Funding to support agency’s Infant Mental Health programs and services

August 19, 2021) – The United Way of St. Lucie County has awarded $40,000 to Tykes & Teens, a leading provider of the highest quality, evidence-based mental health services and programs for children and adolescents for 25 years. The funding will support the agency’s Infant Mental Health programs and services in St. Lucie County.

United Way of St. Lucie County President and CEO Jessica Parrish
and Tykes & Teens CEO Eric Garza, MHA, LCSW

“Thank you United Way of St. Lucie County for your continued support of our mission of prioritizing children’s mental health,” said Tykes & Teens CEO Eric Garza, MHA, LCSW. “We greatly appreciate your partnership, including your support in providing needed supplies during the pandemic.” “We are thrilled to be able to provide this grant to Tykes & Teens for a critical need in our community – Infant Mental Health,” said United Way of St. Lucie County President and CEO Jessica Parrish. “We look forward to a wonderful partnership!”

What is Infant Mental Health?

The first few years of a child’s life are a blueprint for their entire future. When very young children are exposed to traumatic events, it increases their risk of long-term mental and physical health problems. Addressing issues early means healthier children who will require less intervention later in life and can reach their full potential.

Tykes & Teens Infant Mental Health therapists utilize Child Parent Psychotherapy and other evidence-based interventions for children who have experienced at least one traumatic event and as a result are exhibiting challenging behavior, attachment difficulties and/or experiencing social-emotional delays. The primary goal is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her caregiver, to restore the child’s sense of safety and attachment, and to improve the child’s cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning within all environments. Infant and toddler primary caregivers are active participants in treatment, which often includes play for facilitating communication between the child and the caregiver. With older children, the child is a more active participant in treatment, which uses multiple interventions as a vehicle for facilitating communication between the child and the caregiver, and builds resiliency and heals in the context of a relationship. When the caregiver has his or her own history of adverse experiences, the therapist helps the caregiver understand how this history can affect the child-caregiver relationship and helps the caregiver interact with the child in new developmentally-appropriate ways.

Infant Mental Health Helps:

  • Improve a child’s ability to regulate emotions
  • Strengthen the relationship between the child and caregivers
  • Heal from a traumatic experience for the parent and/or child that is interfering with a healthy attachment
  • Reduce suspension/expulsion from childcare or preschool
  • Enhance childcare center staffs’ use of social-emotional practices so that all caregivers are equipped to facilitate healthy social and emotional development

Tykes & Teens provides a variety of services from its outpatient office in Port St. Lucie and via telehealth, including general mental health counseling, infant mental health, early childhood mental health consultation, trauma informed care, targeted case management and psychiatric services, as well as school-based and after school services.

For more information on Tykes & Teens’ programs and services, visit www.tykesandteens.org or call 772-220-3439.

To learn more about how you can support children’s mental health in our community, visit www.tykesandteens.org/give-help/ or donate now.

About Tykes & Teens

Tykes & Teens has been a leading mental health provider for children and adolescent evidence-based programs and services for 25 years. Our mission is prioritizing children’s mental health in our families, schools and communities through a wide range of prevention, education, and treatment programs and services. Our passion and commitment are to empowering children and strengthening families by ensuring that all children have access to high quality counseling and mental health services, regardless of financial status. We also advocate for increased awareness of mental health to remove the stigma and shame often associated with seeking mental health treatment. We provide affordable quality mental health services for children in need across the Treasure Coast from more than 50 service locations, including outpatient offices in Palm City, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound, Port St. Lucie, and Vero Beach, on-site services in all Martin County schools, and in schools in Okeechobee and Indian River counties, as well as collaboration with numerous community partners, in addition to virtual telehealth services. We have continued to offer our services and programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including virtual telehealth care. We accept most insurance, private payments, and we are a Medicaid-approved provider. We have successfully administered a sliding fee scale for those in need when necessary for more than 20 years. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency, we also provide $750,000 in unreimbursed services to the communities we serve each year. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.



