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Feature Stories, Wellington Education

Extraordinary Educators Four Teachers From Wellington School Honored With The Economic Council’s Newest Award

Extraordinary Educators Four Teachers From Wellington School Honored With The Economic Council’s Newest Award

They blazed trails, created a space where students could express their fears, built a sense of community and persevered despite personal heartbreak as they walked a unique tightrope between in-person learning and online classes.

They are the four Binks Forest Elementary School team members honored during this spring’s Extraordinary Educator Awards, sponsored by the Economic Council of Palm Beach County — teachers Emily MacMillan, Sally Mascia and Brandi Soto, and behavioral health professional Hope Jackson.

The awards were based on nominations and testimonials from parents. Among the county’s nearly 200 schools and more than 12,900 teachers, no other school had more than two honorees, according to the council’s Facebook page.

Of Soto, one parent reflected on the virus-driven wildfire of anxiety that scorched through the spring of 2020: “We have never felt so supported by a teacher. She made us feel stress-free during a time when everyone was switching from brick-and-mortar to online learning! … Thank you so much, dear Mrs. Soto, for the amazing, great teacher you are!”

Soto was very moved by her nomination, let alone winning the award.

“When I saw what some of the parents wrote about me, I cried,” said Soto, who grew up in Palm Beach County and has been teaching for 17 years. “Parent involvement is huge here.”

Soto, a Florida Atlantic University graduate, has been impressed by the Binks Forest faculty ever since arriving at the school eight years ago. “At Binks, going above and beyond is simply in our nature,” she said.

Such an attitude inspired the married mother of two to become a Trailblazer, a school district designation for a teacher who has volunteered for extra training in classroom technology. So, when classes for the district’s 169,000 students went online in March 2020, then returned in the fall in hybrid form — some students in class, some learning online — Soto was well equipped to handle the technical challenges and aid other teachers.

“That’s one thing about our school, teachers lift each other up and support each other,” said MacMillan, another local graduate who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from FAU. She has been teaching at Binks Forest for 10 years.

Parents think MacMillan is special, too. One wrote: “Emily exemplified her extreme care during the pandemic… Her sincere love for teaching and her students makes learning exciting.”

MacMillan, a single mother with a 13-year-old son, said the biggest challenge for her over the last 18 months was not technical but emotional.

“I’m big on creating and fostering a classroom community,” she said. “So, the biggest thing was making sure my students felt connected to me and to each other with some of them in the classroom and some of them at home.”

Enthusiasm carrying her forward, MacMillan focused on the idea that everyone is persevering through the challenges together.

“I’m a big believer in lifelong learning, and that my students aren’t there just to learn enough to get through the third grade… These students will talk about this [pandemic experience] for the rest of their lives. They’ll say, ‘Remember the year when?’”

No doubt first-grade teacher Mascia will remember this school year vividly and with no small measure of melancholy, having faced the personal pain of losing her father in September, then her mother in January to COVID-19. Despite traveling to her native Ohio for the funerals, Mascia maintained contact with her students through the Internet.

A teacher at Binks Forest since 1999, Mascia let parents know about the personal losses she had suffered and allowed them to share, or not, with their children as they thought appropriate. “First-graders need consistency,” Mascia said. “I didn’t want the deaths to hamper my teaching.”

Throughout Mascia’s personally challenging year, parents, fellow teachers and the school administration led by Principal Michella Levy were there for her.

“They’re amazing,” said Mascia, a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland. “The teachers pull together and support each other, personally and professionally.”

Like several of the teachers, Mascia also gave credit to the school’s very active PTA organization.

In June, Mascia retired after teaching for 35 years in Florida schools. She’s looking forward to spending time with her first grandchild.

Reflecting on the last year and a half, Mascia said, “The children were troopers. They never complained… [But] it was a challenge making sure we reached the kids at home. I’m praying we reached them.”

Parents who wrote to the Economic Council to nominate Mascia are very sure about the calm, steady difference she made: “This past year has been quite different. It has been chaotic and unsettling at times. The pandemic has been plain nerve-racking and stressful, that is, until you reach the classroom door of Ms. Mascia.”

Through all the stress, chaos, uncertainty and fear generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson was there providing emotional outlets for students, information for parents and encouragement for fellow staff members and teachers. And parents noticed, one writing: “Ms. Jackson remained bright throughout this storm of darkness surrounding her students, peers and her family.”

Jackson said her goal was to create a safe space where students could “scream, shout, cry, throw a chair if they need to, then figure out how to deal with what they’re feeling,” she said. “There is no problem so big we can’t help them.”

Of course, providing that space for students still learning from home was a challenge. “I still tried to do it with extra attention, extra check-ins with parents and virtual students,” she said.

One of the keys was letting students act out scenarios of their choosing, she explained.

“Role playing lets the students verbalize about different situations… and learn about what sort of skills are needed to cope with them,” said Jackson, a Belle Glade native who earned degrees from Bethune-Cookman and Shaw universities.

Despite Jackson’s many normal work responsibilities and mothering a blended family of seven ranging in age from 7 to 25, she found the time to write a motivational e-mail each Friday for faculty and staff, underscoring the fact that at Binks Forest, “we’re a team.”

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Feature Stories, Wellington Education

Building For The Future Elbridge Gale Students Excel At Robotics Program With Appearance At International Invitational

Building For The Future Elbridge Gale Students Excel At Robotics Program With Appearance At International Invitational

By Deborah Welky

Small, plastic Lego bricks are ubiquitous in most homes with school-age children. The bricks are a staple of creativity for children and adults alike, evolving into much more than a toy. In fact, they are also a key component of a robotics program that teaches students STEM skills like engineering and technology.

