Health Care Brett Aldridge Tapped as Successor After 34 years at Baptist and 14 as its leader, Faulkner will hand the reins to a Pensacola native who has run day-to-day operations since…
Category: Health
Infant Mortality: “A Tale of Two Cities”
Health & Community Fetal Deaths Rise as Infant Deaths Fall in Northwest Florida Healthy Start’s Allyson Anderson calls the new state numbers “a tale of two cities” and explains what her team…
Escambia Children’s Trust Awards $3.6 Million to 11 Early Childhood Programs
Escambia’s Children’s Trust backed all 11 early learning programs in a 4–1 vote, overriding its own scoring panel, as kindergarten readiness sinks to just 36%.
Region’s Infant Mortality Down; Fetal Mortality Up Significantly
Region 1 fetal deaths jumped from 41 to 54 while the state rate stayed lower. Tuesday, a $3.5M early childhood grants goes before Children’s Trust for a vote.
Meet Rick Metzger, Ascension Sacred Heart’s New CEO
Ascension Sacred Heart’s new CEO started as an OR orderly, became a nurse and now leads it. Hear his plans for access and mental health at ricksblog.biz
Community Health Reopens Three Locations
Community Health reopens locations on Jackson St. in Pensacola, Trinity Pediatrics on N. 9th Ave. and Caroline St. in Milton.
Ascension Sacred Heart Gets New CEO
Healthcare Rick Metzger Named CEO of Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola A registered nurse who began as an OR orderly returns to Ascension to lead the region’s only Level I trauma center. Ascension…
HCA Florida West: Reclaiming Real Life
HCA Florida West’s new $500K outdoor rehab space has patients relearning to walk on gravel, curbs and sand — and 85% are going home.
Florida Sues Over Insulin Price-Fixing — A Story I’ve Been Telling Since 2023
FL AG sues insulin makers & PBMs for price-fixing—exactly what Pensacola attorney Troy Rafferty told me in 2023. Turns out he was right.
Charity Care Costs Jump $33.5 Million Locally as Medicaid Rolls Shrink
Escambia & Santa Rosa charity care costs jumped $33.5M in 3 years—Baptist’s new hospital absorbed 45% of it. The reason traces back to a Florida policy choice.
What Does Meta’s $17 Billion Wake Up Call Mean for Your Teens
Meta’s paying $18B for harming kids online—but attorney Ned McWilliams says the fine is a joke. The real fix? New limits on minors’ screen time.
Hope Florida Grand Jury Report Leaked
Leaked grand jury report: DeSantis admin misused $10M in Medicaid settlement cash to fight pot legalization. No charges. Read the money trail.
Pensacola Beach Brawl Returns Sept. 25-27
America’s #1 beach becomes a battleground. Beach Brawl returns Sept. 25-27 — three days of elite athletes, free spectator seats, zero qualifiers.
Creating Mental Health Care Pipeline
Pensacola trains its own psychiatrists now. 16 residents in the pipeline, Lakeview Center + HCA Florida West partner to keep young doctors here for good.
Kindergarten Readiness: An Impossible But Worthy Goal
Florida wants all kids kindergarten-ready by 2030. Is the goal realistic? Escambia just dropped from 49.5% to 36% ready in one year. Bright Beginnings may help.
UWF Receives Second Largest Health Grant
UWF professor Dr. Karishma Chhabria Unrue just landed $825K to help cancer survivors rebuild their health — nutrition, fitness, stress relief, statewide.
Tonight: Levin Papantonio Hosts Community Town Hall on Youth Social Media Safety
As social media continues to shape the daily lives of young people, concerns surrounding mental health, online exploitation, cyberbullying, sleep disruption, and addictive platform design have become increasingly prevalent. This community-focused event…
UWF Prof Earns U.S. Patent for Early Alzheimer’s Detection
A UWF professor just patented a brain-wave test that could detect Alzheimer’s years before symptoms appear—using equipment already in your doctor’s office.
Wrong Organ, Wrong Side, Wrong Doctor
Dr. Thomas Shaknovsky removed William Bryan’s liver instead of his spleen on a Florida vacation. Now there’s a manslaughter indictment. Joe Zarzaur explains.
Online Gambling Targeting Your Kids—And RDCY Is Fighting Back
When most parents think about internet dangers for children, they think about predators or explicit content. But two Florida attorneys are sounding the alarm about a threat hiding in plain sight: offshore…
