KEY WEST, FL (APRIL 30, 2024) - Keys Medical Group Outpatient Psychiatric/Mental Health/Counseling offices are relocating from the Key West Professional Building, 1111 12th Street, Suite 205, Key West to Lower Keys Medical Center's Depoo Campus at 1200 Kennedy Drive, Suite 1041, first floor. The move will take place May 1, 2024 to May 3, 2024. Beginning May 6, 2024, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners Kristie Santana, APRN; Erin Sheehan, DNP, ARNP; and Angela Halbrook, APRN, along with Licensed Clinical Social Worker John Borgens, will see patients by appointment at the new location. 
 
Office hours will remain Monday through Friday, 8:30 am - 5 pm. Appointments may be requested online at KeysMedicalGroup.com or by calling (305)293-1299. Patients should continue to park in the back lot of the Professional Building and enter through the front door of the Depoo campus on the Kennedy Drive side. Patients with physical challenges may use the front parking lot at the Depoo building. Spaces are limited. 

Key West, Florida Keys - The Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden is hosting an Adult “Rum Infused” Scavenger Hunt on Saturday, May, 18, 2024 from 6pm – 10pm. to support all Monroe County Students K-12.  The event will raise much needed funding to provide transportation services for every student to attend educational field trips to the Key West Botanical Garden for the school year 2024/2025.  100% of all donations and proceeds will go toward this endeavor..
 
These field trips are invaluable to the education of our students. They foster community engagement, an awareness of the local ecosystem, wildlife, and outdoor enjoyment to those who need it most. The field trip provides hands-on experiments and lessons to develop skills and interests that will lead to careers that will keep them in the Keys. Many of our past students have gone on to careers in the Botanical, Biological and Environmental sciences here in the Keys.
 
This Adult Scavenger Hunt, titled “Rum Infused” is a great way for attendees to engage in a fun outdoor experience and enjoy the beauty and natural wildlife of The Garden.  Clues will be given, and teams formed to achieve the goals outlined in the Hunt rules. Points will be given for the most items identified within one hour. The first 30 people to register and complete the hunt will be given a bottle of local rum. Pirate and Mermaid costumes are encouraged and prizes awarded for best costumes.  A silent auction and raffle will also be held to support our students.
 
The evening is sponsored by wonderful local businesses that have very generously donated to the event. John Bartus, Keys local favorite musician, will be performing a tribute concert to Jimmy Buffett and the Keys Life.   Outback Steakhouse is providing an incredible dinner buffet and Key West First Legal Rum will supply Rum libations and prizes. We are so grateful for their generosity and support of both The Garden and the Education of our Monroe County students.
 
Tickets are $100 per person and include open bar and dinner.  They can be purchased on our website at www.keywest.garden.    Reservations are limited for this fun, important and very worthwhile evening. Please register early and spread the word to support our students and their education. 
 
The Garden is located at 5210 College Road on Stock Island.  For more information call 305-296-1504 or visit www.keywest.garden.

KEY LARGO, FL — Monroe County Mayor Holly Merrill Raschein visited Canal 90 between Hilson and Ivanhoe courts on Key Largo yesterday to view the canal restoration efforts underway.
 
The restoration work includes backfilling the canal. Backfilling raises the canal bottom to an optimum depth of about 7 feet to allow maximum flushing and tidal flow in and out of the canal. This restoration technique will increase the levels of dissolved oxygen throughout the canal. The work is funded by a Florida Department of Environmental Protection Keys Stewardship grant to the County.
 
“These improvements restore the canal’s impaired waters and bring the dissolved oxygen levels up to meet State water quality standards, which will greatly enhance the levels of marine life in the canals,” said Monroe County Chief Resilience Officer Rhonda Haag. “Residents should see an immediate increase in marine life once the project is completed.”
 
The crew also continuously monitors the canal for manatees that have been seen in the area. Close observation is being kept to ensure their safety, and activity stops if manatees enter the area while restoration work is underway.
 