Four years ago, Wellington’s Elbridge Gale Elementary School created a Lego Robotics team, which was an instant hit with students. It is currently operated by teachers Tara Dicurcio and Nicole Crane.

“I wanted to coach because I’m interested in robotics myself. I wanted to learn along with the kids,” Dicurcio said.

“The season typically starts in August with competitions running from February through March,” Crane added. “Last year, that was extended while everyone figured out the logistics of competing virtually.”

The teachers’ dedication propelled the school’s 2020-21 team to new heights, which included an invitation to participate in the FIRST Lego League Virtual Open International, headquartered in Greece.

The “Gator Bots” team was comprised of Corben Dicurcio, Skyler Peterson, Cristopher Martin-Aguirre, Yashasvi Rajpurohit, Colbie Phillips, Chris Powell, Oliver Parreco and Ariana Porterfield. They entered the qualifier, participating with students from Martin, Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties in an effort to receive an award and advance to regionals.

Advance, they did. The regional competition heated up with new participants from as far away as Key West and, when the dust settled, Elbridge Gale’s Gator Bots were selected by judges as one of seven Florida teams to represent the United States in Greece. They were one of just 59 teams invited from throughout the U.S., and one of only 200 selected from a worldwide pool of 350,000 competitors.

Of course, last year, no one was physically going to Greece.

“As any educator would say, it was challenging to stay engaged across multiple platforms — with some students working from home and some not,” Crane said. “It was difficult to coordinate but, at the end of the day, the pandemic may have actually worked in our favor. There are six core values that the students work on developing as part of the competition, and two of those are inclusion and teamwork. Restrictions imposed due to the pandemic helped the students to develop that core set as the season went on.”

In addition to making sure all in-person and virtual teammates felt included, the students had to wear masks, so it was difficult to understand each other at times. They also had to stay six feet apart — especially challenging when collaborating and building with tiny bricks. Wearing gloves and repeatedly sanitizing everything they touched slowed things down a bit, too.

Their coaches were there for guidance only. “It shouldn’t be me doing the project,” Dicurcio said. “Our motto around here is ‘Kid Done, Kid Fun.’ For instance, if they needed a new coding system to help put everything together, I could research a fantastic tutorial set, pull those lessons and show them step-by-step, but they’d have to figure out how to apply it. If they wanted to add a line-follower to their build, I could show them how to develop it, but they’re the ones who have to decide how to apply that knowledge to the robot.”

Sounds seamless, right?

Not always. The team experienced several setbacks along their path to glory, not the least of which was having their computer crash the day before the qualifier round. They lost all their content and had to learn the skills necessary to develop their app and rebuild in time to compete the next day. The silver lining? They received the Break-Through Award, given to the team that “faces a challenge and continues pressing forward.”

Setbacks are a part of life, and these Wellington students are now better prepared to deal with them.

“Creativity and problem-solving are two of the strongest components of the program,” Crane said. “It’s not just building and engineering skill sets; there’s a lot of technology, a lot of research. Each year, the students are learning things that I facilitate but, very often, the students know the coding and programs and vocabulary better than I do. And, if they don’t know it, they learn it faster than I can.”

In 2020-21, the robotics league program assigned a timely challenge that would require competitors to develop a solution to an existing problem — retaining health and fitness during a pandemic.

“It was a pretty good topic,” Crane said. “How do people exercise when they’re afraid to go outside? How do you incorporate space with social-distancing recess options? How can students even do PE in a distance-learning situation? The team had to find ways, so they created a survey, got the survey out there and collected data to see which direction they should go in when solving their problem. They got a crash course in learning some different strategies to do that, and watching them do their exercise was fun. It was pretty cute.”

The teachers know they are preparing their students not only for jobs but for life.

“The six core values are the guiding force for Lego Robotics — discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork and fun,” Crane said. “Teams are judged on their use of teamwork — that their project was done together, not individually. They are taught respect and embracing differences and not leaving anyone out. They do coding, programming and public speaking. Ultimately, they built a virtual fitness trail to help people remain active during COVID-19.”

Along the way, they learned skills and had unique experiences that will be able to take with them no matter where they end up heading in life.

Visit www.firstlegoleague.org to learn more about the FIRST Lego League program.

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Wellington’s Young Black Leaders Wellington High School Creates BLAST, A New Course In Black Leadership

Wellington’s Young Black Leaders Wellington High School Creates BLAST,  A New Course In Black Leadership

By Margaret Hunt

With an aim to help build the future base of tomorrow’s Black leaders, Wellington High School has created an innovative course known as BLAST, which stands for the Black Leadership & Achievement Student Team.

When AICE math teacher Nancy Toussaint and student McKenzie Henry, then a senior, realized that Black students were under-represented in Wellington High School’s leadership programs, they both wanted to make the school more inclusive. They needed a team, but there was a problem — they had no clue that one another existed.

However, when Mike Kozlowski, a school administrator with a similar vision, approached Toussaint about meeting Henry, it led to the creation of a class for underserved Black students.

In January 2020, at the next faculty meeting, WHS Principal Cara Hayden gave her support to adding a leadership class for Black students at the school. She noted that the previous schools that she worked in all had courses designed for Black students, but when she became principal at Wellington High School, there were none. She wanted the school to be a place where minority students could thrive as well.

A follow-up faculty meeting occurred via Zoom near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Toussaint invited Henry to attend. She wanted a student to be involved in the discussion about creating a Black leadership class.

During the meeting, the late Assistant Principal Henry Paulk created the name for the proposed class after pondering it some time. He came up with the acronym BLAST and suggested that Toussaint have an interview process for prospective students.

