The Business & Dining Guide Directly Mailed To East Lake & Surrounding Areas

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Volume 1Issue 2

June 2008

This Independent Community News, Business & Dining Guide Is Directly Mailed Once Each Month To:Boot Ranch, Brookers Landing, Crescent Oaks, Cypress Cove, Cypress Lakes Estates, Cypress Run, Cypress Trails, Deer

Hollow, Grey Oak, Eagle Cove, Eagle’s Cove at Lake Tarpon, Eagle Ridge, Eagle Trace, Eagle Watch, East Lake Oaks,

East Lake Woodlands, Hunters Wood, Lansbrook, Lansbrook Village, Keystone Bluffs, Keystone Palms, Meadow Ridge,

Nature’s Watch, Oak Hill, Pine Ridge, Regina Estates, Ridgemoor, Tarpon Woods, Wentworth, Whispering Lakes,

Woodfield

John & Beth Lee brought their friend Lisa Porter (center) to the Sip&Dipbecause she loved the wines at their home party.

Cork&Olive has a unique con-cept—try before you buy! TheCork&Olive located in RidgemoorCommons (near Starbucks), at Ridge-moor Blvd. and East Lake Rd., strivesto be your neighborhood wine store,where you discover new wines amongold and newfound friends and neigh-bors. Unlike other stores where youbuy a bottle of wine, take it home andhope you enjoy the taste; Cork&Olivegives customers the opportunity to sam-ple a wide variety of wines—all day—every day.

With a reasonably priced wineselection from around the world, fourdistinctive olive oils and accompanyingspices, natural sea salts, hand-blownglassware and a unique assortment ofother gifts and accessories, the Ridge-

moor Cork&Olive hopes to become adestination for all of your wine purchas-es. Next time you need to purchase agift, consider giving one of the beauti-fully arranged gift baskets that are avail-able throughout the store, or you canhave one customized for an even morepersonal touch. Father’s Day is Sunday,June 15th. Why not get dad a gift he’llreally enjoy? Custom made gift boxescan include your choice of wines, glass-ware, olive oils, spice blends, natural seasalts and salt and pepper grinders.Orders can be placed in advance toassure your special items will be instock.

Store manager Yolanda Rutel, assis-tant manager Victor Troia and specialevents coordinator Raquel Conté-Butlerwill help you discover the joy of wine.

Promises Good Times, Good Wineand Good People

By Kim Thomas

You Have A Doctor In The Family at

Julie Kanehl

While there may be doctors every-where, finding the right one may seemkind of tricky. How do you find a doc-tor who is as interested in your health asyou are, one that will follow-up withyou, one who will make you feel likeyour time is valuable as well? Whatabout going the extra mile? Do theymake doctors that do that anymore?Yes, I believe they do. Introducing theTrinity Family Physicians, husband andwife team Amir Shirmo-hammad, M.D.,MPH, and Stephanie Eldridge, M.D.,

MPH. While their former office inNew Port Richey has been open sinceSeptember of 2007, the Trinity FamilyPhysicians have opened their shiny newoffice just minutes away from Eastlake,at the corner of Trinity Blvd. and DuckSlough Blvd in Trinity at 1817 CypressBrook Drive, Suite 101.

“Dr. Shirmo” and Dr. Eldridgebelieve they are changing the way doc-tors treat their patients. While they still,of course, accept most kinds of insur-ance plans, the Trinity Family Physicians

In addition to assisting customers shop-ping for wine, olive oil, sea salt andspices on a daily basis, Cork&Olive alsohosts private in-home parties, corporateevents and in-store events such as theexclusive and fun “Sip&Dip”, which is

held on the last Thursday of everymonth and features live entertainment,food and wine tasting. Other eventsalso are great fun to have at Ridgemoor

See “Cork&Olive” on page 14.

See “Physicians” on page 20.

Dr. Eldridge & Dr. Shirmo-hammad, pictured with their

daughter Jasmine

20 For Advertising Information Call 727-943-2946 JUNE 2008 East Lake Area Neighborhood News

have a different attitude towards healthcare, one that involves taking time witheach patient, one that involves knowingand calling their patients by name, onethat involves customized health plan-ning and personalized health services,one that involves making and returningphone calls personally, and one thateven allows for house calls and 24-houraccess. Their goal is to make you to feellike you have a physician in your family.

