February 29, 2012
[VIDEO] By Farah Dosani – Ferd DeSantis is a fighter in every sense of the word. The Fort Myers man has a third-degree black belt in multiple styles of martial arts. He regularly works out at the gym and trains with other fighters. He’s also 85 years old. “I enjoy training. I try to outdo myself,” said DeSantis, who got his first black belt when he was 72. “I still try to see if I can get better and better – even at my old age.”
November 30, 2011
[VIDEO] By Farah Dosani – Jennifer Lee and her 4- year-old daughter Kristin check out the Halloween candy she brought home from school. “Arlin was so sad that he couldn’t go trick-or-treating that I promised him we wouldn’t go either,” reminded Lee to her daughter. Lee’s 7-year-old son Arlin had been in a behavioral hospital in Orlando for almost two weeks over Halloween. He lives with bipolar disorder and had reached a crisis point. The single mom made the three-hour drive from Cape Coral to get help for her son.
January 28, 2011
[VIDEO] By Farah Dosani – FORT MYERS – Asthma can be a difficult condition to live with – especially when you’re a student. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the chronic disease is one of the leading causes of school absences in the country. But there’s a southwest Florida program that’s working to change that. By working with the students, their parents, and their schools, it’s helping to keep them in the classroom and out of the hospital.
November 17, 2010
[AUDIO] – By Farah Dosani Fort Myers Urologist Dr. Omar Benitez began taking Medicaid in some form or another since he started his practice in 1999. But over time, he found it harder and harder to convince himself why he should. A few years ago, the other nineteen urologists in town stopped accepting the insurance. Their decision left Benitez and his partners carrying the extra load. Primary care physicians would refer all their Medicaid patients needing an urologist to his practice, because he was one of the few who would take them. The imbalance was difficult to handle. At first he limited his practice to only two new Medicaid patients a day. But Benitez soon realized that even that wasn’t making much sense either. “About …
November 10, 2010
[SLIDESHOW] – By Dalia Colón This week I got a preview tour of Tampa General Hospital’s spiffy new neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU. It opens Nov. 30, but TGH invited the media to check out the new digs. When it’s finished, the $35-million facility will be the size of a football field and will be able to accommodate nearly twice as many babies as the old NICU. Why the need to house so many babies? Neonatologist Dr. Terri Ashmeade says there are at least two reasons: 1. “We’re seeing both more premature and smaller babies now because of research and technologies that (allow babies) to survive that wouldn’t have survived even five to 10 years ago.” 2. “There’s also been some increase in the …
October 28, 2010
by Kimberly Vlach TAMPA – Few people take a trip abroad with the goal of challenging their beliefs and values. Ryan Kania did. And far fewer return from their trips with a decision to launch a non-profit organization in order to aid the country they visited.
October 22, 2010
By Sammy Mack MIAMI – Hundreds of people across South Florida protested the bullying of gay youth this week. The rallies—held at schools, churches and gay-friendly neighborhoods—were in response to seven recent child suicides. Mental health advocates say bullying is part of why gay kids are three times more likely to attempt suicide. One South Florida photographer has been working in his own way to undo some of that harm. HealthyState.org’s Sammy Mack reports.
August 31, 2010
FORT MYERS – Patricia and Emilio Baradith look at their 6 month-old son Erick. At 18 pounds, it’s hard to believe he was born prematurely. The hospital told Patricia that it was better to breastfeed her newborn than feed him form ula –which she previously thought were the same. Patricia didn’t know how to breastfeed or even think that she was able to.
June 25, 2010
By Dalia Colon
TAMPA (2006-06-28) – Anita Kenyon of Marietta, Ga., is sitting on Clearwater Beach with her husband Charles and 12-year-old daughter Ashley. The family was supposed to vacation on Fort Walton Beach, but when tarballs began washing up on the Florida Panhandle earlier this month, Kenyon rerouted their trip.