Toussaint eventually carried out the interviews in August 2020, when BLAST officially became a class at WHS. She worked with faculty members Audra Davis, Oscar Robinson, Suzanne Nichols and Danielle Fairclough to create an application form that the students would fill out before being approved to participate in the program.

From there, Toussaint and Henry met on Google Meet to discuss creating a commercial for the class. Henry filmed a promotional video that would later be played for the BLAST students. She used word-of-mouth to get her fellow classmates interested in joining the program, garnering the first eight students. Fairclough, a guidance counselor, located more Black students that she would e-mail the application to. The class started out with 16 founding students, but it will expand to approximately 24 students during the 2021-22 school year.

BLAST is currently offered as an honors elective at Wellington High School, available for students in grades 11 and 12. Its mission is to, “Empower Black students to create a positive mindset, achieve academic success and develop leadership skills.”

Toussaint’s vision for the class was for students to serve in a similar capacity as the Student Government Association. One of her primary goals was for the class to be student-led. Before he passed away in October 2020, Paulk’s goal was for BLAST to increase the students’ communication skills and to improve their group dynamics. It is safe to say that in its first year, the class accomplished that.

“BLAST has created a safe place for me and my friends to talk about anything,” WHS graduate Melik Frederick said. “We motivated each other every day and learned a lot from each other. Being the first year of this class, we got a lot done. Special thanks to Ms. Toussaint.”

During the 2020-21 school year, following through with her student leadership goal, Toussaint allowed the students to give their input on what they would like to be taught. BLAST students learned different leadership styles, goal setting, active listening skills, financial literacy and more. Henry was chosen to serve as president, and the seniors delegated class-officer positions among themselves. They formed groups named after tribes from different African regions and made projects about topics such as African American historical figures.

The most notable part of the class was “Free Talk Friday,” where students had an environment to discuss their opinions on current events and talk about their lives. It was from this time set aside every week that the students in the class realized that the things they had to say mattered.

“BLAST was an amazing experience and by far the best class I took at Wellington High School,” recent graduate Hermione Williams said. “It was a class where I could comfortably express how I felt about national events and learn more about my history. With the help of Ms. Toussaint, we learned that despite the stereotypes set upon us Black people by society, we all have the potential to create a path for excellence. We were more than just peers and a teacher — we were family.”

With the help of the Village of Wellington, the BLAST students were able to use their newly found voices to make an impact on their community through a series of videos that they made during Black History Month to celebrate their heritage and to speak up about topics that they were passionate about. These videos included, “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud,” “Racism,” “We Still Have Dreams” and “Black Inventors.” They were played during school and were shared throughout Wellington.

Because of their videos, six BLAST students were able to participate in the Village of Wellington’s SWAG program, which stands for Students Working to Achieve Greatness. Through this program, the students received summer internships at varying locations, along with tools to become successful in the workforce, such as interviewing pointers, financial literacy, attire and more. They met with and got advice from accomplished Black people in the community and got the opportunity to network with community leaders.

BLAST’s meetings with community organizations and school leadership classes such as the Urban League, SWAG, the Student Government Association and Latinos In Action have played a crucial role in spreading the word about the new program. So much so, that School Board Member Marcia Andrews, and Brian Knowles, manager of the Office of African, African American, Latino, Holocaust and Gender Studies for the school district, met with BLAST to discuss the expansion of the class to other schools across the county. Andrews was receptive to the proposal, and the likelihood of BLAST’s expansion is favorable.

Along with expanding the class, BLAST has internal goals for Wellington High School. The group hopes to implement programs that will help the students, such as Big Brother/Big Sister-style mentoring, conflict mediation, and dealing with student complaints and concerns. BLAST members have talked with the school’s administration about the integration of these programs and have concluded that they will take time and training to fully implement.

However, the program has shown that there are many faculty members in support of minority students in the school. In the future, BLAST aims to collaborate with other classes, clubs and student groups to make sure that every student is represented within the school’s leadership.

 

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Feature Stories

WELLINGTON’S WINNING MOVES The Village Has Taken Home Its Third Let’s Move Championship From The Palm Health Foundation

WELLINGTON’S WINNING MOVES
 The Village Has Taken Home Its Third Let’s Move
Championship From The Palm Health Foundation

By Melanie Otero

Not even a global pandemic could stop Wellington residents from winning their third Let’s Move challenge, besting 378 teams from across Palm Beach County in the highly competitive countywide competition by logging an impressive 26 million minutes of physical activity during March 2021.

Presented by the Palm Health Foundation and Digital Vibez Inc., Let’s Move invites residents to form teams and commit to exercising at least 30 minutes a day during the month of March. The highly competitive campaign has teams from municipalities, county organizations and other groups all vying for top prizes, which were awarded at a ceremony on April 16.

Hosted by the KVJ Show’s Virginia Sinicki at a live presentation at the South Florida Science Center & Aquarium, the Village of Wellington was named the winning 2021 Let’s Move team with the highest number of physical activity minutes. Wellington residents logged more than 40 percent of the total 59,472,053 minutes logged for the entire county — a record for the highest number of physical activity minutes in Let’s Move’s nine-year history.

Wellington is no stranger to winning Let’s Move, taking home the championship title in 2018 and 2019. What’s even more remarkable is that the number of minutes in 2021 were more than twice the number of minutes logged in either of the previous years.

“It took the whole community to win the award,” said Michelle Garvey, the village’s assistant director of community services. “To have so many people come together shows how important our residents believe it is to have a healthy community. We really appreciate them.”