Drs. Shirmo and Eldridge are firstand foremost a family. They have twolovely little girls, Jasmine (almost 2),and a brand-new baby named Lily, so,they know how important it is to havea doctor that you can trust, turn to andtalk to.

Dr. Shirmo and Dr. Eldridge actu-ally met at Busch Gardens and becamehigh school sweethearts when theywere 17, even though they attendedseparate high schools in Tampa (Dr.Shirmo graduating magna cum laudefrom Jesuit High School and Dr.Eldridge graduating from King High).They did attend Tulane University inNew Orleans together and both gradu-ated cum laude from Tulane withBachelor of Science degrees in Cell andMolecular Biology. While they bothhad plans to go to medical school, theywere interested in public health and thestudy of epidemics, so they bothreceived Masters Degrees in PublicHealth in Epidemiology at Tulanebefore attending and graduating frommedical school at Tulane MedicalSchool in 2003.

After medical school, they com-pleted their Family Practice Residenciesat Florida Hospital, a Christian and“faith-based” hospital in Orlando,Florida in 2006.

When they were finished with theirResidencies and it was time to thinkabout where to open their family prac-tice, Dr. Shirmo says they were heavilyrecruited. In fact, the now under con-

struction, Trinity Medical Centre,helped to recruit Dr.’s Shirmo andEldridge to the Trinity area. At thistime, both doctors have hospital privi-leges at Community Hospital, MeaseCountryside and North Bay.

Dr. Shirmo adds, “Dr. Eldridgeand I are faculty professors for FloridaState University Medical School andhave medical students working with usand learning from us and our patientsregularly. Our patients love the extratime and attention that they receivewhen we teach them and our medicalstudents, and it keeps us continuallystudying in the ever-changing medicalworld for our patients and for our stu-dents.”

Of course, having contact withFSU medical students is optional, andpatients are asked permission prior tohaving any interaction with their visit-ing students. Dr. Shirmo says, “We cur-rently have a medical student with usfrom Tallahassee named Abby Hunter,and our patients love her and ask forher at every visit.”

Margaret Gaunt is Dr. StephanieEldridge’s patient and says of the prac-tice, “They are totally professional, andDr. Eldridge is a wonderful person.More than a doctor, she is a mother,and she really listens to what I have tosay. I would definitely recommendthem to everyone. My parents go toDr. Shirmo, so they are truly our familyphysicians. We found them through theTrinity (Area) Neighborhood News,and I thank God for your magazinebecause I can honestly say that I amgrateful that we found these doctors.With these doctors, you are not a num-ber or an insurance card, but a person.”

SpecialtiesThe Trinity Family Physicians treat

patients from the ages of 7-107, Caringfor everyone from children to grand-parents and they specialize in “all yourfamily’s needs”. In fact, they have anumber of specialties starting with ado-lescent concerns.

Dr. Shirmo says, “Adolescents are

at an in-between stage. They feel tooold to go to the pediatrician, but don’twant to go to an older or ‘all adults’doctor. We see people of all ages, so wefeel like we have the approachabilitythat is necessary for that age group, orany age group.”

Both doctors specialize in women’shealth and gynecology, providing rou-tine check-ups and professional wom-en’s’ care with a focus on comfort.They also specialize in cosmetic proce-dures (including Botox and minor sur-gical skin procedures), dermatology(which includes skin cancer screenings),and preventative medicine.

In fact, at their new location inTrinity, the Trinity Family Physicianshas their own dermatology and skincare suite, which has a spa-like atmos-phere, making it the perfect place tocombine real medical expertise with thelatest technology in cosmetic proce-dures and skin care.

In addition to being professional,accessible and friendly, Trinity FamilyPhysicians is also unique in that it is apaperless practice. Dr. Shirmo and Dr.Eldridge have a national acclaimedElectronic Medical Records (EMR) sys-tem that allows their medical charts tobe accessible to them from anywhere inthe world, and also gives them thecapability of sending their patients’records to anyone in the world in just

a matter of seconds, saving time whentime is priceless.

