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Health Care House Calls

SPOTLIGHT

Health Care House Calls

The Seminole County Fire Department is using paramedics to help fill health care gaps.

Currently, 150 residents are enrolled in the year-old program — most of them referred to the program by firefighters/paramedics called repeatedly to an address for medical issues. The program aims to reduce the strain on the 911 system and curb emergency department visits and hospital readmissions by providing care and preventative services to residents in their homes. Last year, the paramedicine team visited 1,912 homes.

The paramedics help residents manage chronic conditions, such as diabetes and congestive heart failure, as well as mental health and substance abuse disorders. It recently started offering vaccinations, HIV testing and blood draws.

Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the Seminole County Community Paramedicine Program is free to residents and helps save the county money by reducing non-urgent 911 calls, says Doreen Overstreet, the public safety information and education officer for the Seminole County Fire Department.

DEFENSE

  • Lockheed Martin Space in Titusville secured a $49.9-million modification contract for the Trident II, a three-stage ballistic missile it’s designing for the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs.

ENTERTAINMENT

  • EA Sports aims to release its latest college football video game — a project handled by its Orlando studio — in 2024. Daryl Holt, EA’s vice president and general manager, told ESPN the game will include real college football players now that NCAA athletes can benefit from their name, image and likeness.

ENVIRONMENT

  • Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer appointed Michael Hess to be the city’s sustainability and resilience director. Hess has worked for the city since 2019 as the director of Orlando’s Future-Ready Initiative and helped forge the city’s Future-Ready Master Plan, a framework for making Orlando a center of innovation, technology advancement and resilience.

HIGHER EDUCATION

  • After serving as interim dean since 2021, Yiorgos Bakamitsos was named permanent dean of Stetson University’s School of Business Administration.
  • Kelly Dowling, previously assistant vice president of advancement for the State University of New York at Stony Brook (SUNY), has joined Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as senior vice president for philanthropy and alumni engagement.

REAL ESTATE

  • The Onicx Group, a Tampa-based private real estate firm, and Aries Capital paid $4.15 million for 83 acres in Edgewater, where they plan to develop the Space Coast Industrial Park at Parktowne, a 1-million-sq.-ft. warehouse facility.
  • CrossMarc Services of Winter Park and MCB Real Estate, in partnership with Peaceable Street Capital, purchased Post Commons, a 202,000-sq.-ft. shopping center in Melbourne. It was the third shopping center acquisition for CrossMarc in 2022.
  • JLL hired Lucia Hedke as a managing director based in Orlando to focus on growing its health care business. Hedke was a principal at Cresa in Washington, D.C., where she spent a decade providing tenant representation services.

MODELING & SIMULATION

  • Bubo Learning Design, a Texas company that specializes in web-based training, opened an office at UCF’s Research Park incubator and plans to add up to 10 employees over the next two years.

NON-PROFITS

  • Dr. Phillips Charities donated $10 million to support a new facility for the University of Central Florida’s College of Nursing in Lake Nona and awarded $6 million to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children for a future pediatric facility.

SPACE

  • Space Perspective, the Merritt Island company that plans to take tourists to the edge of space in pods carried by giant balloons, purchased a 292-foot-long ship called the MS Voyager from which it plans to launch and retrieve its space balloons.
  • The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Brent David Willis, CEO of aerospace firm Vaya Space in Cocoa, with orchestrating a multi-year fraud when he was CEO of New- Age, a Utah-based beverage company. The SEC complaint alleges that between 2017 and 2019, Willis made “false public statements” that created an “illusion” that the company was a pioneer in the potentially lucrative CBD beverage market and that its products were gaining traction with major retailers in order to artificially inflate the company’s stock price. Willis’ lawyer has denied the allegations against his client.