Capital Regional Medical Center announces the appointment of Chase Christianson to the position of Chief Operating Officer.
Most recently, Christianson participated in HCA’s Executive Development Program while serving as Assistant Administrator and Ethics & Compliance Officer at Kingwood Medical Center in Kingwood, Texas. While there, Christianson led ancillary and clinical support departments while overseeing nearly $50M in capital projects. His previous experience includes operational and business development responsibilities as part of Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center.
“My family and I are excited to join the Big Bend community and I look forward to working alongside the physicians and staff of Capital Regional Medical Center,” said Christianson. “This hospital has a bright future in this community and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Christianson received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Alabama and Master of Science in Health Administration as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
“Chase is going to be an exceptional addition to the Capital Regional Medical Center team,” said Mark Robinson, CEO, Capital Regional Medical Center. “He has a robust background in hospital operations and we are so glad to welcome Chase and his wife, Genevieve, and their daughter, Charlotte to Tallahassee.”
About Capital Regional Medical Center
Capital Regional Medical Center is a fully-accredited healthcare facility with more than 1,100 employees and 500 physicians. A 242-bed acute-care hospital and offers a Bariatric Center, Comprehensive Breast Center, Cancer Center, Family Center, Accredited Chest Pain Center w/PCI, 24/7 Emergency Services in Leon & Gadsden Counties, Certified Primary Stroke Center, Surgical Services, Heart & Vascular Center, and affiliated physician practices.
Capital Regional Medical Center to Open Two Full-Service ER’s in Tallahassee
Capital Regional Medical Center will expand access to emergency care in southeast & northwest Leon County with the opening of two freestanding emergency departments in 2018.
In northwest Leon County, the freestanding ER will be located on North Monroe, just north of I-10. The 6-acre site will include a 10,800-square-foot, one-story facility. In southeast Leon County, the freestanding ER will be located on Capital Circle SE & Orange Avenue, near Southwood. This 5-acre site will also include a 10,800-square-foot, one-story facility.
Both emergency departments will offer 24/7 ER care and are expected to serve more than 25,000 patients per year. The nearly 25 million-dollar project will feature 24 emergency room beds and will employ approximately 62 full-time healthcare professionals. Both freestanding ER’s will offer a full-range of capabilities – from pediatric to adult care. Features include a full-service lab, CT, trauma room, ultrasound and x-ray.
“The new ER facilities represent our latest step to expand health care into the community,” said Mark Robinson, CEO, of Capital Regional Medical Center. The hospital’s main campus emergency room and the ER in Gadsden County saw more than 100,000 visits in 2016.” There is a need for additional ER services in south and northwest Leon County. Our goal is to provide quality care for our patients with little to no wait time. The new freestanding ER’s will allow us to provide critical healthcare services in convenient locations for our patients.”
About Capital Regional Medical Center
Capital Regional Medical Center is a fully-accredited healthcare facility with more than 1,100 employees and 500 physicians. It is a 266-bed, acute-care hospital that offers 24/7 Emergency Services in Leon and Gadsden Counties including; a Pediatric ER, Senior Care ER and an Express Care ER. Offerings also include a Bariatric Center, Behavioral Health Center, Cancer Center, Chest Pain Center w/PCI, Comprehensive Breast Center, Family Center, Heart & Vascular Center, Orthopedic Center, Physical Therapy Services, Stroke Center, Surgical Services, Wound Healing Center, Network-of-Care Affiliated Physician Practices, and more.
FSU Team Wins Statewide "Hackathon" Competition to Help Modernize Municipal Government
FSU Team Wins Statewide “Hackathon” Competition to Help Modernize Municipal Government
Students craft innovative solutions to defeat teams from nine Florida universities
ORLANDO, FL – A team of Florida State University students emerged victorious from the first-ever statewide civic hackathon, MuniMod, which was hosted by the Florida League of Cities in partnership with Tallahassee’s Domi Station over this past weekend in Orlando. The MuniMod Hackathon is the Southeast’s largest civic tech competition, bringing together students studying fields ranging from electrical engineering to public administration to computer science, all with the goal of addressing problems affecting cities and communities.