August 19th 2021 – Delray Medical Center is the first hospital in South Palm Beach County to use the CORI™ Surgical System for knee replacement surgery.  Dr. Curtis Kephart is the first orthopedic surgeon to use this new technology at the hospital.   The CORI™ Surgical System uses handheld robotics-assisted technology that helps the surgeon plan and perform the procedure.  It also gives surgeons a three-dimensional view to help finalize and verify the selection of the knee implant and create a plan for surgery without the need for either a CT scan or MRI.

“This new procedure is groundbreaking for our community, and is designed to allow patients to have normal function in their knee, and return to their daily activities,” said Dr. Curtis Kephart, board-certified orthopaedic surgeon and member of the medical staff at Delray Medical Center.  “We are committed to performing surgical procedures in a safe and secure environment, and our community can rest assured that we will provide the highest level of   orthopaedic care to our patients.”

Robotics-assisted knee replacement surgery using the CORITM Surgical System can lead to the following patient benefits:

  • Quicker, smoother recovery
  • Regain function faster and return home sooner
  • A unique 3D digital model to get a surgical plan customized to the patients’ unique anatomy. The surgeon can perform the procedure more accurately than traditional knee replacement surgery.
  • A natural fit: Using these technologies patients can keep more of their natural bone and ligaments, including the ACL. 6 That helps maintain more of a natural rhythm and step.
  • A wide selection: The surgeon is able to choose from the widest selection of implants available, so implants can be precision-matched to feel more like a patient’s own knee.

“We are continually investing in advancements for our award-winning orthopaedics program because we recognize that our patients deserve access to the latest technology and treatments close to their homes,” said Maggie Gill, chief executive officer of the Palm Beach Health Network and Delray Medical Center. “In many cases, patients with co-morbidities who require orthopaedic treatment benefit greatly by utilizing a full-service, acute care hospital with a wide breadth of services, where other medical conditions can be managed safely at the same time.” 

The Center for Advanced Orthopaedics is located on the third floor in the new Patient Tower of the Delray Medical Center campus.  This beautifully designed expansion features private patient rooms and some of the latest technology to provide patients with the comfort and care needed for recovery.  Orthopaedic surgery patients can also enjoy the new spacious gym located in the tower and staffed with physical therapists 7 days a week. 

Hip, knee and shoulder replacements are becoming more common every day, as men and women seek a second chance for an active life. For more information go to www.delraymedicalctr.com, or call 561-498-4440.

About Delray Medical Center

For nearly 40 years, Delray Medical Center, part of the Palm Beach Health Network, is a 523-bed acute care hospital, has served the communities of South Palm Beach County. As both a community hospital and state-designated Level I Trauma Center located on a 42-acre medical plaza, Delray Medical Center has the ability to offer several specialized services including cardiac care, orthopedics, rehabilitation, neurosciences, emergency care and more.

For the past 14 years, Delray Medical Center has been named one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals by Healthgrades®, a leading independent healthcare ratings organization. Delray Medical Center is a recipient of the Healthgrades 2020 Patient Safety Excellence Award, a designation recognizing superior performance of hospitals preventing the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays.  The hospital is also a Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Heart Failure for 17 years in a row (2003-2019).

Delray Medical Center is a state-designated Comprehensive Stroke Center by the DNV-GL and received Get With The Guidelines award for advanced therapy for Thrombectomy. In addition, the hospital earned the Get With the Guidelines – Heart Failure and Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Awards from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association in 2020. Delray Medical Center was also named by Healthgrades as a Five-Star Recipient for Treatment of Stroke for 12 years in a row (2008-2020).  Pinecrest Rehabilitation and Outpatient Hospital at Delray Medical Center is a CARF accredited rehabilitation unit, and the only state designated brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation program in Palm Beach County by the state of Florida, Department of Health.

Delray Medical Center is actively involved in community outreach, sponsoring several events, community lectures and fundraisers. The hospital is also a smoke-free campus. For more information or for a free physician referral, please call 1-800-897-9789 or visit the website at www.delraymedicalctr.com.



