Land O Lakes Magazine SEPTEMBER 2020 by KEM Media Group, LLC

magazine

VOL II / ISSUE IX

Honest, helpful & friendly insurance service Medicare | Life | Dental

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Medicare Marcie with

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TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

You were made to move.

Trust the Orthopedic Experts Now more than ever, it’s important to be active. So when I hurt my back, I didn’t delay. The orthopedic specialists at AdventHealth got me back to where I belong: on my bike, on the run, on top of the world again. They were there every step of the way – from making me feel safe through my surgery to guiding me through my recovery. Now I’m back to doing what I love.

WesleyChapelOrthoExperts.com 813-536-1644 2 | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894

TA K E A DVA N TAG E O F

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Grand Opening - Now is the time to buy! YOUR LOW YOUR LOW $1,638 $2,299 MONTHLY PAYMENT MONTHLY PAYMENT

ISABELLA - $309,900 2BR, 2BA, Den | 1,687 a/c sq. ft.

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Get in on the ground floor at Winding Ridge, where gorgeous homes and pre-construction pricing offer incredible new home value. Our on-trend home designs with 2, 3, 4, and 5 bedrooms, range from 1,687 to 4,501 air-conditioned square feet, and feature impressive standard features with an incredible resort lifestyle, all with no CDD! Visit today to to see how low your monthly payment can be. Call for a one-on-one appointment with a sales associate.

(813) 228-6300 | GLHomes.com/Winding-Ridge Open Daily 10:00am - 6:00pm Selling out of The Ridge at Wiregrass Ranch 30451 Sunland Court, Wesley Chapel, FL 33543 For your safety and ours, please wear a face mask when visiting and maintain social distancing.

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BROKERS WELCOME: Broker must accompany client during client’s initial visit to this community. Both the client and Broker must execute the Developer’s Registration Form on the initial visit. Broker must also execute the Developer’s Broker Participation Agreement. Winding Ridge is being developed and sold by Pasco County Associates III, LLLP, a Florida limited liability limited partnership. This is not an offering in states where prior registration is required. Photography used in this brochure and/or any of the materials contained within this brochure, and in the sales and information center displays, may be stock photography and is used to depict the spirit of the lifestyles to be achieved rather than any that may exist or that may be proposed. Prices, terms plans, specifications, features, amenities, designs, dimensions, materials and availability are subject to change or substitution by Seller without notice. Illustrations of elevations and plans are only artist’s depictions and are not representations of any kind. In production, plans and elevations may vary in precise details and dimensions and may not be as shown. Landscaping depicted is not to scale and may vary as to type, maturity, location and number. *Monthly payment for a 30 year term is based on 3.375% Interest rate, with a 20% down payment and includes principal, interest, taxes, and mortgage insurance. Minimum credit score of 740 required. Please see a Sales Representative for complete information. All rights reserved. ©2020 1500-007 WC Magazine 6-8-20

TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

Holy Trinity Lutheran 20735 Leonard Rd • Lutz • 813.949.7173 www.holytrinitylutz.com

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www.KEMMediaGroup.com Facebook.com/Lutz-Magazine FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION CALL: 813.501.4894 EMAIL: info@KEMMediaGroup.com SUBMIT NEWS and Press Releases to: Sandy@KEMMediaGroup.com PUBLISHER.......................................................................... Keith Matter EDITOR ............................................................................. Sandy Parrish

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Land O’ Lakes Magazine is published mid-month of each month and is distributed by the U.S. Postal Service to more than 15,000 residents in Land O’ Lakes, FL as well as businesses. ©2020 Land O’ Lakes Magazine. All rights reserved. The views expressed within are not necessarily those of the Publisher. Editorial submissions are welcome. Publisher reserves the right to reject or edit submissions for length and clarity. The Publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions. Land O’ Lakes Magazine reserves the right to reject or edit advertisements. Land O’ Lakes Magazine is not responsible for errors in advertisements beyond the cost of advertising space.

