Florida nurses are calling for better working conditions and higher pay

Nurses around the country marched Thursday for better pay and better working conditions. Emily Bloom, a Tallahassee registered nurse, organized a rally outside Florida’s historic Capitol building. “We’re here for three reasons. We’re highlighting and wanting to create community awareness around workplace violence against health care workers. We’re wanting to highlight the patient and nurse staffing ratios and we’re also looking to highlight that nurses are paid inadequately,” Bloom said. The COVID pandemic exacerbated an ongoing worker shortage in the health care industry. Bloom said she and her colleagues were often asked to take on added duties. [Source: Health News Florida]

New Florida law allows families back into assisted living facilities, even during a health emergency

The new law lets family members visit patients in health care facilities — even during an emergency like a pandemic. It goes into effect on July 1 and will allow patients to choose an essential caregiver, who will be guaranteed two hours of visitation every day. Listen to a conversation with Health News Florida reporter Stephanie Colombini about her reporting on Florida’s “No Patient Left Alone” act. [Source: WUSF]

Opinion: Protecting Florida’s seniors means quality healthcare that’s affordable

Everyone needs and deserves access to healthy and nutritious food. People shouldn’t need to worry if their fridge and pantry shelves will stay stocked to feed themselves and their families. However, far too many individuals know that this just isn’t the case. And unfortunately, the communities that tend to struggle with food insecurity are also those who are highly vulnerable, namely our seniors. [Source: Miami Herald]

Facing financial woes, Florida hospital reportedly misses payroll

Employees at Healthmark Regional Medical Center in DeFuniak Springs have apparently not gotten their most recent paycheck. News 13 spoke with a medical professional currently working at Healthmark who has chosen to remain anonymous. They said they haven’t been paid in three weeks. “No one has been paid to my knowledge, including salaried people because I asked today, since… our last payday was April 22,” the source said. [Source: WJTV]

A shortage of baby formula has Florida families scrambling

Jordan Levine of Tampa knew being a first-time mom would come with some sleepless nights, but she didn’t expect buying baby formula would be the reason. “Some nights I lie awake for hours going through all the stores around here,” said Levine, 30, with her four month-old daughter Emberly cooing on her lap. When Levine gave birth to Emberly she had planned on breastfeeding, but couldn’t. Now she said she is constantly on the prowl for her daughter's formula. When her searches come up empty at local stores, she will try outside the region and even out-of-state. [Source: Health News Florida]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› Meet one of the students graduating from Nova Southeastern's first class of MDs [WLRN]
After four years of anatomy, rounds and rotations – and many late-night study sessions – the first class from Nova Southeastern University’s College of Allopathic Medicine is graduating on Friday. Forty-six students will officially be awarded MD degrees from the new program. Plenty of kids know from a young age they want to be a doctor. Samantha Marazita was not that kid.

› Medical marijuana dispensaries could be coming to Naples soon, thanks to code change [Naples Daily News]
Medical marijuana dispensaries have yet to be welcomed in Collier County but that could change in a few months. Collier zoning staff are drafting an amendment to the county’s land development code to potentially allow the dispensaries to operate in the same zoning districts as pharmacies. The process would take several months because the zoning designation would have to go through the county’s Planning Commission and get a supermajority vote of support from the Collier County Commission.

› Broward joins Miami-Dade as only Florida counties with ‘moderate’ COVID risk [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has moved Broward County’s COVID risk level up to “moderate.” The higher level is a result of the county’s positivity rate rising to 16.5% and nine new COVID hospital admissions each day per 100,000 people. Broward County joins Miami-Dade as the only two counties in Florida with moderate risk levels rather than low.

› Tampa partners with TGH on a wellness initiative to promote healthy habits [WUSF]
Tampa is partnering with Tampa General Hospital on a multi-year preventative wellness initiative aimed at improving the overall health of residents. According to a press release, the Tampa General Hospital Foundation is contributing $1 million to help launch TampaWell in its first year. "More than ever before, we have a great opportunity to create a unique and holistic wellness ecosystem that not only improves the health of our residents and the health of our economy, but also differentiates Tampa as the most attractive wellness destination nationwide," TGH president and CEO John Couris said.