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Reaping What They Sowed

5 of BayCare Residency Program’s Inaugural Class Staying in Area to Provide Care by TERESA SCHIFFER Three years ago, six enthusiastic medical school graduates entered a new residency program at BayCare Medical Group’s Family Health Center in Winter Haven, under the leadership of Dr. Nathan Falk. On June 17 of this year, after serving Central…
Center for Behavioral Health Expands to Offer More Options for Care

by TERESA SCHIFFER When President John F. Kennedy passed the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, a new world was opened up to scores of individuals who would never have received the care they needed to thrive in society. Locally, Winter Haven Hospital’s Center for Behavioral Health opened its doors in 1967 as one of…
Evolution of Mental Health Care

WHH Center for Behavioral Health’s Retiring Clinical Director Reflects on 36 Years of Change After 36 years with Winter Haven Hospital’s Center for Behavioral Health, Clinical Director Jeff Ware, LMHC, is trading the office for retirement. Central Florida Health News spoke with Ware to learn how the community and healthcare needs have changed during his…

Editor’s Dose: Tips for minimizing back-to-school stress

IF YOU ARE LIKE ME, then come early July you were already thinking about preparations for the new school year. Parents and children in the community this year are getting ready extra early because Polk County public schools moved up their calendar by one week — day one of school is August 15.
Making the choice to breastfeed

THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH in Polk County (DOH-Polk) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) recognize August as Breastfeeding Awareness Month. This is a wonderful time of year to promote breastfeeding as a vital health activity and discuss the health benefits breastfeeding provides. Although every woman has their own…
Editor’s Dose: Keeping kids’ bodies and minds active this summer

WHEN I FIRST had the twins, my mom would say, “Have a schedule for them, or they’ll have a schedule for you.” Basically, she was cautioning that I’d better keep those little minds and bodies active, or chaos would inevitably ensue. Being a mother of eight children, I think she was speaking from personal experience.…