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Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

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TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

Local Brothers Attending Duke University Taught a Computer to Detect COVID-19 in Lung Scans

BY ROBIN A. SMITH

lot of illnesses can look like COVID-19 in a CT scan. Two former Academy at the Lakes Alumni who are now attending Duke University, built an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to spot telltale signs of the virus and flag cases that swab tests miss. Duke students Anmol Warman ’22 and Pranav Warman ’20 have trained a computer to spot the telltale signs of COVID-19 in lung scans and rule out other infections that look similar to the human eye.

Coronavirus may have shut down campuses and closed labs, but that hasn’t stopped some Duke students from brainstorming ways to improve COVID-19 testing while working from home -- with help from artificial intelligence. A student-led team is building a machine learning system that could help doctors analyze CT scans of people’s lungs and diagnose COVID-19 more quickly and accurately than nasal swab tests. Their system is able to distinguish COVID-19 from other common infections, such as pneumonia. And unlike many AI tools where it’s unclear how they work, the Duke tool also shows what it “saw” that led to the diagnosis. Academy at the Lakes alumni & Duke University students Anmol Warman ’22 and Pranav Warman ’20

Two undergraduates, Anmol Warman ’22, and Pranav Warman ’20, led the effort. The brothers say they first got the idea for the project in early March. By then, the first positive cases of coronavirus were being reported in their home town on the outskirts of Tampa.

A cross-sectional image of the damaged lungs of a COVID-19 patient on a CT scan. Case courtesy of Dr. Fateme Hosseinabadi, Radiopaedia.org, rID: 74868. ___________________________________________

But testing bottlenecks made it difficult to determine how widespread the virus was. Supplies were limited, and getting results could take days. What’s more, the most common coronavirus test -- which looks for viral RNA in cells swabbed from a person’s nose -- identifies only 66% to 80% of people who have the virus.

junior majoring in biology. “You don't want people thinking that they're safe and actually not being safe.”

Many states have since seen improvements in swab testing supplies, but lingering questions about the accuracy of such tests have pushed researchers to study alternatives, including CT scans. While normal lungs look black on a CT scan, coronavirus scans often show whitish-gray patches called “ground glass opacities.”

CT scans were widely used to diagnose COVID-19 patients in China, but they’re not currently recommended as a first-line test in the U.S. The problem is that, to the human eye, these lighter patches on a CT scan can look a lot like other illnesses too, such as tuberculosis or viral pneumonia. The Duke team wondered if artificial intelligence might help. “Could AI help us use all the testing options we have?” said Pranav Warman, who just graduated with a double-major in computer science and biology. If they could train a computer to tell the difference between COVID-19 and other common infections in CT scans, they reasoned, perhaps researchers could get a better handle on how many people are infected. The team’s first major hurdle was wrangling enough data. Artificial intelligence needs data to learn from. Most published studies teach AIs to identify patterns based on hundreds of thousands of examples. Over spring break the students started collecting CT images that had been posted online in the public domain on medical websites such as Radiopaedia.org. Realizing they were going to need expert help, they also asked radiologists at the James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital in Tampa to outline suspicious areas in each image. They eventually compiled some 900 CT images from 338 patients with known diagnoses. Some patients had COVID-19, some were normal and others had lung damage from other illnesses. The team fed the images to a neural network, and then set it free to find features common to COVID-19 patients but not in the others. Other teams have developed AI tools to detect COVID-19 from CT scans. “But what's really cool about our system is that it doesn't just spit out a diagnosis,” Anmol Warman said. It also shows the locations of the features it relied on to arrive at the answer. The research hasn’t gone through peer review yet; however, the Duke tool performed just as well, if not better, than other AI models that don’t have this transparency. When they tested it on data from countries and hospitals it had never seen before, the system correctly identified those carrying the virus 98% of the time. Unlike swab tests, actual cases were rarely overlooked. And 95% of the time it also ruled out people with hazy patches in their lungs due to other conditions. Importantly, their system worked equally well on symptomatic patients and “silent spreaders,” infected people who don’t have cough or fever but could still be spreading the virus unknowingly, and could become a bigger risk as states reopen.

