The COASTAL STAR
November June 2019 2019
News News13 3
Boca Raton
Hospital’s new CEO comes from partner in planned merger
By Sallie James Nearly a year after Boca Raton Regional Hospital said it would merge with Baptist Health South Florida, the hospital has named its new chief executive officer: Lincoln S. Mendez, the former CEO of South Miami Hospital, a Baptist property. Mendez will replace Mendez Jerry Fedele, president and CEO of Boca Regional Hospital, when Fedele retires in August. Fedele has served as CEO of the hospital for the past 11 years. The two hospitals also announced they have signed an agreement regarding a strategic partnership between the two organizations, solidifying their plans for affiliation. In December 2018, Boca Raton Regional and Baptist Health South Florida agreed on a letter of intent for the partnership. “We are excited about this significant step in the journey we embarked on in 2017. The agreement was enthusiastically endorsed by a unanimous vote of our board, and we are looking forward to continuing with Baptist Health on the path toward elevating the health care we provide for our communities,” Fedele said in a written statement. “Our
organizations share similar cultures, values and expectations for excellence that are essential for a great partnership that is focused on increasing access to high quality care across South Florida.” Boca Regional, at 800 Meadows Road, began discussions with Baptist more than a year ago with the hope of elevating the hospital’s position as an academic referral center in South Florida. Baptist, headquartered in Coral Gables, is the largest not-for-profit health care organization in the region, with 10 hospitals and more than 100 physician and outpatient locations from Palm Beach County to the Florida Keys. Today, Boca Regional has grown into a regional treatment complex, with about 2,800 employees, 1,200 volunteers and approximately 800 doctors on staff. The Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League has provided more than $31 million to the hospital since the league’s formation in 1962. The beloved community hospital, once known as “The Miracle on Meadows Road,” was born out of tragedy in 1967. The poisoning deaths of two young children and the absence of a local medical center became the impetus for its founding. The town had about 10,000 residents and a group of volunteers with a mission. Board member Pat Thomas, also past
president of the Debbie-Rand Memorial Foundation, said Mendez will serve Boca Regional well. “I am very excited. I think it’s going to be a great partnership for both of us,” Thomas said. “He has an outstanding résumé, he’s been in the hospital industry for several years and was recently a CEO at a Baptist Hospital in South Florida.” She called the merger between the two hospitals a “good marriage” and said the hospital’s future looks bright. She also commended Fedele on his years of dedicated service. “Jerry Fedele did wonderful things for our hospital and we owe him a mountain of gratitude,” Thomas said. Mendez’s background is notable. During his tenure, South Miami Hospital earned national accolades for quality, innovation and clinical excellence, while experiencing significant growth in its facilities, technology and programs. Christine E. Lynn, Boca Raton Regional Hospital Board chair, said that Mendez “provides the depth of experience and executive skill sets that are tailor-made to lead Boca Regional in its continued ascent to becoming one of the premier, tertiary academic medical centers in Florida.” She also expressed confidence “in his ability to continue the most positive momentum and trajectory of our hospital
that was established and sustained by Jerry Fedele.” Joan Wargo, 89, who’s been volunteering at Boca Regional for more than 50 years, was delighted to hear of the progress. “They have been working on this for a long, long time. They chose the CEO after many, many meetings. The people that were on the committee were all very satisfied. I have not met the man, but the people I know and trust and respect are very happy with him,” Wargo said. “We are looking forward to having him here.” Brian E. Keeley, president and CEO of Baptist Health, said the collaboration between the two hospitals “reinforced our common vision for carrying out our mission of delivering compassionate, exceptional care to our patients and families.” “Baptist Health has grown strategically in recent years to meet the needs of our communities, and (this) announcement brings us one step closer to completing our much-anticipated affiliation with Boca Raton Regional Hospital,” Keeley said. “With Lincoln’s leadership, we believe this partnership will be mutually beneficial to our respective organizations and, most of all, for the many people we serve across four counties.” Ú
COYOTES