Another perk of the EMR systemis that it allows the doctors to prescribemedications electronically, which meansthat by the time their patients leave theoffice and get to their pharmacy, theirprescription is ready to be picked up.

Dr. Shirmo says, “Our EMRallows us to manage every illness thatour patients may have, and practice ourpassion, preventative medicine.”

Preventative medicine is about tak-ing the time to find out what might becoming down the line for each patientbecause of their lifestyle choices or theireating habits, or what they might bepredisposed to because of heredity andtrying to prevent disease.

“We can help prevent things thatother doctors might not think about,”says Dr. Shirmo. “We aggressively pre-vent disease through time, educationand patience. If we can get that fromour patients and help each patient withthose good habits and start at a youngenough age, then it gives each patientthe best possible shot.”

Dr. Eldridge adds, “We look at thebroad spectrum because we are lookingat more than the current symptoms,but truly at the patient.”

Dr. Shirmo claims that “By think-ing globally and acting locally we [areworking to] reach prevention. For

“Physicians”Continued from page 1

For Advertising Information Call 727-943-2946 JUNE 2008 21East Lake Area Neighborhood News

example, every single person shouldexercise, take supplements, and takepart in cancer screenings. What we haveseen, and this is extremely unfortunate,are all of the patients that say, ‘I wishI’d seen a doctor sooner.’ We need toget the information out there.”

Dr. Eldridge adds that, “Ourlifestyle today, in general, is so busythat people are forgetting to take careof themselves. There isn’t enough ‘me’time.”

“We offer our patients the oppor-tunity to heal in three different ways:Mind, body and spirit,” says Shirmo.“We practice up-to-date medicine withthe latest technology to give the bestcare for our patients and we try to dothat in the simple old-fashioned waythat medicine used to be practiced, bygetting to know our patients and theirfamilies.”

And finally Dr. Shirmo says, “Thisis why we’re going to make a change.We have all become victims by allowingthese third parties to allow control andto determine what kind of treatmentpatients are allowed to receive. Wewant to change that by setting up a‘Concierge or VIP Practice.’ Wherepatients will have the option to pay anannual membership fee to basicallyhave one of us become the doctor inyour family.”

A Doctor in the Family?Every patient can expect to receive

high quality, unrushed, personal atten-tion from the doctors at Trinity FamilyPhysicians, but what makes this practiceextremely special is its Concierge andVIP Services. Concierge and VIP Serv-ices include house calls, same day ornext day appointments, personalizedhealth services (which means cus-tomized medical attention that best fitseach patient’s needs), 24-hour access toyour physician, 30-minute appoint-ments and VIP treatment.

Dr. Shirmo says that the reasonthat many doctors can’t spend moretime with each patient is simply becausethey are so busy. It’s not personal. Theyhave to keep moving, and their handsare basically tied by the insurance com-panies. They do only have so muchtime to spend with each patient, andpart of that is because they have somany patients. “The idea,” he says, “isto prevent having a patient walkoutwithout all of their questionsanswered.”

Dr. Shirmo and Eldridge knowthat they are not going to be able toprovide longer appointments and per-sonalized attention if their practice hasso many patients and only so manyhours in a day, so they are actually lim-iting the amount of patients that theyare going to accept into their

Concierge and VIP Program. While onaverage, doctor’s practices acceptbetween 4000-5000 patients, Dr.’sShirmo and Eldridge are only going toaccept around 600 to the VIP pro-gram. This will ensure that the patientswho are part of the program will alwaysreceive the extra time and care that theVIP program requires, regardless ofhow big their practice becomes.

For around $4 a day ($120 permonth), a person or a family canbecome a VIP member. They will meetwith Dr. Shirmo or Dr. Eldridge for afree consultation so that the doctorscan see what the patient’s expectationsare, and so that the patients can findout what the program provides, and ifthe doctor’s feel that you are a right fitfor the program, then that patient willbe invited to become a VIP.

VIP patients will be able to comein and see the doctor whenever theyfeel that they need to. Each VIP mem-bership begins with a “PresidentialPhysical” which is the same kind ofhead-to-toe physical that the Presidentof the United States routinely receivesand includes an on-site EKG and lungfunction test.

