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Fore the Love … and for the Babies

Fundraiser Benefits NICU at Winter Haven Women’s Hospital by MATT COBBLE photos PROVIDED BY WINTER HAVEN HOSPITAL FOUNDATION Few fundraisers offer something for everyone, but Winter Haven Hospital Foundation’s Fore the Love event, benefitting the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), comes close. Fore the Love had its beginnings in the Polk County Cup Juniors Tennis…
Pop Quiz: Germs 101—A Crash Course for Parents

Back-to-school season is upon us, and that means your child’s chances of coming down with an illness is greatly increased. While schools are centers of learning, they are also breeding grounds for all manner of germs. However, there are ways to lessen your child’s chances of coming down with something, having to miss school due…
Tackling Mental Health Together

Establishing the West Central Florida Mental Wellness Coalition Recognizing the record number of suicide rates, substance use and opioid deaths, nearly 30 local organizations have joined forces to develop a regional mental health initiative. On June 20, BayCare CEO and President Tommy Inzina and participating leaders from other hospitals, behavioral health providers, law enforcement, government…

Ask a Nurse: The evolution of modern medicine

Did you know that an anesthesiologist (the doctor that puts you to sleep and keeps you alive during surgery) wasn’t even considered a field or specialty in medicine until 1941!1 Could you imagine undergoing surgery without anesthesia? Barbaric! Thoracic surgery (chest surgery) wasn’t approved until 1970, and bariatric (obesity) medicine has yet to become an official…
Medical Advice: Avoiding mosquitoes and chikungunya virus

I was first introduced to a disease known as chikungunya during my medical training. Initially, I dismissed this foreign illness as something I would probably not see in my career. Chikungunya was originally found in Asia, Africa, and the islands of the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific. This changed on December 2013, when there was…
Editor’s Dose: Adventures with school physicals!

It’s school physical time already! Am I the only one who feels like summer went by way too fast? Maybe it’s because “time flies when you’re having fun.” Or, maybe it’s because time flies when you have four kids . . . maybe it’s a combination of both. Either way, our house is in full…