospital and USF Health’s plans to establish a higher standard of coordinated care throughout the market,” said John Harding. “This announcement is just the beginning of our vision to elevate health care in Tampa Bay.”

For more information, please visit www.HigherDegree.org

YongeStreet

The idea that an isolated genius produces the best ideas has lost much of its cache in our networked and crowdsourced world. But Jeremy Vandermeij’s vision of collaborative art and design is a whole lot more individualistic and experimental than what any ordinary crowd would produce. And a whole lot more joyful.

Vandermeij’s work as a self-described “creative generalist” employs friendship and camaraderie to extraordinary creative ends; no one, from a work’s creator to the attendee or consumer or patron is left out of the process. As creative director at the Gladstone Hotel, former curator of the hotel’s annual Come Up to My Room event, which invites creators to create an immersive experience in the hotel’s rooms, and co-founder of Toronto Design Offsite and Public Displays of Affection, Vandermeij has worked to surmount the often artificial boundaries between art and design, personal expression and public service.

Full story