“I’m proud of our students for taking the initiative to work on this,” said Duke computer vision and medical imaging expert Guillermo Sapiro, who mentored the team. The students will be presenting their work to representatives from Duke Health this summer. They hope to find out what steps they would need to take to make it useful in the clinic.

“We know that testing is going to be extremely important, especially now that some epidemiologists are suggesting a second wave,” said Pranav Warman, who will be entering Duke’s medical school this fall. “We need to know who has the virus to prevent further spread.”• ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In other words, it misses up to a third of cases. The test gives these people false reassurance that they don’t have the virus when actually they do. “That's probably one of the worst things in a pandemic,” said Anmol Warman, a rising

"Interpretable Artificial Intelligence for COVID-19 Diagnosis from Chest CT Reveals Specificity of Ground-Glass Opacities," Anmol Warman, Pranav Warman, Ayushman Sharma, Puja Parikh, Roshan Warman, Narayan Viswanadhan, Lu Chen, Subhra Mohapatra, Shyam Mohapatra and Guillermo Sapiro. medRxiv, May 22, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.16.20103408

6 | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894

Person

We’re

of the

ear Y2020

Having our own

Election!

ANNOUNCING OUR

‘Person of the Year’ Contest! Do you know a good egg who goes above and beyond to give back to others in the community? Please submit your nomination by email and tell us why you think this individual should win Person of the Year. Nominations will be accepted until November 1st and a winner will be featured in our January 2021 magazines! We’ll narrow down the candidates to those with the most nominations and then we will allow the community to vote for one winner in each of our three communities . . .

Wesley Chapel MAGAZINE

magazine

Lutz Magazine

Only one nomination per person. Follow us on Facebook for nominee announcements. Final voting will take place on our three magazine Facebook pages in mid-November, so be on the lookout for the official voting dates which will be announced soon! Submit email nominations before November 1st to sandy@kemmediagroup.com NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE.

If the past few months have been hard on your loved one,

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TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

Marcie Maisonet with Bayside Insurance Group B Y S A N D Y PA R R I S H

Since 2008, owners Marcie Maisonet, and her husband Joe, have created an extended family in their Bayside Insurance Group clients. Marcie said, “We enjoy lifelong relationships with our clients and we pride ourselves on delivering very personable service. We’ve known most of them forever and love to serve them year after year.”

Marcie is a Licensed Insurance Agent and provides A+ Rated insurance products to individuals and families across the nation. Her agency has over 500 agents nationally in over 30 states, and she has expanded her market to include individuals in need of Medicare and Dental Insurance. Marcie said, “We have been able to meet the needs of our rapidly expanding customer base by providing innovative and cost saving benefits, while retaining excellence in service.” In the agency, Joe works with their agents all over the US, while Marcie concentrates on sales and working with clients.

Bayside offers Medicare, dental and life and health insurance. Currently,

Marcie is gearing up for the annual enrollment period for Medicare, which runs from 10/15 to 12/7. To safely stay connected during the

pandemic, Marcie offers both in-person and virtual meetings.

When Marcie and Joe aren’t working hard for their clients, they enjoy boating and going to Orlando theme parks with their four children - two girls and two boys - ages 8 to 16. “We also have two adorable Bichons, Sophie and Rocky. We lived in Wesley Chapel for 12 years and then moved to Land O’Lakes about four years ago. We love both of these communities because they offer that great country feel, but you are still close to the city. I love all the growth here. It’s the best of both worlds and great for raising a family,” Marcie said. • ___________________________________________________________________________

For all of your Medicare, Dental, and Health and Life insurance needs, contact Marcie directly for a one-on-one, personal consultation at (813) 416-5957, or visit www.baysideinsurancegroup.com for more information. 8 | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894

Tampa Bay Water Wise Program Aims to Save Water and Money Offering Rebate Program to Pasco County residents, businesses and contractors Pasco County Utilities (PCU) is proud to partner with Tampa Bay Water, the Southwest Florida Water Management District and other local governments in an effort aimed at saving 11 million gallons of water a day by 2030 through the Tampa Bay Water Wise Program. The diverse program offers 11 rebates for residential and commercial customers who purchase or implement pre-approved, qualifying water-saving devices and measures. “As a community, we rely on shared water sources every day,” said PCU Customer Service Administrator Sandra Anderson. “PCU is steadfast in our commitment to conserve this precious resource for our region and generations to come.”