The event brought together ten teams representing nationally ranked universities across Florida. Teams of various sizes first completed virtual webinars to gain an understanding of the current climate within municipal government, and then were presented with civic problems challenging our cities. The competitors worked through the night to craft innovative solutions to those problems.
“What Florida needs now is a generation of young minds who are invested in the success of their communities,” said Susan Haynie, president of Florida League of Cities and mayor of Boca Raton. “This competition created the chance to connect with these future leaders and help them start their journey toward improving cities, towns, and villages across the state.”
The two-person FSU team, seniors Maxwell Brecher and Tucker Russ, presented Safebriight, a faster, easier, and overall more effective solution for cities to fix traffic lights. After an intense round of questions and answers with a judging panel of civic tech experts and municipal leaders, the Florida State duo captured the grand prize of $10,000. The competition was so intense that the Florida League of Cities made an on-the-spot decision to award a second-place team, recognizing a concept developed by a quartet from the University of Florida.
The students were given the opportunity to work with world-class advisers and mentors to find a creative solution using their unique skills and backgrounds. The goal of the competition is to find new approaches incorporating modern methods and technology. After 24 hours, the teams presented their solutions to a panel of judges.
“These students see problems in a way that no one else does,” said Dr. Haris Alibašić, assistant professor and advisor for the University of West Florida team. “They have a unique perspective and provide valuable insight that leads to innovative solutions to the world of civic engagement.”
The competition focuses in the areas of civic services, civic analytics, and civic engagement. This includes aspects such as utilities, infrastructure, big data analytics, public outreach, and participation. These factors have been identified as areas in need of improvement in recent years, and the competition provides a platform for students to bring a fresh perspective on how to enhance the current municipal government system.
The ten teams presented an impressive array of municipal solutions, including:
• The University of Florida introduced Idencity, a modern 2-way communication channel to increase civic engagement
• The University of South Florida presented QuicklyGive, a community based platform that allows citizens to donate to local nonprofits
• The University of North Florida focused on keeping pedestrians safe with FloridaSAFE, a platform that provides alerts in real time for pedestrians
• Florida State University tackled the challenge of making fixing traffic lights faster, easier, and more cost effective for cities with its winning Safebriight entry
• The University of Miami proposed engaging all citizens in local issues with CityHub, a mobile app designed to make it easy for anyone to have a voice
• Florida Atlantic University worked to prevent pedestrian-vehicle collisions with a movable solar powered crosswalk named MAT
• Florida International University tackled water management with KUNA, a set of sensors added to pipes that detect and report water leaks in real time
• Florida A&M University debuted Native, a one-stop-shop for local civic resources and events available in every city
• The University of West Florida introduced WalkAbout, a mobile app to allow anyone to discover a city from a local perspective
• The University of Central Florida presented Open Ballot, a free platform to make voting at any level more accessible and transparent
The MuniMod competition lays the foundation for a new generation of civic problem solvers by giving students a way to apply their skills to real-world issues. By working to bridge the gap between technology and cities, the students will help cities throughout Florida, and potentially nationwide.
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Capital Regional Medical Center Receives Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.― Capital Regional Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling.
“The care our patients receive at Capital Regional Medical Center is our number one priority,” said Ann Smith, Chief Nursing Officer. “That’s why we’re proud to be among the hospitals recently recognized by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for our excellence in implementing the Get With The Guidelines program.”
Florida on Verge of Building Code Policy Improvements
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Today, the Florida Senate Appropriations Committee passed Senate Bills 1372 and 1312 by Senator Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, both of which which would improve Florida’s ability to strengthen its building code. The Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA) made the following statement:
“Florida is on the verge of a common-sense solution that keeps our state the gold standard for building code safety,” said Jeremy Stewart, president of FHBA. “This policy allows Florida to amend its own already strong, existing state code, rather than starting from scratch with out-of-state code driven by special interests. It means improvements to safety, understanding, compliance, and enforcement of our state’s relevant codes.
