Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Lake Nona 'For Those Who Served'

VA Medical Center photo by Michael Pelzer  MJ on side

By Michael J Morris
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who was re-elected to another term in November 2015,, will now be able to continue championing more projects to diversity the economy adding to his city's increasing reputation as an ideal  place to live, work, play, and do business.. 

However, don't think for a moment that tourism, is being neglected as new projects are in progress.But I'll save them for another day.

On my recent trip to Orlando I had the opportunity to visit 'the Medical City" which was an empty space not that long ago. 

As we drove past the new Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Lake Nona, I noticed a sign out front "For Those Who Served" , I immediately decided to share a bit about it and the other components on the 65-acre campus in southeast Orange County.

 Michael Pelzer, CEO of http://uneekluxurytours.com was showing me around the area.

Opened in the Spring of 2015, according to its web site, "The 1.2 million square foot facility cost $600 million to construct.  The medical center will have a large multispecialty outpatient clinic, 134-inpatient beds, 120-community living center beds, a 60-bed domiciliary and administrative and support services."

I was delighted to see the project for those who served their nation in its armed forces. As regular readers know, I have a special place in my heart for them as my father Flying Officer James E Morris was killed on active service in the RCAF during World War II. It is also appropriate as on November 11 it is Remembrance Day in Canada and Veterans Day in the United States.

 It  is co-located with the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, the Burnham Institute, the University of Florida Academic and Research Center, and Nemours Children’s Hospital in the area known as the "Medical City," the web site says. All the buildings are now functional, and the entire campus is really impressive.

Much more is happening in the immediate area, and I will share news later on those projects --- gives me another reason to return to Orlando,

In an interview with Orlando magazine, Mayor Dyer, first elected in 2003, explained how it's all happening: "It's about being able to create a vision and bring a lot of people into, then move forward." Just look at the players in the Medical City project -- Veterans Affairs, two universities and a children's hospital.

The mayor has been real big on creating a "culture of collaboration" bringing together all levels of government, business people, educational institutions, the medical profession, and philanthropists, and of course the citizens of Orlando who have re-elected him.

The Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts now open, was another major project, but he also has championed a sports and entertainment complex, the Medical City and Creative Village -- and other major projects. On my regular visits to Orlando, I am always impressed with the "culture of collaboration" that makes things happen. 

The Orlando attitude could be adapted by any community.

Thanks to Michael Pelzer for taking the photo of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Lake Nona, and for the tour..  My email is mj.morris@live.ca

"Culture of collaboration" needed in Cranbrook to move community forward

By Michael J Morris

 Buddy Dyer, the visionary mayor of Orlando, Florida, is "literally changing the face " of the city best known as a major tourist destination.

  Mayor Dyer, first elected in 2003,  in an interview with Orlando magazine  said “It’s about being able to create a vision and bring a lot of people into it, then move forward."

 The mayor has been real big on creating a "culture of collaboration" bringing together all levels of government, business people, educational institutions, the medical profession, and philanthropists, and of course the citizens of Orlando who have re-elected him.

The Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts was opened on November 6, 2014, as one example, but he has also championed a sports and entertainment complex, the Medical City and Creative Village -- and other major projects.

On my recent visit to Orlando, I had the opportunity to visit the Medical City project. It is simply amazing.

 The Creative Village possibilities have intrigued me for some time, and at this point, in the interests of full disclosure, I visit Orlando regularly, and write for three blogs, owned by an Orlando based business.

 The article notes that "Thinking outside the box with proposals like ... Creative Village, the high-tech business-residential mecca that would be a metropolis in itself, goes along with Dyer’s vision of having the kind of city that will draw a creative class—'talented young entrepreneurs who are going to come up with the next innovation in emerging media or medical science or things of that nature.''

 Cranbrook voters went  to the polls to elect a mayor and council, and it seems to me they elected some candidates who would turn back the block to the old ways of running the city. That's not an option folks,  given the overall decline in relatively rural communities across Canada.

During a recent trip that took me through rural areas of three provinces, I was quite frankly shocked at the decline of rural communities. 

 Another option is to simply muddle along basically with same old, same old attitudes that are similar in nature to turning back the clock.

 There is a third option. Continue to define and implement a new vision for Cranbrook.

 Yes, there will be roadblocks but if Mayor Dyer can do it with all the challenges an American city faces, surely Cranbrook is up to the task before it.

 Just imagine, if we were able to attract those "talented young entrepreneurs" who will take Cranbrook to the next level as a better place to live, work and play. Mayor Dyer is moving Orlando from the city which Disney made famous, and adding to the mix for the 21st Century.

Let us move us forward positively in all aspects of community life, and not be divided with rhetoric and an approach to municipal government from a bygone age that some still like.

 Let's heed Mayor Dyer's advice that we continue with the vision, bring the entire community into it and move forward. My email is mj.morris@live.ca