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Hospital Opens Long-Term Facility In Pasco

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 22, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Cathy Edmisten was so happy she danced a jig near a nurse's station.

University Community Hospital's Long Term Acute Care Hospital at Connerton had officially opened, and Edmisten, the director of clinical services, touted its amenities with an enthusiasm Vanna White would struggle to emulate.

"We can do just about anything here," she said at the entrance of a private hospital room. Patients "won't have to move for anything. We have a portable X-ray machine, so we can do that right in the room. We can even do bedside procedures like a bronchoscopy. That's where a scope with a small camera can go down into the lungs."

The new hospital is on 38 acres in the Connerton community off U.S. 41, about nine miles north of State Road 54. Hospital officials have said the location will make it convenient for hospitals in west Pasco County and elsewhere to transfer patients from their intensive-care suites to a long-term care facility.

The 50-bed hospital, which has an operating room, a laboratory, a cafeteria, a meditation room (where family members can relax quietly), pharmacy services, a critical-care unit, a radiology department, a gift shop and a courtyard, welcomed its first patient last week.

The hospital won a state permit for the facility in 2006. Construction began in February 2008 and was completed in December. The land and 48,000-square-foot facility, including medical equipment, cost about $21 million.
Geoff Fox
Help Critters At Animal Shelter

RUSKIN - Do you enjoy animals and have a couple of hours to spare each week? Put that time to good use by volunteering to help homeless and abandoned dogs and cats at the Critter Adoption and Rescue Effort shelter.

The no-kill animal shelter needs people to open the kennel and cat facility any weekday morning at 8 a.m. and work until 9:30 a.m. Other volunteer duties include dog walking and cat socializing, off-site adoption assistance, event participation and office work.
Shelter operators also are looking for two volunteer coordinators who are good with computers or cameras and know some common word-processing software.

CARE is a nonprofit shelter run entirely by volunteers age 18 and older at 1528 27th St. SE. Drop in for a quick tour of the shelter between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, or call (813) 645-2273.

Lois Kindle

County To Dedicate New Water Plant

ORIENT PARK - A new water plant is on-line and soon will be supplying some 10 million gallons of water a day to homes and businesses in eastern and southern Hillsborough County.

The $31 million facility is Hillsborough County's fourth major water processing plant. It will supplement the Lithia water treatment plant, which has been running at or near capacity.

Hillsborough County Water Resource Services has scheduled a dedication ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Monday at the new plant, located at 9640 E. Columbus Drive, off U.S. 301. Tours will follow the ceremony.

The water department spent several months last year installing four miles of new transmission lines in the Brandon area to transport water processed at the new plant.

A mix of groundwater, surface water and desalinated water will be pumped from the nearby Tampa Bay Water treatment facility to the new plant for distribution. Tampa Bay Water is permitted by the Southwest Florida Water Management District to provide water to Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties.

Yvette C. Hammett

Softball Office Goes Global

PLANT CITY - The International Softball Federation has gone international in a big way.

The federation, based in Plant City, recently opened its first European office, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The office will form the hub for the development of the sport in Europe and nurture closer contact with the International Olympic Committee and international sport federation colleagues.

The softball federation moved from Oklahoma City to Plant City about 10 years ago after the Cincinnati Reds moved spring training to Sarasota.

Among other issues, the federation is lobbying to restore softball as an Olympic sport.

The federation's leased facilities in Plant City include the 6,700-seat Plant City Stadium, a four-field softball complex and an administration building with a 1,500-square foot conference facility.

Dave Nicholson

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