
“When we first announced, we really didn’t have complete market data,” said Orlando Health CEO Jamal Hakim, the doctor who oversees the daily operations and management of all Orlando Health hospitals and their patient care. “We knew a presence was necessary. As we got our fingers into things there, it was apparent the growth in […]

As Polk County remains a hotbed for growth in the medical and health sciences fields, our local institutions of higher education continue to adapt their current programs and add new ones to ensure a strong and talented health sciences workforce to support the industry. Lakeland Regional Health is building new facilities in North and South […]

Physician training excels as two Polk County providers, Lakeland Regional Health and Winter Haven Hospital, build programs of excellence. “As the population in Polk County grows, so does the need for access to reliable, high-quality care,” said Nancy Finnigan, Designated Institutional Official at Lakeland Regional Health (LRH), which will officially launch its GME program […]

Ideally located, with thousands of people flowing into Polk County every year, the health sciences industry is growing. The need for exemplary health care – services, research and manufacturing – has never been higher. Our growth encompasses many ages, from young people who generally do not require much medical care to seniors who may frequent […]

Duke Energy Florida is adding 48 miles of new transmission lines in Polk County to provide energy reliability and redundancy on the electric grid and help the county’s economic development councils attract new business to the area. The Polk County Reliability Project involves two line segments, said Ana Gibbs, spokeswoman for Duke Energy Florida: From […]

Duke Energy does more than just supply electricity to homeowners and businesses – it also supports economic development in the counties it serves by preparing sites to be sold and built on. “The value of each site is highly dependent on the user’s specific needs,” said Chris Wimsatt, manager of Real Estate Product Development […]

Polk State College‘s degree programs contribute $215.5 million to the Polk County economy, according to a recent study by Emsi Burning Glass that used data from the 2020-21 fiscal year. The college commissioned the report as part of its strategic planning process. To keep pace with the county’s growth — it is one of the […]

Polk County entered SiteSeer.com’s Top 15 fasting-growing metropolitan areas in the country between April 2021 and April 2022 in a big way, debuting at No. 4 with a 3.5% increase in population. It joins 13 other Sun Belt states in a list of the Top 20. The other six are in Idaho, Utah and Oregon, […]

Tucker Paving and SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate won the Central Florida Development Council’s success in business at this year’s CFDC annual meeting. Tucker Paving is the winner of the George W. Harris Jr. Economic Development Award for Success in Large Business, which is given to companies with at least 100 employees. The […]

Polk County Offers Advantages to Advanced Manufacturers As the nation celebrates National Manufacturing Month in October, Polk County celebrates those who have located here as it works to recruit other companies that use advanced technology to manufacture products safely and efficiently. Polk County has the ecosystem to support advanced/agile manufacturing, a growing, targeted sector of […]