Mayo, Brooks, Walmart, Wolfson: Who’s making Jacksonville area’s latest Healthful News?
Jacksonville's Mayo Clinic and Brooks Rehabilitation, both of which treat patients after life-altering brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and strokes, will collaborate on a new, comprehensive residency program for medical students seeking careers in physical medicine and rehabilitation.
The four-year program will offer residents "an opportunity to train in a world-class medical institution while gaining hands-on experience in one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the region," according to officials.
The Mayo Clinic PM&R Residency Program in Collaboration with Brooks Rehabilitation has received initial accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Physical medicine and rehabilitation, also known as PM&R, or physiatry, is a medical specialty that involves restoring movement and function to people limited by disease or injury, according to Mayo.
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The first class will begin July 1, 2024.
Residents' first year of training will be in the "Internal Medicine Preliminary Year Program" at Mayo, followed by 12 months of rotations for inpatient rehabilitation at Brooks. In the final 24 months, they will have outpatient musculoskeletal and neurologic clinics, electromyography and acute hospital consults at Mayo.
For more information go to college.mayo.edu/academics/residencies-and-fellowships/physical-medicine-and-rehabilitation-residency-florida and brooksrehab.org/pmr-residency-program.
The Mayo-Brooks venture is one of the latest news items in the high-growth health care industry in Northeast Florida. Here's what else has been happening that's not already been reported by the Times-Union:
Walmart
Walmart has opened new HIV-focused specialty pharmacies within eight of its existing pharmacies in the Jacksonville area.
The specialty location at 845 Durbin Pavilion in St. Johns County opened Wednesday. Seven more are already open or will have opened by June 30 at the following locations:
10991 San Jose Blvd., Suite 1, Jacksonville
8808 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville
9890 Hutchinson Park Drive, Jacksonville
4250 Philips Highway, Jacksonville
13227 City Square Drive, off Max Leggett Parkway, Jacksonville
11900 Atlantic Blvd., near Kernan Boulevard, Jacksonville
2355 S. U.S. 1, St. Augustine
Specially trained pharmacists will offer clinical programs and pharmacy services, while community health workers will provide enhanced care coordination, healthy lifestyle recommendations and emotional support services.
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The company is using its visibility — 90% of the U.S. population live within 10 miles of one of the 4,600 Walmart store pharmacies across the country — "to reach people who might not otherwise have access to or seek out HIV care," according to officials there. The specialty pharmacies "will make treatment easier, more convenient and discreet."
Wolfson Children's Hospital
The Wolfson Children’s Hospital Auxiliary, whose volunteers provide a range of services from greeting visitors to pet therapy, recently marked 50 years of service.
The group, which now has about 100 members, was celebrated by hospital leaders and members at a June 13 event.
Founded by Eunice Gooding on June 13, 1973, the auxiliary has grown from five services to 17 and its members have volunteered about 1 million hours. In the last decade alone, they have devoted about 200,000 hours of service to Wolfson, worth about $4.5 million, according to the hospital.
The auxiliary also has donated about $1 million and funded a $500,000 Baptist Foundation endowment for critical care equipment, advanced technology, patient room amenities and wheelchairs to transport patients, among other things.
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Auxiliary services include greeting and escorting patients and families; participating in bedside activities such as crafts, puzzles and games; and hosting hospital tours. They also provide pet therapy, entertain children and families with a troop of clowns and magicians; and dress as the Wolfson mascot, Wolfie, for patients and community events.
"They are a huge blessing … It takes special people to share their hearts with others," said Jeannie Poon, director of volunteer services for Wolfson and Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville.
To volunteer or get more information, call (904) 202-8008, email WCHAuxiliary@bmcjax.com or go to wolfsonchildrens.com/about/volunteer.
Mayo Clinic Florida
The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville recently broke ground on a $70 million Hilton Hotel scheduled to open in 2025 on the hospital campus near the newly built Butler Boulevard entrance.
The eight-story, 179,000-square-foot hotel will have 252 guest rooms. Also planned are indoor and outdoor meeting spaces within a few hundred yards of Mayo facilities.
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When work gets underway later this summer, the hotel will be the fourth active construction site at the clinic. Other projects are a 225,000-square-foot integrated oncology building, a five-floor patient bed tower expansion to the hospital and a central utilities plant.
The Mayo campus already includes the 134-room Courtyard by Marriott Jacksonville Mayo Clinic-Beaches and two hospitality houses: Gabriel House of Care is for adult organ transplant and cancer patients and their caregivers; the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Hope Lodge is for cancer patients.
Send hospital and health care news to bcravey@jacksonville.com.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Mayo, Brooks Rehab join forces; Walmart helps treat HIV