As part of their VIP program, fam-ilies who are VIP members can be seentogether, and while their insurance willcover their tests and medication, themonthly VIP membership fee coversthe cost of the visits, so that the insur-ance company isn’t in charge of howmany visits to the doctor you can have.The VIP programs allows the doctorsto look at a family who is battling acontagious illness (like the flu or strepthroat, for example) to be seen all atonce and treated together, as opposedto three different family members beingseen and treated by two or three differ-ent doctors. It’s family medicine thatmakes sense.

The most incredible VIP perks,however, have to be the 24-hour accessto a physician and the house calls. Dr.’sShirmo and Eldridge will give patientstheir personal phone numbers uponbecoming a Concierge and VIP mem-ber. If a patient has a question or con-cern about their health, they areencouraged to call day or night.

With this program, house calls areno longer the fodder of “Little Houseon the Prairie” reruns. For VIP mem-bers, they are a reality. According toDr. Eldridge, “The idea of house callsrevolves around the patient’s needs. Ifone of our [Concierge] patients wantsto be seen at home, or isn’t feeling wellenough to come to the office, we willjust go to them.”

These are doctors who believe ingoing above and beyond for theirpatients, and instead of having toomany patients to handle, they’d like to

have a smaller, more personal practicewhere their patients are treated likefamily.

Dr. Shirmo says that since the VIPmembership includes all doctor’s visitsand in-house tests, “It puts you in thedriver’s seat. And, we are hoping thatgoing to the doctor will become agood experience and actually inspirepeople to come in for more visits, evenpreventative visits.”

There is no obligation to becomepart of the VIP program, as not everypatient is going to require that amounttime and treatment. Wonderful, per-sonalized, and un-rushed professionalcare and treatment is going to be givento each patient regardless, whether thepatient is a traditional patient or a VIPpatient. VIP patients simply receiveextra perks. All patients are going to beable to get quick appointments, usuallythe next day, and all patients will seetheir own doctors if they are everadmitted to a local hospital and allpatients will receive excellent care.

In fact, new patients can be seenrelatively quickly, unlike many doctorswho will put you on a long waiting listand refuse to see you prior to the “newpatient appointment”, Dr.’s Shirmoand Eldridge operate their practice dif-ferently. They will see brand newpatients if they are sick without makingthem wait for a “new patient appoint-ment” first. The “new patient appoint-ment” is important, however. It allowsthe doctor and the patient that qualitytime to get to know one another andto discuss health issues.

I’ve Made My Appointment!In meeting and interviewing Dr.

Shirmo and Dr. Eldridge, I realizedthat this was exactly what I was lookingfor in a family practice, and immediate-ly started referring my own family totheirs. My sister, Lindsay, who washome from college for a brief visit wasso happy to find a local doctor who washappy to see her on short notice, and Ihave become a patient myself.

One day, I went to see Dr.Eldridge and had my little girl with me,and not only did they make me feelcomfortable, but they treated mydaughter like a princess. Dr. Eldridgeeven brought toys into the room forher to play with while she addressed mymedical concern. It is that kind of timeand attention that makes a patient feelcomfortable, that makes me feel com-fortable enough to say that these arethe doctors for me and for my family. Ifeel like I’ve finally found two doctorsthat sincerely care more about theirpatients than in the number of patientsthat they can acquire. I can honestly saythat I am impressed with their outlookon medicine and impressed with thechanges that they are striving to makein their own practice so that patientscan really and truly be benefited.

The staff at Trinity Family Physi-cians is incredible as well. JerryGhamoos (office manager) and DanaCoogan (CAN/Nurse) are so friendlyand easy to talk to that it just makesthe entire experience of making anappointment and going to the doctorthat much easier.

While I don’t know if I will everbecome a VIP patient, I do know that Iam really happy with the kind of atten-tion that I’ve already received as a tra-ditional patient, and I am sure to be aTrinity Family Physicians patient for along time to come.

Trinity Family Physicians islocated at the corner of TrinityBlvd. and Duck Slough Blvd. at1817 Cypress Brook Drive, Suite101 (see map in advertisement).

Trinity Family Physicians is openMonday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

For more information call

834-8377