Building a culture of health was exactly the idea behind Let’s Move when it was first launched in 2012 by the Palm Health Foundation, Palm Beach County’s leading community foundation for issues relating to health. Inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2010 Let’s Move national program to decrease childhood obesity, the foundation created the local challenge for adults and children to improve a variety of health issues through regular physical activity. The challenge promotes daily exercise as a way to combat illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, and strengthen brain health and life expectancy, among other benefits.

“Let’s Move is about taking charge of our health as a community by integrating physical activity, nutrition and healthy behaviors into our daily lives, and having fun while doing it,” said Patrick McNamara, president and CEO of the Palm Health Foundation.

“This is the campaign’s ninth year, and we could not be prouder of the amazing results,” added Wilford Romelus, founder of Digital Vibez. “This past year was full of unexpected challenges for everyone, but we came back stronger than ever.”

With the pandemic limiting in-person events, Garvey and her team under the direction of Community Services Director Paulette Edwards had to get creative to get — and keep — people motivated. The village’s instructors offered free classes, including aerobics, Zumba and dance classes through Zoom, giving everyone the ability to participate, from Wellington’s own 300 employees to seniors and youth.

Community organizations and businesses from sports teams to private schools to LA Fitness joined in to rally members and contribute. For kids, the village partnered with the Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club of Wellington to introduce new activities like Frisbee and teach football and soccer. A huge March Madness basketball competition brought kids out to the courts, and a dance club brought to the Wellington Amphitheater by Digital Vibez kept kids moving to the latest beat.

To get as many young residents as possible participating in Let’s Move, Garvey’s team knew they couldn’t just wait for the kids to come to them. They needed to take fun activities out into the neighborhoods. Program coordinators Ian Williams and Gus Ponce were just the guys to do it through their “Super Fridays” program.

Super Fridays began about three years ago as a way for Wellington to connect with youth by bringing activities to kids in their own neighborhoods.

“When Ian and Gus show up, it’s time to come out of the house, put the electronics down and have fun,” Garvey said.

For Let’s Move, it was a way to be sure all kids had access to the campaign and to continue opening doors to create relationships.

This lets them understand youth needs that the village could fulfill, such as tutoring, mentorships and scholarships to participate in programming.

“We make an impact on the kids, and the kids make an impact on us,” Williams said. “Some of the youth we reach are caring for younger siblings and just need to know we’re there for them. That’s what it’s all about, giving them something to look forward to every day.”

Another way the village cares for the community contributed to the Let’s Move championship. Every Tuesday during the month of March, 25 volunteers gathered at the Mall at Wellington Green to give away food to those in need, working with Feeding South Florida. The activity required quite a bit of physical activity, with volunteers running bags of groceries to more than 800 cars for the food distribution drive-through each week. “Between athletic programs and community service, we try our best to deliver on our health and wellness goals for village residents,” Garvey said.

Giving the credit to residents for bringing home the Let’s Move trophy, Williams added, “We really want to thank the community for being so willing.”

The 2021 Let’s Move campaign was sponsored by the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Health Specialty Center, Valley Bank, Wisehaupt, Bray Asset Management and the Quantum Foundation. For more info., visit www.letsmovepbc.org.

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EVERY SECOND COUNTS Wellington Regional’s Emergency Department Stands Ready To React At A Moment’s Notice

EVERY SECOND COUNTS
Wellington Regional’s Emergency Department
Stands Ready To React At A Moment’s Notice

Dr. Adam Bromberg, medical director of the Wellington Regional Medical Center Emergency Department, stood outside of the hospital’s emergency room and watched as an emergency medical services (EMS) truck approached with its siren blaring and its lights rapidly flashing in an effort to clear the road and shave a few more precious seconds from the hospital arrival time of a critical patient.

Like a red blur, the truck pulled into the ambulance bay as first responders spilled out of the truck and shuttled the patient through the doors to the waiting ER team inside. The hospital is full of specialized equipment and staff to provide emergent care for nearly any patient who arrives at the ER, but that is often the key word… arrives.

Emergency care extends to the site of the patient, and EMS crews are seen as an extension of a hospital’s ER by extending lifesaving care from the doors and hallways of Wellington Regional Medical Center to the actual location of a critically sick or injured patient. These emergency providers walk into potentially dangerous situations with a singular mission in mind — quickly find the patient, start lifesaving treatments and swiftly transfer the patient to the ER.

Time. In an emergency, it is perhaps the most critical element. There is an ER expression, “time is brain.” The shorter the time from incident to medical intervention, the better the chance of a positive outcome. According to the American Heart Association, 1.9 million neurons can die per minute when a patient is having a stroke. That is 32,000 brain cells per second.

Irreversible damage to heart muscle can start as quickly as 30 minutes from the blockage of blood flow. Cells and tissue lost due to stroke can’t be replaced and do not recover.

“Wellington Regional cares for emergency patients with a team approach,” Bromberg said. “It begins with the EMS team notifying the hospital of a life-threatening emergency patient en route, so our multidisciplinary team can assemble and be ready from the moment the patient enters the ER. Working collaboratively allows our medical team to be prepared for any circumstance and react rapidly to provide appropriate care for the patient. The faster we can begin appropriate treatment, the better the outcome for patients.”

The announcement blares three times over the internal public address system: “Stroke Alert Emergency Room Via Rescue.” Translation? There is an ambulance on its way with a suspected stoke patient. When the announcement goes out, staff from multiple specialties inside Wellington Regional, which was recently named a Comprehensive Stroke Center, immediately rush to the ER and await the patient. Since time can be so critical, the goal is to confirm the diagnosis as quickly as possible and transfer the patient to the appropriate unit inside the hospital for specialized care.

“Our goal is to verify the stroke through a medical assessment, CT scan and an evaluation by neurology with the objective of beginning treatment as fast as possible,” Bromberg said. “It is critical to have the team waiting for the patient’s arrival, so we can begin the evaluation immediately and time is not lost.”