CMS will issue new regulation requiring nursing homes to implement a requirement that all staff be vaccinated against COVID-19

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is developing an emergency regulation requiring staff vaccinations within the nation’s more than 15,000 Medicare and Medicaid-participating nursing homes.

This new requirement is a key component of protecting the health and safety of nursing home residents and staff by ensuring that all nursing home staff receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Over the past several months, millions of vaccinations have been administered to nursing home residents and staff, and these vaccines have shown to help prevent COVID-19 and have proven to be effective against the Delta variant.

“Keeping nursing home residents and staff safe is our priority. The data are clear that higher levels of staff vaccination are linked to fewer outbreaks among residents, many of whom are at an increased risk of infection, hospitalization, or death,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “We will continue to work closely with our partners at the CDC, long-term care associations, unions, and other stakeholders to advance policies that keep residents and staff safe. As we advance these new requirements, we’ll work with nursing homes to address staff and resident concerns with compassion and by following the science.”

Today’s action is in keeping with CMS’s authority to establish requirements to ensure the health and safety of individuals receiving care from all providers and suppliers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. About 62% of nursing home staff are currently vaccinated as of August 8 nationally, and vaccination among staff at the state level ranges from a high of 88% to a low of 44%. The emergence of the Delta variant in the United States has driven a rise in cases among nursing home residents from a low of 319 cases on June 27, to 2,696 cases on August 8, with many of the recent outbreaks occurring in facilities located in areas of the United States with the lowest staff vaccination rates.

In May, the Agency issued new regulations that require Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities and Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICFs/IID) to educate residents, clients, and staff about COVID-19 vaccination and, when available, offer a COVID-19 vaccine to these individuals. These regulations also mandate that LTC facilities report weekly COVID-19 vaccination data for residents and staff to the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN).

CMS will continue to analyze vaccination data for residents and staff from the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) data as an additional method of compliance monitoring and in keeping with current practice, as well as deploy the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs)—operated under the Medicare Quality Improvement Program—to educate and engage nursing homes with low rates of vaccinations.

CMS strongly encourages nursing home residents and staff members to get vaccinated as the Agency undergoes the necessary steps in the rule-making process over the course of the next several weeks. CMS expects nursing home operators to act in the best interest of residents and their staff by complying with these new rules, which the Agency expects to issue in September. CMS also expects nursing home operators to use all available resources to support employees in getting vaccinated, including employee education and vaccination clinics, as they work to meet this staff vaccination requirement.



August 18, 2021 – Robert J. Rothrock, M.D., joins Baptist Health’s Miami Neuroscience Institute as Neurosurgical Director of Spinal Oncology. Dr. Rothrock has specialized interest and training in the surgical and radiation-based treatment of spinal tumors. He has completed fellowships in minimally invasive and reconstructive spine surgery and spinal oncology. He is fluent in English and Spanish.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Rothrock to Miami Neuroscience Institute,” said Michael McDermott, M.D., chief medical executive of Miami Neuroscience Institute. “His comprehensive fellowship training in spinal radiosurgery and spinal oncology, along with his dedication to providing compassionate care to patients with spinal tumors, will make him an asset to our team.”

“For patients with spine conditions, getting the right treatment that’s both safe and effective is paramount,” said Ronald Tolchin, D.O., medical director of the Spine Center at Miami Neuroscience Institute. “With his extensive experience in surgical and radiation-based treatment in spinal oncology, Dr. Rothrock will be an asset to patients who receive spine care at Miami Neuroscience Institute.”  

Dr. Rothrock joins Miami Neuroscience Institute from Mount Sinai Neurosurgery Residency touring in New York City and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he completed a minimally invasive and reconstructive spine surgery fellowship.

His research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed publications, including Neurosurgery, Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine, Operative Neurosurgery and JAMA Neurology. He has also authored chapters in numerous medical and neurosurgical textbooks.

