Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior nightPolice: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg
NORTH NAPLES Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night Aubrey Rogers senior pitcher and infielder McKenzie Vargas surprised by her Air Force cousin for Senior Night.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
PUNTA GORDA Exclusive: Brother and best friend of accused pedophile priest speak out Riley’s brother reached out to WINK on Friday, saying people aren’t getting the full story.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
NORTH NAPLES Senior Airman surprises cousin on Aubrey Rogers softball senior night Aubrey Rogers senior pitcher and infielder McKenzie Vargas surprised by her Air Force cousin for Senior Night.
BONITA SPRINGS Police: 15-year-old injured after accidentally shot in the leg Lee County deputies say the teen was accidentally shot in the leg.
PUNTA GORDA Exclusive: Brother and best friend of accused pedophile priest speak out Riley’s brother reached out to WINK on Friday, saying people aren’t getting the full story.
IMMOKALEE Caught on video: Huge gator crosses Immokalee neighborhood Fridays in Florida are for gators
FORT MYERS FGCU softball pitcher making a name for herself One season in FGCU, freshman pitcher Allison Sparkman is already ruffling feathers in the circle.
Surrendering-pets trend at Gulf Coast Humane Society concerns An large amount of pets are being surrendered by their owners. About half of the dogs at the Gulf Coast Humane Society are surrender dogs.
Students benefitting from millions in sales tax dollars So far, the voter-approved half-cent sales tax has brought in $507 million for the Lee County School District.
PORT CHARLOTTE ‘Shady’: One woman feels misled after federal student loan consolidation It takes some people decades to pay off their student loans. One woman’s last payment was in sight until she took a gamble she said she was told to take.
FORT MYERS Homeless encampments inch closer to neighborhoods Law enforcement has swept multiple encampments, cleaning the trails of mess and muck left behind, and some of these encampments are right in our backyards.
BIG CYPRESS PRESERVE What changes if Big Cypress National Preserve becomes a Wilderness Area? America’s first nationally designated preserve is in Southwest Florida’s backyard, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Method to treat IBD being used for other health issues Trying to get treatments for the brain when fighting neurological diseases like epilepsy and ALS is a challenge.
FORT MYERS NTSB report reveals new details in helicopter crash after Hurricane Ian The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its final report on a helicopter crash that occurred in Iona, Florida, shortly after Hurricane Ian.
NAPLES Memorial celebrates the life of John Passidomo Hundreds of friends and family gathered for a memorial at Baker Park in Naples.
‘Latinos in Action’ empowers all students to succeed WINK News talked with teachers who are a part of the program, helping kids reach their full potential.
Immokalee ‘The eyes always draw me in’; Immokalee portrait artist turns dark times into color One of Southwest Florida best portrait artist, Martha Maria Cantu, almost gave up art. Now she’s on the forefront of the city of Immokalee, to make her community filled with color.
LEE COUNTY, Fla. – Jenny Hazelton is a busy mother of three young boys. She lives in Cape Coral, so when she had severe pain in her side October 13, she went right to the Cape Coral Hospital emergency room. “They told me that I had kidney stones… blocking my ureter.” And then just sat there. “But in order to find that out I waited like six hours to get in there. I was in pain the whole time,” Hazelton told WINK News. Hazelton’s story is similar to dozens of others we’ve heard in recent months. Hours upon hours of waiting to be seen by a doctor at Lee Memorial hospitals. “There seems like there’s a lot more people here, you know? Especially during this time of year where it’s season,” said Hazelton. But our investigation discovered it’s not just season. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Lee County’s full time population is estimated to be 679,513, an 8.3% increase from 2010, and is expected to increase by another 13.1% percent by 2020. “With the growth in population we’re certainly seeing more people come to our health system,” said Scott Kashman, chief administrator at Cape Coral Hospital. Kashman was recently assigned by Lee Memorial Health System to lead a new task force aimed at looking at ways to improve patient flow at all hospitals. One area of focus: adding more beds. Lee Memorial added 92 beds system-wide in 2014-2015, and plans to add 63 more by 2016. But even with the added beds, the average ER wait time is 2-3 hours, about half as long as Hazelton waited. “It’s just not a good situation. That’s why we need to resolve it,” Dr. Raymond Kordonowy told WINK News. Kordonowy is the president of the Independent Physicians Association of Lee County, representing more than 150 local doctors who work directly with Lee Memorial. He says despite the additional beds it’s become increasingly more difficult for doctors to admit their patients to Lee Memorial hospitals. “They basically instruct me to send them to the emergency room. This is a waste. It’s contributing to the ER backup,” said Kordonowy. “This year I had this problem no matter what month it was.” Kordonowy says poor planning by Lee Memorial is to blame, not the population boom. He recently urged the health system to fix the problem by delaying elective surgeries in order to free up dozens of beds. “They believe it’s not an achievable goal. I challenge that notion and I’m willing to debate that in great detail,” said Kordonowy. In a statement to WINK News, Lee Memorial spokesperson Mary Briggs said: “We are putting together a task force with Dr. Kordonowy to address his concerns and explore opportunities to expand capacity during the busy seasonal months.” They’re also looking at how to best use what they have. “(We’re exploring) how do we leverage our system resources? And so we’re working with EMS and working with each other across the hospitals to see if patients are more appropriate to go to another hospital because there may be a bed available in a shorter time frame,” said Kashman. For busy moms like Hazelton, shorter would definitely be better. “It makes me feel better knowing that if I do have an emergency situation like that again that I can go to the ER and get diagnosed and hopefully figure out what’s wrong in a timely manner, so that way I can plan what I need to do for my life,” said Hazelton. Lee Memorial says you can help cut down on ER wait times by visiting an urgent care center or your primary care physician before resorting to the emergency room. That’s only if you don’t believe your condition is life threatening.