St. Joseph's Hospital-South

04/13/2026

Our Team Member of the Month (TMOM) award is our way of recognizing and celebrating exemplary and outstanding staff doing great things for patients, patient families, team members and our entire hospital. The announcement of our TMOM is always one of the month’s top highlights.

Our TMOM spotlight today is on Ijeoma, a pharmacist! Ijeoma assisted in opening our pharmacy when we opened our doors in 2015.

Ijeoma’s expertise is with neonatal and pediatric medications. Her experience and knowledge of medications is crucial and ultra-important in our labor and delivery, Mom & Baby, NICU and pediatric units. Although not a requirement for her position, Ijeoma takes it upon herself to educate herself on neonatal and pediatric care practices and protocols. This learning enables her to have a complete and thorough understanding of how and why specific medications are utilized. Ijeoma is also great at educating and explaining to parents about medications for their children.

Ijeoma trains pharmacy residents and new pharmacy team members. Her professionalism, mentoring and character is evident with every team member she encounters.

Congratulations Ijeoma as a TMOM and thank you for your expert knowledge and work as a pharmacist in providing the healing medication for our youngest and smallest patients in our hospital!

04/10/2026

The community is invited to a ceremonial Donate Life Month flag raising held Wednesday, April 15, 9 a.m. on our campus. April is Donate Life Month and the observation helps create awareness about organ and tissue donation. At St. Joseph's Hospital-South, we take pride in supporting patients and families in their organ donation decisions.

Come to our flag raising in remembrance of someone who made a donation, if you are the recipient of a donation or if you are a registered donor. Or, just come by to support the Donate Life cause.

We were honored in 2025 with a Platinum Recognition award from the LifeLink Foundation for our support of patients and their families in their donation decisions. The Platinum recognition is the highest level in the award program. LifeLink Foundation is a nonprofit community service organization dedicated to the recovery of organs and tissue for transplantation therapy.

Photos include ICU team members and management with the Donate Life flag and the flag being flown at our hospital. When the Donate Life flag is on our flagpole, it signifies a patient has donated an organ or tissue. Other photos include our hospital lighted all of April in blue and green, the colors of Donate Life, and our previously mentioned award.

Some organ donation statistics from patients at our hospital since 2015:
22 Organ Donors
• 56 lives saved
-33 kidneys
-16 livers
-6 hearts
-4 lungs

11 Donors in Spirit - A donor in spirit is a person or family wanting to donate organs or tissue, or gave consent to donate, but the donation could not proceed due to medical, logistical or eligibility reasons.

56 Tissue Donors - A tissue donor is a person donating human tissues after death so they can be used to heal, repair, or reconstruct parts of another person’s body. For example, anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs).

04/09/2026

For the third straight year, BayCare is one of USA TODAY's Top Workplaces in 2026! We’re proud to foster a culture that cares where people can grow and thrive and make a lasting impact on the communities we serve. 💙 https://bit.ly/41k1vhN Energage

The national award by USA Today Top Workplaces reflects BayCare’s people‑first culture and commitment to helping team members grow, thrive and make the difference.

04/08/2026

💙 BayCare is bringing proton therapy, the most advanced treatment available for cancer, to West Central Florida, centrally located in Tampa. The BayCare Proton Center, located on the St. Joseph’s Hospital campus, is expected to open in the coming months. Watch the new commercial preview and share in the excitement.

04/07/2026

St. Joseph's Hospital-South is excited to share BayCare's 2025 Report to the Community. Meet the people and partnerships moving care forward and read stories about how BayCare is reimagining health care, investing in our communities and staying true to our mission to improve the health of all we serve. Click the photo below to read the BayCare Newsroom article.

From increased community benefit spending to expanded services and physician training, BayCare’s 2025 Report to the Community reflects meaningful progress in improving access to care across the region.

04/06/2026

This week is designated as National Robotics Week celebrating the technology in many different industries, applications and uses. We'll use the Robotics Week opportunity to feature our robot-assisted surgeries that are minimally invasive, can provide patients with smaller incisions, less pain and faster recoveries compared to standard open surgery. We have three robots that are guided by St. Joseph’s Hospital-South surgeons who are specially-trained and experienced in robotic surgery. We perform robotic surgeries in colorectal, general surgery, gynecology, gynecologic oncology, thoracic and urologic procedures.

We are accredited as a Center of Excellence in Robotic Surgery by the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC). SRC is a leading independent, external evaluator of programs and services for surgeons and hospitals. The designation signifies that our robotic surgery services provide the highest quality of care to patients.

Scroll through the gallery to learn more about our robotic surgery services.

Also, visit our robotic surgery webpage: https://bit.ly/44ju812

04/05/2026

Easter is the most important day in the Christian liturgical year. It commemorates and celebrates the central belief of the Christian faith - the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Today starts the beginning of the Easter season of the liturgical year. In the Catholic Church, the Easter season continues for 50 days, through the Ascension of Our Lord to Pentecost Sunday, seven full weeks after Easter Sunday.

May the glory and the promise of this time of year bring peace and happiness to you and to those you hold most dear.