In addition, he had a number of accepted scientific abstracts at the 2019 Congress of Neurological Surgeons (Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine), was the recipient of the Kalmon D. Post Resident Publication Award at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine and the recipient of the National 2012-2013 Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship.

Dr. Rothrock earned his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed a neurosurgery residency at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine. He completed a spinal oncology and radiosurgery fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a minimally invasive and reconstructive spine fellowship at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

He will see patients at South Miami Hospital – 6200 SW 72 Street, Suite 130, Miami Neuroscience Institute – 8950 N. Kendall Drive, Suite 407W and Miami Cancer Institute – 8900 N. Kendall Drive in Miami. 

About Baptist Health South Florida

Baptist Health South Florida is the largest healthcare organization in the region, with 11 hospitals, more than 23,000 employees, 4,000 physicians and 100 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices spanning across Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Baptist Health has internationally renowned centers of excellence in cancer, cardiovascular care, orthopedics and sports medicine, and neurosciences. In addition, it includes Baptist Health Medical Group; Baptist Health Quality Network; and Baptist Health Care On Demand, a virtual health platform. A not-for-profit organization supported by philanthropy and committed to its faith-based charitable mission of medical excellence,Baptist Health has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America and by Ethisphere as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit BaptistHealth.net/Newsroom and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Miami Neuroscience Institute

Miami Neuroscience Institute offers comprehensive and compassionate treatment for neurological conditions affecting the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system. From non-surgical treatments and minimally invasive procedures to complex brain and spine surgery, the Institute embraces a multidisciplinary approach to patient care.

Miami Neuroscience Institute is part of Baptist Health South Florida, the largest healthcare organization in the region, with 11 hospitals, more than 23,000 employees, 4,000 physicians and 100 outpatient centers, urgent care facilities and physician practices spanning across Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Baptist Health has internationally renowned centers of excellence in cancer, cardiovascular care, orthopedics and sports medicine, and neurosciences. In addition, it includes Baptist Health Medical Group; Baptist Health Quality Network; and Baptist Health Care On Demand, a virtual health platform. A not-for-profit organization supported by philanthropy and committed to its faith-based charitable mission of medical excellence, Baptist Health has been recognized by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America and by Ethisphere as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. For more information, visit BaptistHealth.net/Newsroom and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.



August 18, 2021 – On Aug. 26, Florida residents are encouraged to join the Alzheimer’s Association for “Planning for the Future,” a virtual program to help families start planning ahead for the legal and financial challenges associated with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The program, as part of the Alzheimer’s Association’s “Caregiver College” series, will feature legal and financial planning advice from guest speaker Jason Penrod, certified elder law attorney and founder of Family Elder Law.

“When facing Alzheimer’s, it is critical to begin planning so that your family is prepared for the legal and financial issues, long-term care costs and emotional challenges that lie ahead,” Penrod said.

In addition to Penrod, guest speaker Patricia Henderson, outreach manager and community liaison for Senior Connection Center, will inform attendees about the various resources available to them through the local Area Agency on Aging.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, there are more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 11 million family members and friends providing them with daily care. Florida has the second-highest prevalence of the disease in the country with more than 580,000 individuals living with the disease and 527,000 family caregivers.

“As Florida families navigate the challenges of dementia caregiving, having a plan in place can be a source of great comfort and relief when their loved ones can no longer communicate their wishes effectively,” noted Denisse Rodriguez, Alzheimer’s Association program manager. “As people are increasingly getting diagnosed with dementia earlier and earlier in life, it’s crucial that they are made aware of the advantages that come with having that extra time.”

Sponsored in part by Senior Connection Center, the Sarasota County Government and Pinellas County Human Services, “Planning for the Future” will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, Aug. 26. To register, contact the Alzheimer’s Association 24/7 Helpline at (800) 272-3900 or visit bit.ly/AlzFuturePlanning.

Alzheimer’s Association®

The Alzheimer’s Association is a worldwide voluntary health organization dedicated to Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Our mission is to lead the way to end Alzheimer’s and all other dementia – by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. Visit alz.org or call (800) 272-3900.