Rebates are available for plumbing fixtures, irrigation devices, food service equipment and more in the following categories:

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• Residential Rebates: Options ranging from a maximum allotment of $100 for toilet replacements to a maximum allotment of $250 for smart irrigation controllers.

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• Commercial Rebates: Options ranging from a maximum allotment of $75 for installing high-efficiency toilets and urinals, to a maximum allotment of $1,000 for water-saving cooling towers. • Restauranteur & Food Service Professional Rebates: Options ranging from a maximum allotment of $50 to a maximum allotment of $400 for waterefficient dishwashers and spray valves.

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Qualification details and steps to become pre-approved are available at TampaBayWaterWise.org. Please note rebates are based on the actual cost of the new fixture purchased, not the maximum allotments listed above.

Drinking Water Reverse Osmosis Systems Ultra-Filtered Systems

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LandOLakesWater.com TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

Corsos for Heroes has bred and raised World Champion bloodline Cane Corsos for almost seven years in Lutz. “These large breed dogs are great companions and make amazing service animals because of their temperament and our incredible breeding lineage,” Ginny said. “We raise them here until they are 8 months to a year old and then hand them over to our Vets to begin paired service dog training.”

Joe with Sophia

Did you know that America loses 22 Veterans a day to suicide? Corsos for Heroes

“The soldiers who have received our dogs have told us time and time again that our dogs have literally saved their lives,” she continued. “We have watched many Vets arrive to meet their dog feeling very anxious and distant, and within hours, they are lying on the ground bonding with them. One vet who served in the 82nd Airborne Battalion, received a beautiful dog named Saraphina Marie, who was named after Ginny’s mother. He told them that he had been desperately struggling every single night for 13 years with violent night terrors. His new canine companion helped interrupt that pattern on the very first night that he got her and she slept with him. Often, the Vets are so changed and so grateful that they actually help us to find the next Vet who needs a dog. The healing spreads in a miraculous way.” Their 7th dog donation of 2020 will be given to Dave, a Vet who is 100% disabled, at a huge Motorcycle Rally event in Mount Dora this month. The 1,000 plus motorcycle charity ride was organized by Rafael, one of their grateful Vets who received his beloved dog, Bella, from them on July 4th. Rafael arranged to have their old F-350 truck fixed up, then custom wrapped with the Corsos for Heroes branding by a special donor. Rafael has a few more surprises in store for their organization coming up soon.

Rafael with Bella

Harry Toro & Ginny Sweet Dedicated to Helping Disabled Veterans B Y S A N D Y PA R R I S H

Both founders, Harry Toro and Ginny Sweet, had their hearts broken by the suicide of a beloved family member who served in the military, so they understand the difficulties Veterans can face after serving their country. At the age of nine, Ginny, who was born and raised in Lutz, lost her father to suicide from psychological effects from serving in WWII. Harry, originally from New Jersey, comes from a family of military service family members and lost his brother-in-law to PTSD related suicide after he served in Iraq.

“We are devoted to helping our Veterans return to civilian life after their service for the country ends by providing trained Cane Corso service dogs at no cost to the Veteran. We want to make a change in how our disabled Vets are supported,” Harry said. “We discovered that the average wait time for a service dog is 3 to 6 years. This is just too long to wait. If a Vet can just get the dog, the government then steps in with a no-cost 23 week program to train their service animal alongside the Vet. Each dog is trained for the specific needs of that Veteran and the program even covers the dog’s lifelong veterinary bills and even provides vouchers for food and medications. Many police departments offer free service dog training programs as well. It’s heartbreaking to learn that many Vets don’t even know about these free programs.” So far this year, they have donated six dogs to Vets in need and their big goal for next year is to donate 50 to 100 dogs.