Additional restoration projects for other poor and fair water quality canals in the Florida Keys will move forward as additional grant funding allows. Canal restoration improves the overall health of canals and nearshore waters. To learn more about canal restoration or see if your canal is included in the County’s restoration plan, visit www.monroecounty-fl.gov/canals. 

​KEY WEST, FL (APRIL 29, 2024) – The interventional cardiac catheterization laboratory at Lower Keys Medical Center has reopened following renovations. The improvements made include upgraded equipment to provide greater clarity for physicians, a new procedure table, and enlarged spaces for patient comfort in pre-procedure and recovery areas.
 
Cardiac catheterization allows a cardiologist and a team of nurses and technicians to examine a patient’s heart and identify problems with heart function using minimally invasive technology. The procedure is used to diagnose and treat patients with stenosis or abnormalities of the heart. Other cardiac procedures offered at Lower Keys Medical Center include electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) and transesophogeal echocardiogram (TEE) to measure the heart's electrical activity and identify muscle damage; and nuclear medicine scans such as myocardial perfusion scans to reveal the structure and blood flow within the heart. Non-invasive imaging technologies including magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), computed tomography angiography (CTA), X-ray and echocardiograms, provide images of the heart muscle, valves, veins and arteries. 
 
David Clay, CEO of Lower Keys Medical Center said, “The upgrades and reopening of the cath lab continue our commitment to providing advanced care and services for the residents of the Lower Keys. It also builds upon our designation as a Chest Pain Center, accredited by the American College of Cardiology.”
 
Giovanni Campanile, MD, Medical Director of Cardiology at Lower Keys Medical Center, said, "We are thrilled to have an upgraded cardiac catheterization laboratory and highly qualified interventional cardiologists who are experts in invasive cardiology for the improved treatment of patients in the Lower Keys." 

KEY WEST, Florida Keys – Fourteen personnel from Coast Guard Sector Key West Cutter Thetis, volunteered their time for several hours in April at the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden. Julia Williams organized the group. Under the guidance of Garden Guardian volunteers Audrey Thompson, Cathy Matier, Mary Chandler and Carol Moriarity a Bridge was re-built on the Hammock Trail, Several rare & endangered plants & cacti were installed and in the Native Nursery-- Frogfruit was potted up, areas were weeded and the Cactus rows were re-organized. The Garden expresses a huge thank you to all the volunteers not only for their efforts at the Garden but for their service to our country as well.
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Volunteers are welcome to help the Garden Guardians on Wednesday and Saturdays. Donations of landscape tools and power equipment are also appreciated and are tax deductible.

Key West/Florida Keys – The Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden is a 2024 Blue Star Museum! It will join museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2024 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 18, 2024, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2024.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and museums across America. Blue Star Families is the nation’s largest grass-roots military family support organization, with a mission to support military families to improve military readiness.

“Museums educate and inspire, cause us to wonder and imagine, dream and remember,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. Blue Star Museums include children’s museums, art, science, and history museums, zoos, gardens, lighthouses.
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The free admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States Military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force, members of the Reserves, National Guard, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), DD Form 1173-1 ID card or the Next Generation Uniformed Services (Real) ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum.

From Wednesday, July 3, through Sunday, July 7, Key West, Florida’s annual Key Lime Festival celebrates the world’s most sensational citrus with a spectacular lineup of festivities taking place across the very island where Key lime pie was conceived.
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Events, activities, and competitions are to include a kick-off cookbook signing and champagne reception with Festival co-founder and “Key West Key Lime Pie Cookbook” author David Sloan; delicious Key lime-centric dinner and brunch events; a wild and world famous Key lime pie eating contest; a gravity-defying Key lime pie drop competition – from the top of the Key West Lighthouse; a Key lime pie hop, mini Key lime pie making classes; a 4th of July 5K; and for those with a taste for limey libations, Key lime rum tastings and a bar Sip & Stroll. There’s much more, including numerous family-friendly activities. The Key Lime Festival 2024 is presented in part by the Monroe County Tourist Development Council and We’ve Got the Keys. For a full calendar of events, visit http://www.keylimefestival.com.