Continued from page 1 been no other reports of coyote sightings, and said he has never seen one. No coyote sightings have been reported in Boynton Beach, said Eleanor Krusell, city spokesperson. Lantana also has had no reports of coyotes. One reason for more frequent glimpses of coyotes in some areas is the land clearing for big projects, which is exposing and displacing wildlife. The projects include major canal clearing work by the Lake Worth Drainage District and the South Florida Water Management District, and the Florida Department of Transportation’s express lane project that is affecting the Hillsboro Canal area and southern Boca Raton border. The city also has begun clearing the land for Hillsboro El Rio Park off 18th Street. Palm Beach County is clearing land for the shared use pathway along Palmetto Park Road, and the Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District is about to begin construction on the old Ocean Breeze Golf Course along Second Avenue north of Yamato Road, according to McGuire. But coyotes belong in the Western states, not on Florida golf courses, right? That was one of the first questions asked at a workshop on coyotes hosted by the city of Boca Raton and presented by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on May 9 at the Boca Raton Downtown Library. “In 1900, coyotes were
The coyotes in Florida weigh 25 to 35 pounds and are brown, tan or black. Land clearing for big projects helps explain occasional glimpses of them in east Palm Beach County. Photo provided by FWC primarily in the West, but because of habitat change they spread east and southeast,” said Bryce Pierce, FWC wildlife assistance biologist. The near extinction of the red wolf by the 1920s, because of habitat loss, deforestation and hunting, paved the way for coyotes. They expanded east past the Mississippi River to the Southeast by the 1960s. Coyotes, it turned out, acclimated well to agriculture and open fields. “In the 1970s, they were in the Panhandle and by 1983 were found as far south as Orlando. In 1990, they were all the way to Broward,” said Pierce. But coyotes are considered native or naturalized species — fossils indicate coyotes were in Florida 2 million years ago — and are now in all states except Hawaii. They are in all Florida counties, but have not yet made
it past the Seven Mile Bridge channel in the Florida Keys. Many of the people at the workshop had never seen a coyote until recently and didn’t know what to think. Do they run in packs, do they kill pets, do they hurt people, do they carry disease? They don’t run in packs like dogs, said Pierce. They usually hunt alone. They will kill pets under 20 pounds, and Pierce advised keeping dogs on leashes and cats in the house. Cats do enormous harm to wildlife, especially birds, he said, and are more of a danger to native animals than coyotes. Only one person in the U.S., a child in California, has been known to be killed by coyotes in the last 39 years. They might bite, though, if cornered. “Rabies is extremely rare in coyotes,” Pierce said, and they
prey on small mammals that carry rabies. And another big question, can you get rid of them? “No. They’re here to stay,” said Pierce. But you can easily run off shy coyotes by waving your arms, making noise, or throwing rocks in their direction (not hitting them), he said. Relocating or killing coyotes requires a permit, which the average urban dweller is not going to get. The city of Boca Raton does not have the jurisdiction or control over these animals and is not authorized to trap or relocate. The FWC will not remove coyotes. How to keep them away: Don’t feed them; don’t leave pet food and bird seed outside; and clear away fallen fruit. They are omnivorous, eating plants and animals, but only 31 percent of
their diet is mammals. There are reasons you may want coyotes to stick around. They help maintain balanced ecosystems by controlling populations of rodents and smaller predators. They eat cockroaches and rats. Pierce showed a photo of the contents of a coyote’s stomach containing 47 rats, all eaten within five hours. They probably eat small iguanas and young pythons, too, although the FWC doesn’t have research statistics yet. Coyotes don’t compete with Florida’s native panthers and bobcats. They could potentially eat indigo snakes and burrowing owls, both threatened species in Florida, but coyotes don’t target them like raccoons and other animals do. And it is unlikely a neighborhood will be overrun with coyotes, which are highly territorial. A family of coyotes stays in its territory of about 1,500 to 12,000 acres, and other coyotes usually do not intrude. If a coyote is killed, he is immediately replaced by another coyote family. Coyotes, a close relative of the domestic dog, have one breeding cycle per year, usually producing four to six pups, which disperse to new territories when they are about 9 months old. Their lifespan is six to seven years. The coyotes in Florida weigh 25 to 35 pounds and are brown, tan or black. There’s another reason to want coyotes around, Pierce said: “They have aesthetic value. They are part of wildlife here.” For more information about coyotes, go to https://myfwc. com, or call the FWC regional offices at 625-5122. Ú