One of the last thoughts Lucille Arcano remembered is moving to return a serve in one of her standing Thursday doubles tennis matches. Suddenly, it felt like the racket was pulled from her hand, and then blackness as she crashed down on the court. She vaguely remembers one of her playing partners asking if she was OK, but she could not respond. Still unable to see her friends, she recalls one of them saying, “I think she had a stroke.”

But Arcano remained silent. She had not been feeling very well for several days leading up to the doubles match. In fact, just the day before, her vision was a little impaired and she was dizzy, but she blamed it on something else.

“I had been experiencing double vision the day before and was dizzy,” Arcano said. “I thought something was wrong with my sunglasses and that was causing the vision problems. I thought the dizziness was caused by my paroxysmal vertigo.”

Arcano, who recently turned 74, said she still felt a little off on the day of her tennis match, but her vision had returned to normal. Because she was no longer seeing double, she decided to keep the tennis appointment with her friends. The avid athlete warmed up with no issues and then set up in her part of the court. The first ball of the match headed her way toward her forehand.

Her memory is spotty after that… the brown color of her friend’s tennis outfit… an EMT asking her name… the Wellington Regional Interventional Radiology (IR) team getting her ready for her procedure… someone taking off her earrings in preparation for surgery.

“The next thing I remember was when I woke up and saw that beautiful Dr. [Emilio] Lopez with his mask on and his twinkling eyes looking down on me,” Arcano said through tears. “I will never forget that face and those eyes.”

Arcano had suffered a stroke. Specifically, she had a blockage of the left middle cerebral artery, the vessel that is primarily responsible for delivering blood to the left side of the brain. A clot in this area of the brain is potentially devastating. After the blockage was confirmed, she was sent to IR, where she had the clot removed by Lopez through a minimally invasive procedure. She was discharged from the hospital a few days later.

“Her exceptional response has been remarkable,” Lopez said. “To go from a possibly debilitating stroke to playing tennis is phenomenal. It was a team effort, from the ER, IR, post-op and her care on the floor — everyone played a part in her outcome.”

Since going home, Arcano has completed a few weeks of rehab to strengthen her right arm and leg and to work on her balance. After a loop recorder was installed to monitor her heart activity for atrial fibrillation, she was released with no restrictions. In fact, she returned to the tennis court about two months after her stroke and is actively playing tennis again, as well as playing golf, walking and working out in the gym.

Arcano admits that she was a little nervous in her first tennis match after her stroke, but that is to be expected. She lost that match, but honestly, the outcome was irrelevant. Her return to the courts was enough of a victory for a woman who not that long before had lost her vision and could not respond to questions while lying on those very same courts. Her life is almost totally back to normal with the exception some difficulty writing, but she is practicing it every day, and her handwriting is getting better.

As a former dialysis nurse in Brooklyn, N.Y., Arcano has had quite the life — a life that was saved by the multi-disciplinary team at Wellington Regional and the EMS crew who worked frantically to deliver her from the tennis court to the ER. Once she arrived at the hospital, her care team was made up of several medical specialties working together with the singular goal of saving Arcano’s life.

“Dr. [Christopher] Hawk, one of the doctors involved in implanting the loop recorder, said, ‘My hat’s off to Dr. Lopez. I can save a heart, but he saved your soul,’” Arcano added.

Learn more about emergency services available at Wellington Regional Medical Center by visiting www.wellingtonregional.com/er.

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Cancer Care In Palm Beach County JUST GOT BETTER

Cancer Care In Palm Beach County
JUST GOT BETTER

The Lynn Cancer Institute and the Miami Cancer Institute are integrating programs as the key element of a further expansion of Baptist Health South Florida’s cancer care services. Joining forces, the combined program creates one of the largest cancer programs in South Florida.

Together, both organizations make a powerful team, offering patients personalized treatment options with a multidisciplinary approach based on physicians’ clinical expertise, advanced technology and innovative clinical trials.

The Lynn Cancer Institute is the largest provider of cancer care in Palm Beach County and one of the largest in Florida. The Miami Cancer Institute is Baptist Health’s cancer care anchor, offering a full array of services, and is Florida’s only member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Alliance — an alliance that encompasses collaboration in clinical trials and standards of care.

The integration of the Lynn Cancer Institute and the Miami Cancer Institute will also allow for greater support of the planned expansion of the Lynn Cancer Institute, including new technology and the recent addition of cancer services at Bethesda Health City in Boynton Beach.

With this expansion of services, Baptist Health is paving the way for new and better treatments that can help even more patients conquer and survive cancer. Cancer does not stop for COVID-19, and for that reason, the Lynn Cancer Institute and the Miami Cancer Institute encourage patients to stay up to date with their cancer screenings.

The new integrated programing is just one of Baptist Health South Florida’s recent expansions in services for cancer patients.

The Lynn Cancer Institute also recently announced the opening of its newest outpatient radiation oncology location in Bethesda Health City. From the moment a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, Baptist Health South Florida experts are by your side, treating you with compassionate, individualized care. The team of physicians at Lynn Cancer Institute Radiation Oncology at Health City have more than 54 years of collective experience and will develop a targeted treatment plan that is best for you.

The Boynton Beach location now offers many of the same radiation oncology services and treatments found at other Baptist Health South Florida cancer care locations, including: IMRT/IGRT, 3D conformational therapy with RapidArc, CT stimulation, diagnostic imaging including PET and CT scans, electron therapy, high-dose rate brachytherapy, lung screening, nutrition and psychosocial services, and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT).