“We want to thank Senators Perry and Lee for their leadership on this issue. On behalf of the builders and contractors working with families every day and making commitments to safe structures, we’re grateful for the progress made today, and we look forward to this policy reaching the Governor’s desk.”
Background:
Florida upholds the strongest building codes in the nation to help prevent the tragic loss of life the state saw in Andrew’s aftermath.
Currently, Florida is required to take up a new edition of its building code “rule book” every three years via the ICC (International Code Council). It takes a year to fully digest all the code changes, requiring marketing planning and building strategy changes. Once those are confirmed, the state moves to an entirely new code. It is difficult for contractors and inspectors to keep up. The vast majority of these changes have little to do with building integrity.
The policy passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee today would flip the presumption that Florida must start from scratch every three years, and would allow Florida to simply amend / add onto its own already strong, existing state code.
Inefficient code practice is also costly to homeowners. Keeping up with rapidly changing codes, often unnecessary and added by special interests, trickles down to home buyers. For every $1,000 increase in the price of a new affordable home in Florida, the number of households priced out of the market ranges from 21,037 to 22,974 households.
With this policy change, some ICC codes would not be in the Florida code, but nothing that would sacrifice safety. What would be axed are things that are unnecessary and only in there for special interest reasons.
For more information, visit http://fhba.com/.
FLORIDA TAXWATCH STATEMENT ON PASSAGE OF HB 7109
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro released the following statement on the HB 7109, which passed the House earlier today –
“Florida TaxWatch commends the Florida House for their commitment to Florida taxpayers. Their tax package is a win for the state and will reduce the tax burden on Floridians, allowing them to make their own decisions on how their hard-earned money is spent.
“The package addresses numerous TaxWatch recommendations, including reducing the onerous business rent tax, which is the only statewide sales tax on commercial leases in the nation. HB 7109 reduces the business rent tax by 1.5 percent for two years. After that, the rate is reduced permanently by 0.5 percent.
“Florida TaxWatch research has found that this onerous tax impedes small businesses and startups from reaching their potential by imposing additional costs upon them, restricting opportunities for growth and forcing companies to cut back on hiring. The House’s tax package would boost our state’s economy and encourage hiring of new employees.
“The package also establishes 3 sales tax holidays – Back to School (ten days), disaster preparedness (nine days) and veterans (one day) – the benefits of which have been highlighted in Florida TaxWatch research.
“Florida TaxWatch hopes that the Senate passes a similar comprehensive tax package that addresses the burdensome business rent tax and finally provides some relief to Florida taxpayers.”
2nd Infantry Regiment U.S. Colored Troops' 2017 Season of Emancipation
Saturday, May 13
5th Annual “Walk Through Living History Festival Parade and Day in the Park,” on Saturday, May 13, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Speed Spencer Stephens Park, 1907 Saxon St., Tallahassee
The day will kick-off with a parade at 9 a.m. featuring JROTC groups from throughout the city. The parade begins at the corner of Perry and Floral streets, and ends at Saxon Street. Activities in the park range from games and activities for children to stage presentations. The main feature of the park will be living history demonstrations depicting civilian and military life prior to, during and after the Civil War. Attendees will be able to travel back in time and visit Civil War campsites, chat with Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Black Seminole Indians and Buffalo Soldiers. It’s a fun way to celebrate American soldiers and their families and learn as well. Area vendors will also showcase their wares.
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Friday, May 19
7th Annual Emancipation and Abolitionist Ball, on Friday, May 19, 7-11 p.m., Goodwood Museum, 1600 Miccosukee Road, Tallahassee
The ball culminates the citywide commemoration of May 20,1865, the day that slaves received the news in Florida that slavery had been abolished. In honor of the 152nd anniversary of the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in Tallahassee. Attendees are encouraged to wear Civil War period attire and they will enjoy old-fashioned, Civil War era cuisine for dinner. Among the highlights of the ball is the presentation of the Althemese Barnes Outstanding Service Award for extraordinary service in the preservation and promotion of African American History. This year’s recipient is the Ahmed Temple #37 Shriners organization.