“We currently have a large open area dog run but need to expand our facility,” Harry explained. “By increasing the number of kennels, we can maintain a larger number of dogs per year and make more dogs available at a faster rate. Our goal is to develop our one acre property similar to a beautiful horse farm, but for dogs. Our plans include a large air-conditioned barn for our pups and a really nice tiny home on site for our Vets to stay in while they get to know their new companion. We want it to be a beautiful, healing sanctuary for them to come and stay with us, with lush plants, flowers, and even a koi pond. They deserve so much from us for all that they have sacrificed FOR us.” Ginny said, “Some of our bigger wish list items now include a dog washing station, a weight scale, a small saltwater pool and a heavy duty washer and dryer. We keep an updated supply wish list on our website. We are currently waiting for our paperwork to be approved for our 501c (3) Non-Profit Organization status. Once our approval is confirmed, we will be able to accept donations.” Harry said, “We love our country and we love our Vets. They desperately need these dogs and we’re dedicating all of our time to making this happen.”•

______________________________________________________________ Corsos for Heroes is seeking sponsors, veterinary partners, dog food and donations to extend their reach to Vets in need. To see how you might help, or to nominate a Veteran, please call (813) 406-2810 or visit www.corsosforheroes.com. For information on preventing Veteran suicides through treatment for PTSD, visit www.mission22.com. If you are a Veteran who needs help, please reach out to the Veteran’s Suicide Hotline 1-800-273-8255.

10 | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894

A daily dose of joy In-Home Senior Care Services

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TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County is Officially Open!

Experience Florida’s Sports Coast (FSC), the Destination Management Organization for Pasco County, is excited to announce the new 98,000 square-foot Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County (WRSCPC) in Wesley Chapel is officially open, kicking off a new era of sports tourism for the destination. “With the destination’s recent rebrand to Florida’s Sports Coast, the new Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County will increase our competitive role in the sports tourism market,” said Tourist Development Council Chairman and Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore. “Families come to compete, but also look for opportunities to be entertained off the field. We look forward to having

athletes from across the state, nation and world, it’s also a learning center to help local youth develop their skills and become strong competitors through strategic programming.

RADDSPORTS will manage the facility, and their exceptional team of directors will run local programming for cheer, gymnastics, soccer, basketball and volleyball – the primary sports focus of WRSCPC. “Not only will the sports campus provide a new level of play for amateur sports competitors, it also expands our meeting venue portfolio, allowing us to offer unparalleled, expansive space to meeting and event planners looking to host tradeshows, conventions and business-related events,” said Tourism Director Adam Thomas.

Porter family. The Porters, one of area’s leading cattle ranchers, established Wiregrass Ranch in 1942. Sports Development and Tourism Manager Consuelo Sanchez has been promoting the sports campus to youth amateur sporting event planners and organizers across the country, building a robust events calendar for 2021, 2022 and beyond to support sports tourism efforts. Forty-three out of 52 weekends from August, 2020 to August, 2021 are booked with youth amateur sporting events due to the efforts of RADDSPORTS and Sanchez.•

• 16 Volleyball Courts • 8 Basketball Courts • Competition Cheer Studio • 16 Pickleball Courts • 8 Futsal Courts • 2 Cheer Competition Areas • Athletic Training Center • VIP Mezzanine

them dine in our restaurants, shop at our stores and enjoy our local attractions, further contributing to Pasco’s economy." Conveniently located between two major international airports and minutes from one of Florida’s major thoroughfares, WRSCPC boasts two 35,500 square-foot multi-purpose courts featuring eight drop-down basketball hoops and 16 volleyball nets; a 5,000 square-foot indoor cheer zone with springboard floor; and two full-size, outdoor multi-purpose fields. WRSCPC not only offers a competitive setting for

The quest to build a competitive sports tourism facility that could host 700+ event attendees started nearly 20 years ago when the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners had the foresight to realize the value and potential economic impact of sports tourism. “The board knew then what the lifeblood of tourism was for the county,” said Thomas. From there, the county embarked on building the $29 million sports campus with Pasco’s tourist development tax, set on land generously donated by the

12 | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894

• Meeting Area • Educational Lab • Lounge Area • Concessions Area • Full-Service Kitchen • On-site hotel, Residence Inn by Marriott ____________________________________ For more information on Florida’s Sports Coast, visit www.FLSportsCoast.com.