The Lynn Cancer Institute has several conveniently located radiation oncology centers, including at the Sandler Pavilion in Boca Raton at 701 NW 13th Street, Boca Raton (561-955-5966); Radiation Oncology at Delray Beach at 16313 S. Military Trail, Delray Beach (561-955-7200); and the new Lynn Cancer Institute Radiation Oncology at Health City in Boynton Beach at 10301 Hagen Ranch Road, Suite A-960, Boynton Beach (561-374-5440).

Learn more about the Lynn Cancer Institute at www.brrh.com.

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PROTECTING YOUR DIGESTION Cleveland Clinic Florida Offers Specialized Care For Your Digestive System’s Health

PROTECTING YOUR DIGESTION
Cleveland Clinic Florida Offers
Specialized Care For Your Digestive System’s Health

Digestive health relies on a large, complex system of organs, including the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas, to turn the food we eat into the nutrients and energy our bodies need to survive.

“When any one element of this intricate system fails, it can have major health consequences,” explained Dr. Conrad H. Simpfendorfer, director of liver and pancreas surgery at Cleveland Clinic Florida.

These three organs are key accessories to digestive health. The liver, gallbladder and pancreas do not move food through our bodies, yet their role in digestion is vital.

The liver takes the raw materials absorbed by the intestine to make chemicals the body needs to function and detoxify potentially harmful chemicals that are ingested.

The gallbladder stores bile produced by the liver and then releases it through bile ducts into the small intestine to help process fats.

The pancreas secretes juices used to break down protein, fats and carbohydrates, as well as hormones to regulate blood sugar.

Some of the most common digestive disorders involve this organ trio.

More than four million Americans are diagnosed each year with liver disease, including cirrhosis and viral hepatitis. Another 20 million are affected by gallstones and other biliary diseases.

Meanwhile, pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers, will claim an estimated 47,000 lives in the United States this year.

“Because of their tremendous impact on overall health, liver, biliary and pancreatic diseases require immediate and expert medical care,” Simpfendorfer cautioned.

This is where the experts at Cleveland Clinic Florida come in.

The digestive health specialists at Cleveland Clinic Florida are highly skilled in treating a full range of common to complex liver, pancreatic and biliary diseases. This expertise recently earned Cleveland Clinic Florida the Center of Excellence designation from the National Pancreas Foundation for the care of patients with pancreatic cancer, a high standard of care met by only four centers statewide.

“We have a multidisciplinary team of specialists at Cleveland Clinic focused on treating the whole patient,” said Dr. Mayank Roy, a board-certified general surgeon specializing in liver and pancreas surgery. “Our tumor board, for example, brings together experts from a number of specialties to collaborate on treatment plans for patients with cancer designed to achieve the best outcomes.”

As a high-volume center for minimally invasive hepato-pancreato-biliary surgeries, the fellowship-trained surgeons at Cleveland Clinic Florida have tremendous experience in advanced surgical techniques.

“Today we can perform many challenging surgeries laparoscopically, using small incisions instead of traditional open surgery, which greatly benefits our patients,” explained Roy, who works closely with colleagues at Cleveland Clinic Martin Health and Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital to offer Treasure Coast patients access to this innovative care. “And we are one of the few centers in the state using robotic-assisted surgery to treat digestive diseases.”

Cleveland Clinic is a leader in fluorescence-guided surgery, using a fluorescent dye during procedures to better see anatomic structures.

“This advanced imaging technique allows surgeons to remove diseased tissue more precisely and preserve healthy tissue,” Simpfendorfer said. “It can dramatically reduce the risk of complications associated with minimally invasive gallbladder removal, one of the most common surgeries performed in the United States.”

Cleveland Clinic Florida has an office in Wellington at 2789 S. State Road 7. To schedule an appointment with a digestive health specialist at Cleveland Clinic Florida, including Dr. Mayank Roy, who sees patients in Palm Beach County, call (877) 463-2010 or visit www.clevelandclinicflorida.org/digestive.

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JUST KEEP SWIMMING Wellington Master’s Swim Team Provides Opportunity For Adults To Gather And Thrive

JUST KEEP SWIMMING
Wellington Master’s Swim Team Provides
Opportunity For Adults To Gather And Thrive

by Lenore Phillips

One of the perks of living in Florida is the ability to be outside and active all 12 months of the year. Activities range from lounging at the beach to being an athlete at any age. Many residents of Wellington are members of a local running club, cycling club, softball teams and volleyball teams. Another team that is lesser known, but equally thriving for adult participants is the Wellington Swim Club (WSC), home of the Wellington Marlins Master’s Swim Team. This team of swimmers of varying abilities and goals is representative of the power of fitness to create a strong community with outstanding opportunities.

The Wellington Master’s Swim team has been a part of the Wellington Aquatics Complex since 2015. The program was established as an affiliate of the United States Masters Swimming Association and is geared toward the adult swimmer. The Wellington Marlins are just one of hundreds of such programs across the United States, with two teams in Palm Beach County alone.

While the word “masters” may sound intimidating, it should not. Many of these groups, WSC included, offer introductory programs for adults who are learning to swim for the first time, as well as swimmers who have been competing at a high level from childhood. The program offers coached workouts six days a week from head coach Lina Bot, and an array of assistant coaches.

Over the years, the Wellington Swim Club has gone through several iterations. The Marlins team was organized in 2019 by coach Patrick Billingsley. With the motto “Show Up, Swim, Have Fun,” WSC built its community with a strong mixture of top competitive swimmers, triathletes, open water swimmers and non-swimmers looking for a way to expand their fitness horizons.

“I had been a swim and triathlon coach for the better part of a decade when I decided to start a master’s team in Wellington,” said Billingsley, now the team’s former head coach. “I knew that we had some very competitive swimmers in the area, and we had a top-notch facility at the Wellington Aquatics Complex, so I decided to establish a team and see what would happen.”

