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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…
Working Like a Dog

Reading with Bonnie the Therapy Dog by RACHEL CHRISTIAN Cassandra Banning and Bonnie, her 10-year-old shih tzu therapy dog, have been bringing joy and happiness to people in the Plant City area for almost six years. The pair can be spotted across town visiting nursing homes, hospitals, and even Bruton Memorial Library. Unlike service animals…

To save or not to save?

Cord-Blood Banking can have Life-Saving Benefits, but Local Doctors Advise Parents to do Their Homework When expecting a new baby, parents have many decisions to make: what name to choose, how to decorate the nursery, what hospital to use, etc. However, in the midst of all the excitement, parents might overlook researching and making…
Healthy cook: Save your summer diet with canned salmon

If you had to pick up a precooked, trimmed and ready-to-serve protein at the supermarket, you’d expect to pay a premium for the convenience. After all, someone else is doing the prep work, so you should be paying more. However, it’s nice to know that the opposite can also be true. With canned salmon…
Medical advice: Essential but simple ways to help loved ones with Aphasia

We tend to take for granted our ability to communicate, how effortlessly our words flow out of our mouths. However, when our speech becomes impaired, we profoundly feel the impact. June is National Aphasia Awareness Month. Yet, most people have never heard about this type of communication disorder. Aphasia is a language impairment that…