The Eye

Specialist You TRUST,

Now Available Weekly in Land O’ Lakes! Accepting New and Established Patients Florida Medical Clinic Eye Surgeon Dr. Mark Arey specializes in:

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Academy at the Lakes

• Helping you “move forward” with your real estate goals • Connecting people within the community • Giving back to our future

SPECIAL OFFER

Jennifer Merchant is a Licensed Real Estate Agent serving the communities of North Tampa, Land O’ Lakes, Lutz, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, San Antonio, Dade City, Spring Hill and Brooksville jennifermerchantrealtor@gmail.com @jennifermerchantrealtor.com

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Jennifer Merchant

I am making a $500 donation to Academy at the Lakes each time an enrolled family… • BUYS or SELLS a home with me • REFERS someone that buys or sells a home with me

Member Lori Zublena TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

Olympus Pools Donates $10,000 to Firefighter Charities of Pasco County

A re

you paying too much for insurance?

Olympus Pools loves to give back to their community. On August 31st, they made a $10,000 donation to the Firefighters Charities of Pasco. This organization uses charitable work to foster positive public relations between Firefighters and Pasco County citizens. This donation will help them continue their hard work and build a better Pasco County. For more information about this charitable organization, visit www.fcpasco.org.•

Providing Homeowners, Condo, Townhouse, Duplex and Renters Insurance

Serving Wesley Chapel Since 2009

Beau Barry Licensed Insurance Agency Owner Beau.Barry@GreatFlorida.com 4781 Bruce B Downs Blvd • Wesley Chapel, FL 33544 Each Franchised Great Florida Insurance Office is Independently Owned & Operated

AdventHealth of Wesley Chapel Donates Hand Sanitizer to Wiregrass Ranch High School AdventHealth of Wesley Chapel wants to help keep everyone safe in their hospital and in the community. They recently donated more than a hundred bottles of hand sanitizer to assist Wiregrass Ranch High School as they reopened for students in August. Way to go! •

14 | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894

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Homes For Our Troops Donates Specially Adapted Home to Injured Marine BY S A N DY PA R R I S H

In August, the national nonprofit organization, Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) donated a home to Marine Corporal Timothy Read who was severely injured while serving in Afghanistan. On Oct. 15, 2010, Corporal Read was on patrol with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, in Marjah, Afghanistan, when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED). The blast resulted in the loss of his left leg above the knee in additional to other injuries. Corporal Read’s new home in Wesley Chapel features more than 40 major special adaptations, such as widened doorways for wheelchair access, a roll-in shower, and kitchen amenities that include pull-down shelving and lowered countertops. The home will also alleviate the mobility and safety issues associated with a traditional home, including navigating a wheelchair through narrow hallways or over thresholds, riding on carpets, or reaching for cabinets that are too high. HFOT thanks their contributions from donors, supporters, and corporate partners that made the home donation to Corporal Read possible. Currently, there are over 70 active projects in need of funding to complete. To find out more on how to get involved or make a donation visit www.hfotusa.org. Read more about Tim’s story and watch his video at www.hfotusa.org.• __________________________________________________________ Homes For Our Troops (HFOT) is a publicly funded 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization that builds and donates specially adapted custom homes nationwide to severely injured post-9/11 Veterans. Most of these Veterans have sustained life-altering injuries including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, and/or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our Veterans sacrificed while defending our country, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives. HFOT builds these homes where the Veteran chooses to live, and continues its relationship with the Veterans after home delivery to assist them with rebuilding their lives. Since its inception in 2004, nearly 90 cents of every dollar spent has gone directly to our program services supporting Veterans.

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TO ADVERTISE CALL 813.501.4894 | VOLUME II • ISSUE IX | Land O’ Lakes MAGAZINE |

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