An Easter prayer:
Lord, the resurrection of Your Son has given us new life and renewed hope. Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it, and the strength to complete it.
— New Saint Joseph People's Prayer Book

The photos include our chapel and some religious symbols throughout our faith-based hospital. The chapel was photographed during Monday of Holy Week. Holy Week is the week before Easter beginning with Palm Sunday last Sunday and ending with Holy Saturday, the day before Easter Sunday.

04/03/2026

We've concluded "Physicians Week" and "Doctors Day" celebrations, a special time dedicated to honoring our doctors. A final word to cap the week and express our deepest gratitude to our doctors for their proficiency, devotion and ability.

Thank you for making the difference every day and for inspiring us with your dedication to outstanding and excellent patient care, always putting patients first and selflessly caring for their health. You truly deserve our sincere appreciation.

The gallery includes some of our physicians. One event had a golf-theme and included a golf simulator! Also, see our post of April 1 for some additional doctor photos!

04/01/2026

We're celebrating "Physicians Week" this week which included national "Doctors Day" on Monday, March 30. These celebrations honor our doctors for their expertise, compassion, resilience and making a profound difference in lives. Our physicians navigate the challenges of ever-evolving health care and focus on BayCare's true north: clinical excellence.

We thank our physicians for the invaluable contributions they make to patients, patients' loved ones and the community.

The gallery includes some of our physicians during a golf-themed Physicians Week event that included a simulator!

Follow this page for another Physicians Week post with doctors' photos as the week progresses!

03/31/2026

This week, BayCare celebrates “Physicians Week,” a dedicated time to recognize and honor the invaluable contributions of our doctors to patient care and the community. Physicians Week is an opportunity to express gratitude for their unwavering commitment, unparalleled skill and service. A special way we acknowledge doctors throughout the year is the presentation of a Physician of the Quarter Award (POTQ).

The POTQ is bestowed to an outstanding physician by St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s Professional Practice Council. The Council includes nurses collaborating on hospital issues, policy, procedure and hospital improvement. So, we’ll use the opportunity of Physicians Week to introduce a POTQ, Dr. Frederick Schiebel, an ER physician!

Dr. Schiebel is described in the POTQ nomination documents as “the physician that holds the patient’s hands.” He speaks to patients at their level. His explanations, conversations and discussions with patients and families is done in way that is easy for a non-medical person to comprehend. Dr. Schiebel describes medical situations in language they can understand. He is described as kind, empathetic, down to earth and providing impeccable patient care. Dr. Schiebel's POTQ nomination documents note that he does the absolute right thing for patients every time.

For team members in the ER, Dr. Schiebel is approachable, welcomes their questions and loves to teach and educate them about the care he is providing patients. Team members are impressed with Dr. Schiebel’s work ethic and describe him as a joy to work with.

Dr. Schiebel received the ultimate compliment from a peer, team member and coworker perspective in his POTQ nomination documents: “Dr. Schiebel is truly the person I think of and want to take care of myself or my family.”

Congratulations Dr. Schiebel as a POTQ! You are a great representative of the doctors providing care here at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South and your POTQ honor is a super way to tie-in with Physicians Week!

Dr. Schiebel is holding his POTQ proclamation in the group photos in the gallery.

03/30/2026

On Doctors Day and every day at BayCare, we’re grateful for the exceptional, patient-centered care provided by our physicians. Serving our West Central Florida communities with clinical excellence and compassion, BayCare physicians help deliver outstanding outcomes and high levels of patient satisfaction across the region. As part of the region’s largest academic health system, their dedication also helps shape the future of care. Happy Doctors Day! 🩺💙

03/28/2026

Riverview native Ashley is our new surgical services director! Ashley will oversee our entire surgery department including preoperative (preop) care, the operating room, postoperative recovery and endoscopy. The position is responsible for ensuring high-quality patient care, efficiency and regulation compliance.

Ashley succeeds Jelissa, now BayCare director of system quality, safety and education for perioperative services.

Ashley has held surgery nursing positions in local hospitals since 2014 and managerial positions since 2022. Since 2024, she was St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s nurse manager for surgical services overseeing preop care, the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) and preprocedure testing. She was instrumental in the planning and ex*****on of St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s new and expanded PACU and preop space which opened in 2025.

“Ashley has consistently demonstrated strong leadership, operational expertise and a deep commitment to delivering exceptional care for our patients and surgical teams,” said Patrick Downes, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South president. “Ashley knows our organization well and embodies our family-centered culture. Her hands-on leadership and dedication to our team members have made a meaningful impact on our surgical services. I am confident she will continue to elevate both our performance and culture in this expanded role.”

“I hope to bring thoughtful and collaborative leadership that supports the continued growth and success of the surgical services department,” Ashley said. “My goal is to help strengthen the foundation that already exists while identifying opportunities to enhance efficiency, quality outcomes and the overall patient experience.”

Ashley holds an associate and bachelor’s degree in nursing and master of science in nursing leadership and management.

St. Joseph’s Hospital-South provides surgical services in disciplines that include cardiology, emergency surgery, gastroenterological, general surgery, gynecology, orthopedics and urology.

Read more about St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s surgical services: https://bit.ly/4lNNMc8