Almost immediately, it became a vibrant program. The team would practice from 5 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Tuesday through Friday, and eventually added a weekend practice day, as well as lunchtime practices for those not interested in being up before the sun. The team continued its steady growth and morphed into a recognizable player in the local athletic community, as well as a force to be reckoned with on the state and national competitive scenes.

During the COVD-19 pandemic, the program was forced to hit the pause button. The swimmers stayed in touch with one another on a private Facebook group dedicated to the team and even shared exercise plans so that collectively, they could stay in shape until the pool could safely re-open.

Through hard work by the coaching staff and the strict safety measures put in place by the Village of Wellington and the management of the aquatics complex, swimmers were able to return to the pool deck in May 2020.

The strength of the return came as a surprise to many on the team as new faces emerged in their community. After the forced confinement due to the pandemic, many people were looking for a safe, outdoor activity that also allowed them to be around other people.

“Swimming is a unique sport because you are always competing against yourself first and your teammates second, but you also act as a team because you are working out closely with people who are similar in speed and stamina to you,” Billingsley said. “The camaraderie that emerges in a swim team is so special because everyone feels like they are struggling in training and succeeding in improving their fitness together. It creates a completely unique and very tight bond. The pandemic only strengthened that in our team. It was really uplifting, considering the stress everyone was experiencing at the time.”

Besides the changes as a result of the new normal created by the pandemic, there were also changes in the coaching staff. Billingsley decided to step back from the program so that he could focus more time on his growing family, and Bot took over the role as head coach. She has spent the better part of the last 16 years teaching the fundamentals of swimming to age group swimmers as part of the Wellington Aquatics Complex staff and has been teaching competitive swimming for the last two years. Assuming the role of head coach of the master’s program was a change of pace for her professionally but one that she was eager to grow into.

“I love being a part of the swimmers’ progress and helping them to reach their individual goals,” Bot said. “What drew me to working with the master’s team is how inclusive it is. The team acts as a family, and everyone is so positive in how they push one another. This support system is especially meaningful during COVID-19 times. It also makes coming to the pool deck every day very positive and inspiring.”

In 2021, the team is focused on expanding its membership to include more swimmers and returning to competition. Through Bot’s directive, the team has expanded the number of coached workouts and opportunities for competition in Florida. There is hope that with Olympic competition coverage set to begin this month, the triumphs in the pool on the international stage will inspire even more new swimmers to follow the team’s guiding principles of “Show Up, Swim, Have Fun!”

If you are interested in becoming involved with the Wellington Marlins Master’s Swim Team, visit www.wellingtonswimclub.com.

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It Starts With A Conversation The Moorcroft Conservation Foundation Is Bridging An Educational Gap In Wellington

IT STARTS WITH A CONVERSATION
The Moorcroft Conservation Foundation
Is Bridging An Educational Gap In Wellington

Story and Photos By Georgie Hammond

When Charlie Moorcroft arrives home from his job as an equestrian trainer, his work for the day is not over. As he swings open the gate to his beautiful backyard, Moorcroft is greeted by the sounds of animals meowing, chirping, squealing and the low hum of temperature regulating lights. To visitors, the sight of the massive animal enclosures set upon his lush grass is enough to make your jaw drop, but for Moorcroft, it’s just another day of doing what he loves from the comfort of his home — all right in the heart of Wellington.

Moorcroft’s journey with animals began as a child, growing up riding at a local stable where he learned the ins and outs of taking care of and riding horses. Beyond horses, his innate interest in all animals was apparent from the start, often visiting local livestock shows as a child. He would pick out ducks, geese, pheasants, rabbits and other animals to keep at his neighbor’s farm, where he worked for them to live because of his mother’s “no-animals-in-the-house” policy. However, Moorcroft never imagined that his love for animals would one day be echoed across the world with the help of his own nonprofit organization, the Moorcroft Conservation Foundation.

“I have had animals on and off my entire life. But being in the equestrian industry, my job never let me be in one place long enough to really give them the life they deserve. In 2006, my business changed in a way that allowed me to move to Wellington full time, and so I was able to start slowly, adding more animals back into my life,” Moorcroft said. “Today, I have more than 16 species of turtles, tortoises, skunks, birds, maras, cats and rabbits, all in my backyard as a part of my own collection of exotic, critically endangered and protected species.”

Moorcroft’s wide array of animals that once only fulfilled his personal passion are now gaining even more importance under his care, serving as educational ambassadors for the Moorcroft Conservation Foundation.

Established in November 2020 with a mission of introducing children and adults to global conservation issues, the nonprofit organization is inspiring people, many of whom have had the pleasure of meeting Moorcroft’s animals, to make a difference and assist in raising funds to support collaborative organizations.

“We started the foundation just as a way to bring awareness and real-life experiences to people within and beyond our community here in Wellington,” Moorcroft said. “Our goal is really to bridge the gap between kids and education, and also bring funds to other organizations that we trust so that they can also provide opportunities for kids to be involved on a local, national and global level.”

As an extension of the foundation, Moorcroft’s diverse collection of animals provides people the opportunity to learn more about the meaning and importance of conservation through hands-on experiences and Moorcroft’s knowledge. Four large, outdoor enclosures, set within the confines of his spacious backyard, make for the perfect up-close encounter with larger animals, such as the cherry head red-footed tortoise, which loves to be fed bananas and hibiscus flowers.

In a temperature-regulated room off the house, Moorcroft keeps a variety of turtles and tortoises in environments that best suit their needs, and there’s even an incubation system for the eggs they lay. As children and adults interact with and hold each animal, Moorcroft rattles off his knowledge of the species, never missing a detail and keeping his audience engaged as they watch and learn from both the animals and Moorcroft.

