Another prong of Tampa General Hospital’s (TGH) plan to bring world-class healthcare to Hernando County is the Tampa General Hospital (TGH) Foundation. On Thursday, April 10, 2025, philanthropist Frank Morsani and the TGH Foundation held a dinner and fireside chat to introduce the Foundation to the community.
In the fireside chat, TGH staff explained their vision for the local hospitals’ expansion and evolution. There were several speakers from TGH’s senior leadership, as well as local philanthropist Frank Morsani.
The speakers highlighted TGH’s commitment to investing locally, bringing world-class academic medicine and technology to the area, and enhancing patient care and services. Key areas discussed include improving clinical quality, implementing a seamless electronic medical record system (Epic), aligning with and supporting local physicians, fostering community partnerships and philanthropy to support future growth. They also plan to expand into new areas of need, like behavioral health.
Mr. Morsani recounted that “Philanthropy in Hernando County is (practically) unknown… Think back, if you will, some of you to the 1970s, when 48 years ago, there was zero philanthropy in the Tampa Saint Petersburg area. Today, it’s a whole new generation. The Tampa Bay Community is now one of the most generous.”
An important theme was TGH’s long-term vision of being a foundational part of the community. The TGH Foundation will be instrumental in supporting that vision. They vowed that the money raised in the community would be used to improve medical care in the area.
A video was played that described the background of TGH and the innovation in healthcare that they plan to bring to the area. It detailed that “For nearly two decades, we’ve been named one of the nation’s best hospitals by U.S News and World Report. And this year, they named us a top 50 hospital in eight specialties. We’ve also been named the number one health system on Florida’s West Coast and one of the top 100 in the nation by Newsweek.”
John Couris President & Chief Executive Officer of Tampa General Hospital explained, “We believe that when you have one of the best academic medical centers, one of the best medical schools in the country with some of the absolute best programs in the country, like Neurosciences, you should not have to travel outside of your community to get the vast majority of your care.”
Dr. Roderick Bennett, an emergency medicine physician, was asked about key improvements he’s experienced under the TGH system. “I really have to say that the biggest improvement… and I think what is the most important improvement overall is just the improvement in clinical quality that we are delivering at these two hospitals,” said Bennett.
“Living in this community, there are people here that I care about not just as a physician but on a personal level. And so being able to have two facilities now where I can be confident in the level of care that we are able to deliver, it’s made such a such a huge difference in my life in the lives of the team members and especially those team members like me who live right here in the community.”
