Florida Hospital Tampa Announces Former Mayor as Honorary Chair of Fundraising Campaign

(Tampa) September 24, 2018 Florida Hospital Tampa, part of the West Florida Division of Adventist Health System, a non-profit health care organization, is embarking on the largest expansion in hospital history and the largest surgical expansion in the history of Tampa Bay. The new six-story, 300,000 square foot surgical tower expansion includes 24 brand new operating rooms, a new hospital entrance and over 100 all private dedicated surgical care beds on the northeast corner of Fletcher and Bruce B. Downs, Tampa, FL.

As part of the expansion process, Florida Hospital Tampa is launching the Surgical and Patient Care Tower Campaign to raise funds for the project. We are pleased to announce that former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco and his wife, Dr. Linda McClintock-Greco, are honorary chairs of the fundraising campaign.

The leadership and generous spirits of Dick and Linda McClintock-Greco are a tremendous blessing for this campaign and we are grateful for their support, said Brian Adams, President and CEO, Florida Hospital Tampa. As partners in the community's health, we are thrilled to be embarking on this state-of-the-art facility designed to provide innovative health care to residents for decades to come, said Adams.

In 2016, the former mayor had a serious illness and came to Florida Hospital Tampa for surgery performed by one of the hospitals top medical teams. Because of the expert and compassionate care he received, Mr. Greco and his wife say they want to give back and are honored to be part of this campaign.

Florida Hospital Tampa offers something unique to our community with a focus on leading-edge technology and innovation delivered with faith-based care, said Dick Greco, honorary chair of the Surgical and Patient Tower campaign. This expansion will bring even more advanced health care options to the people of Tampa Bay, and Linda and I want to be part of that growth and opportunity for this community.

Mr. Greco has a long history of serving the community in civic programs, on city council, and as a four-term mayor for the City of Tampa.

Florida Hospital Tampa serves an 11-county area across Florida and receives over 2,000 patients each year who are transferred from other local hospitals because they need advanced medical care they cannot get anywhere else in this community. The new surgical and patient tower will focus on complex specialties in areas such as neurosurgery, advanced pancreatic, liver and colorectal surgeries and many more, allowing residents to receive expert care close to home, from some of the nations best physicians.

Work started earlier this summer on the expansion, which also includes several hundred additional parking spaces, and a redesigned landscape. Crews began demolition of a medical building this week and an official groundbreaking is planned for next month.

About Florida Hospital, West Florida Division of Adventist Health System (Florida Hospital will soon be AdventHealth) The West Florida Division of Adventist Health System, soon to be AdventHealth, is a 1,810 bed health care system currently comprised of ten acute-care hospitals including Florida Hospital Carrollwood, Florida Hospital Dade City, Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center Lake Placid, Florida Hospital Heartland Medical Center Sebring, Florida Hospital North Pinellas, Florida Hospital Ocala, Florida Hospital Tampa, Florida Hospital Wauchula, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel and Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, as well as three freestanding offsite Emergency Rooms including Florida Hospital Central Pasco ER, Florida Hospital Palm Harbor ER and Florida Hospital TimberRidge ER. Additionally, it has one post-acute care facility, Florida Hospital at Connerton Long Term Acute Care, over 45 multi-specialty Florida Hospital Physician Group practices, 15 Florida Hospital Express Care at Walgreens clinics and 6 Florida Hospital Centra Care Urgent Care Centers. For more information, go to floridahospital.com.

About Florida Hospital Tampa

Florida Hospital Tampa is a not-for-profit 536-bed tertiary hospital specializing in Digestive Health, Cardiovascular Medicine, Neuroscience, Orthopedics, Women's Services, Pediatrics, Oncology, Endocrinology, Bariatrics, Wound Healing, Sleep Medicine and General Surgery, including minimally invasive and robotic-assisted procedures. Also located at Florida Hospital Tampa is the renowned Florida Hospital Pepin Heart Institute, a recognized leader in cardiovascular disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and leading-edge research. The recent addition of the Doc1st ER shows that Florida Hospital Tampa is committed to providing compassionate and quality healthcare. Part of the Adventist Health System, Florida Hospital is a leading health network comprised of 26 hospitals throughout the state. For more information, visit http://www.FHTampa.org.