By LOIS KINDLE
Thanks to a $5,000 donation from HCA Florida South Shore Hospital, the Rotary Club of Sun City Center will kick off its inaugural South Shore Community Health Fair Feb. 21.
“Our goal of making life better for others in our community is the same as the hospital’s,” said Steve Overton, current club president and immediate past district governor of Rotary District 6890. “We’re proud to have South Shore Hospital as our signature sponsor.”
The free event will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 1239 W. Del Webb Blvd., Sun City Center, and feature seven local doctors and a registered nurse, representing an array of specialties as speakers. It will also include up to 40 vendors from the healthcare community who’ve been invited to “share information and counsel, guidance and direction” with attendees, Overton said. Some, like Sun Towers Outpatient Rehabilitation, will offer screenings and Chef Jerry Badders’ famous brownies.
Every half-hour a new speaker will talk for 20 minutes, and folks are welcome to attend as many as interest them per the following schedule:
• 9:50 to 10:10 a.m. – Dr. Jenna Kazil, vascular and general surgeon, Florida Surgical Clinic.
• 10:10 to 10:30 a.m. – Dr. Jordan Jackson, infectious disease specialist, Bay Area Infectious Disease Associates.
• 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. – Dr. Nick Sexton, orthopaedic surgeon, Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay.
• 10:50 to 11:10 a.m. – Dr. Nazif Chowdhury, gastroenterologist, Digestive Diseases Associates.
• 11:10 to 11:30 a.m. – Dr. Jeffrey S. Mino, general surgeon, HCA Florida South Shore Surgical Specialists.
• 11:30 to 11:50 a.m. – Kristen Pierson RN, Wound Care, HCA Healthcare.
• 11:50 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. – Dr. Michelle Gonzalez, internist/primary care physician, Labrador Primary Care.
• 12:10 to 12:30 p.m. – Dr. Mitul Patel, interventional cardiologist, Heart Vascular and Vein of Tampa Bay.
The event will also feature a healthy lunch prepared by the hospital and served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and giveaways. Around 12:30 p.m. or so, the Steven Goldman Barbershop Quartet will entertain the crowd.
The 2025 South Shore Community Health Fair is a fundraiser for the Sun City Center Rotary Club Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships through the Rotary International Foundation to graduating students from East Bay High School and Lennard High School who are bound for college or trade school. The $1,000 annual awards are renewable as long as the recipient is in school and passing.
“This health fair is about bringing important health information to the community and helping high school students go to college,” Overton said. “One of Rotary’s seven main goals is education. We expect to raise $10,000 this year, and all of the money goes toward scholarships.”
HCA Florida South Shore Hospital CEO Cathy Edmiston agreed.
“We’re not just about providing health information,” she said. “The hospital is also big on supporting scholarships and collaborating with the Rotary [club] to benefit our future workforce.”
LOIS KINDLE FILE PHOTO
The inaugural South Shore Community Health Fair is set to take place Feb. 21 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, 1239 W. Del Webb Blvd., Sun City Center. The SCC Rotary Club event, sponsored by HCA Florida South Shore Hospital, will feature seven local specialists and a registered nurse as speakers and include up to 40 vendors from the healthcare community.
“Our donation was supported by our medical staff,” Edmiston added. “We wanted to get our area physicians more involved by co-sponsoring with them.”
Chartered April 1, 1964, the Rotary Club of Sun City Center meets every Tuesday at noon for a lunch meeting at the Plaza Club, Freedom Fairways Clubhouse, 3932 Upper Creek Drive, at the entrance to Freedom Plaza. Prospective Rotarians are welcome to join.
The club’s 40-plus members work on a variety of community service projects annually, including food drives for local pantries, scholastic magazines for area third-graders, backpacks for foster children, Meals on Wheels delivery every August, 80 to 100 Thanksgiving meals for migrant families in Wimauma and pecan sales at Christmas.
There’s still time for area medical practices or healthcare-related organizations to be included as vendors. For more information, call Steve Overton at 813-997-9638.