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Saturday, May 20
Wreath-laying Ceremony and salute to fallen U.S.C.T. soldiers, on Saturday, May 20, from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Old City Cemetery, Martin Luther King St., Tallahassee.
Historical Reenactment and Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation, on Saturday, May 20, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Knott House Museum, 301 East Park Ave., Tallahassee.
Contact for all events: Jarvis Rosier at 850-509-0295
Time to Take Immediate Action on Everglades Says Florida TaxWatch
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Continued inaction on the Everglades problem will be a detriment to taxpayers and the future of the state, says the latest report from Florida TaxWatch, the state’s premier government watchdog group. The organization finds that if the state does not find a solution to the algae blooms and other problems from diversion of water from Lake Okeechobee, the state, tourism industry, and the overall economy would lose millions in revenues, not to mention the negative health and environmental impacts.
“Our environment is critical to our state, both as an economic driver and to keeping our flora and fauna thriving. If we continue to ignore the problem flowing from Lake Okeechobee, the state will suffer,” said Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Dominic M. Calabro. “Local economies will suffer as algae spreads throughout the once-pristine waterways, property values will plummet and tourists will stop coming. These are all very real outcomes if we don’t find a solution.”
For decades, the Everglades have withstood expanding development, increased agricultural pressure and significant changes in natural systems. The intense development of Central and South Florida has increased the timing of water runoff and the levels of nutrients and pollution in its waters.
This major crisis affects both the natural systems and those who depend on them, as water is discharged from Lake Okeechobee away from the Everglades and diverted west into the Caloosahatchee River basin and east into the St. Lucie River basin. This results in the aforementioned algae blooms, leading to significant problems for the affected regions.
Read the full report: http://www.floridataxwatch.org/library/evergladesinaction
Attorney General Bondi’s Statement on Florida House Passing HB 477
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Attorney General Pam Bondi today released the following statement regarding the Florida House of Representatives’ unanimous passing of HB 477—legislation that will add Fentanyl and other deadly synthetic drugs to Florida’s drug trafficking statute:
“Fentanyl is a deadly synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than morphine that is being cut with other drugs and sold as heroin. Taking Fentanyl just one time can kill–and that is why I want to thank each member of the Florida House for voting to give prosecutors the tools to seek stronger sentences against traffickers selling Fentanyl and other deadly drugs in our state. We must continue to work together, and this legislation will help our continued efforts to combat this deadly crisis.”
Gov. Scott: Trump commits to funding upgrades to Herbert Hoover Dike
WASHINGTON — Florida Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday that President Donald Trump has promised the federal government will provide the money to help the state fully upgrade the Herbert Hoover Dike by 2022, a project considered vital to stemming disruptive overflows from Lake Okeechobee.
At the White House for a veterans’ bill signing ceremony, Scott said he got a verbal commitment from the president that Florida would get enough money to finish the project within five years. “I asked the president if he would commit to put up the funding to fix the dike and he said he would,” the governor told reporters later in the day about his discussions with the president, a close political ally.
If the state legislature approves Scott’s request for $200 million in this year’s budget to upgrade the dike, the federal share would presumably be around $600 million to meet the 2022 target.
Scott believes the repairs will allow the lake to hold more water, thereby reducing the need for discharges to the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers, which have suffered from contaminated run-off and algae blooms in recent years.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio said: “I’m glad the president supports the rehabilitation of the Herbert Hoover Dike and plans to include $200 million towards this effort in his fiscal year 2018 budget. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will work closely with my colleagues to ensure Florida has the resources it needs to complete this important infrastructure project that is essential to protecting the environment and keeping area residents safe.”