“We really like when people come and visit, talk about the animals, meet them and talk about conservation. We want people to understand that these animals need our help,” Moorcroft said. “We work full time, and this is our home, so it’s not a public facility and there is no admission, but we do accept donations for the foundation and other organizations that we work closely with. But whenever possible, we love having people over to meet the animals and create conversation.”

Through Moorcroft and the foundation’s two other Wellington-based board members, Louise Serio and Holly Caristo, and Executive Director Geoff Teall, the Moorcroft Conservation Foundation has raised and donated funds to conservation organizations around the world, such as the TurtleRoom, the Cloud Foundation, Refuge des Tortues, the Equus Survival Trust, the Wolf Conservation Center and Florida Skunk Rescue, fulfilling the foundation’s mission on a global scale, while Moorcroft continues to love, care for and share his animals with those who visit his home.

“It all starts with a conversation. If you can’t talk about it, then you can’t do anything about it. So, my hope is to really just get the conversation started about conservation,” Moorcroft said. “Whether you come and meet my animals, or if you simply hear about us online, my wish is that it inspires you to dig deeper, do some research and see how you can help animals in your local community and beyond.”

To learn more about the Moorcroft Conservation Foundation, visit www.moorcroftconservationfoundation.org.

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BUSINESS IS BLOOMING Award-Winning Wellington Florist Celebrates 30 Years In The Community

BUSINESS IS BLOOMING
Award-Winning Wellington Florist
Celebrates 30 Years In The Community

By M. Dennis Taylor

J.P. Varvarigos was born and raised in the floral business. As an adult, he runs Wellington Florist, recently voted the best florist in Palm Beach County. The third generation in the business, his grandfather was a florist in Queens, N.Y. His parents, Dean and Melinda Varvarigos, met as young adults in Fort Lauderdale while working for Buning the Florist. After their marriage, they ran their own shop for a decade before moving up to Palm Beach County.

The couple opened a small shop in Wellington 30 years ago, and Wellington Florist has since grown into a community institution.

“We moved to Wellington when there were still cows in open fields,” Melinda recalled. “When my husband came up to look at the property, he saw someone ride their horse up to the Burger King to get lunch.”

They were excited to learn more about the fledging community. “We knew immediately that this was where we wanted to be,” she said. “It has grown so much over the years.”

Melinda, who has earned the highest accreditation a florist can achieve from the American Institute of Floral Designers, is semi-retired nowadays and chooses to work only during very busy rush periods. Dean, one of the founders of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, passed away in 2017.

Yet that small floral business they established has continued to grow.

“We have doubled in size and volume about every five years,” said J.P. Varvarigos, who has been running the shop for the last decade. “Today, we have more square footage devoted to coolers than the entire size of that first shop.”

Those coolers hold the supplies of favorites and exotic flowers the shop has standing orders for each week, replenishing and maintaining an extensive and reliable inventory.

With meticulous care given to the reception and handling of the stable inventory, they also expect to accommodate large, last-minute orders and can fill them with incredibly short notice. What might take a smaller competitor days to source, Wellington Florist is likely to have in stock.

“We take the temperature of all the flowers when they are received to ensure they have not been mishandled and gotten hot, and we are known for rejecting and sending back any substandard flowers,” Varvarigos said. “Our vendors appreciate that we have standing orders all year round, so we get their best supplies first. They know they can’t get away with sending us anything but the best. In last year’s shortage of flowers, we were not even affected. The vendors supplied us first.”

Varvarigos said that the freshest inventory is handled by an expert staff with “can-do attitudes,” as the business offers great careers with a positive work/life balance — not just jobs to its 14 employees. “You get what you pay for. We ‘share the wealth’ so to speak, even for entry level positions… Our personnel are happy and not looking for something else. That equals retention,” he explained.

The thing that really sets Wellington Florist apart is its seven-day guarantee.

“There are no questions asked, no chiding that you must not have changed the water, or queries about how close to the sunlight the arrangement was placed. Just zero liability, never any buyer’s remorse,” Varvarigos said. “Even if they were surprised that they didn’t like the smell or the yellow wasn’t the shade they were expecting. The staff loves it because all they have to do is say, ‘We are sending a replacement.’ And it is a policy that is so worth it for customer and employee satisfaction.”

Nevertheless, the number of replacements going out represent just a tiny fraction of orders.

The business has always been active with charitable donations and supportive of area seniors. “We like to give back to the community with birthday arrangements and donations,” Varvarigos said.

The business has corporate standing orders for funeral homes, law firms, doctor’s offices and well-heeled, sometimes celebrity clients. It takes a special pride in every floral arrangement the designers create. “Every arrangement — even a standard order — has a premium flower in it that sets it off,” Varvarigos said.

Varvarigos added that now that the pandemic has waned, he expects to be doing many events that were canceled last year. “We took the time to completely revamp our web presence and to upgrade our storefront online,” he said. “We try to have a huge selection of up to 200 products available online for same day delivery.”

The excellent products, reliable service and unswerving dedication to customer satisfaction all blend to explain why Wellington Florist recently earned the business of the year award in the floral niche by the readers of the Palm Beach Post. “We are constantly sourcing flowers, getting better all the time,” Varvarigos said.

With future plans to expand the size of the facility, Varvarigos is also working to get a liquor license so their arrangements can include a bottle of champagne.

Wellington Florist is located at 13889 Wellington Trace in the Wellington Marketplace shopping plaza. For more info., call (561) 333-4441 or visit www.wellingtonflorist.com.

 

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