Coming up on Southwest Florida in focus, it's common to wait months for some doctor's appointments in southwest Florida.

Access to health care is already at a crisis level in some communities and is predicted to get worse.

Florida Senate President Kathleen Domo talks to GQ about new legislation that might be a remedy.

Plus, see how one local city is turning its downtown into a new hotspot.

That's next on.

We'll see you.

So.

You're watching southwest Florida in focus.

Coming up.

Health care shortages are plaguing Florida communities.

Will new laws help remedy the problem?

Plus, Southwest Florida school districts are finding creative ways to get new teachers in classrooms.

And a new look.

Has downtown Bonita Springs buzzing.

Hello, I'm Sandra Victor OVA.

Thank you so much for joining us for Southwest Florida InFocus.

Every week, GCU plans to bring you an in-depth and insightful program looking at the big issues impacting southwest Florida, as well as the colorful stories of our community.

We start now with Florida's health care crisis.

From general practice to specialists, it can take months to get appointments at some doctor's offices.

It's a problem now, and it's predicted to get worse as the population grows.

Florida is expected to be short 18,000 physicians by 2035.

For patients, the long waits can be annoying, sometimes worrisome.

It's also concerning for physicians.

Doctor Snigdha Ila is a resident working at a family medicine program at Lee Health in Fort Myers.

So I have patients that, you know, when I meet them for the first time, tell me that they've waited for months to get in to see me.

And, you know, we have a pretty quick turnaround time.

And I know some of the other, you know, family medicine, doctors in this area have even longer wait times, like six months.

And that's, you know, with the very quick I see patients almost every 20 minutes.

So, you know, it's crazy to think that there's that big of a wait time.

And so a lot of times we see them in the E.R.

because they don't have the ability to kind of establish with the doctor here.

And they're running out of their blood pressure medications or they're running out of insulin.

And so you've got, you know, this kind of care gap right there that we're trying to address as soon as we can.

This year, Florida lawmakers passed a $700 million plan they hope will help with this shortage.

Outgoing Florida Senate President Kathleen Pace, a domo of Naples, spearheaded that legislation recently.

She spoke to me here in our InFocus studio.

Here's some of that interview.

Thank you so much, Senator, for joining us.

And welcome.

Thank you for having me.

So let's start here.

How serious do you believe the shortage of physicians is in our state, and why should all of us care about it?

Well, first of all, it's not just a shortage of physicians.

It's a shortage of health care personnel across the spectrum.

And it is becoming a crisis, partly because we have so many people moving to Florida, and they just don't bring their healthcare workers with them.

So as our population grows, we have to grow our health care workforce.

We're really serious about it.

And the live, Healthy bill that we passed this last session has, dozens of different commonsense, solutions to growing our health care workforce.

So there are several causes for this shortage.

So let's talk about that.

How do we fix this problem?

Well, one of the biggest issues is, and it's been this way for a while.

We have our students graduating from medical school, and, there aren't enough residency slots for them in Florida, so they've left our state.

And, you know, once that happens, you put down roots and grow families.

You don't come back.

So our goal is to make sure that we have additional residency slots throughout the state for graduates from medical school.

And we're not it's not just residency slots at hospitals.

We're looking at, community health care centers and, clinics so that there's a training for people as they graduate from medical school to, to start hitting the ground running and working in Florida.

One of the other things that we're doing to grow our health care workforce is, loan forgiveness for those who, you know, are in debt for, you know, it's very expensive to go to medical school.

If they would go to an underserved, a rural community.

And it's not just for for physicians, we're doing that for all health care personnel.

So obviously, you spearheaded the live, healthy legislation.

Where do you think it's going to have the most impact?

Obviously, you talked also about nursing.

We know nursing is a huge problem area.

Where do you think the legislation is going to be, you know, most effective, have the biggest impact?

Well, I think over time it will be in our rural communities.

Unfortunately, in our state, there are some communities that do not even have an obstetrician.

So if, someone if a woman is delivering a baby, sometimes you have to go 50 or 60 miles to, a hospital to have have their child.

And that doesn't make sense.

So we've we're expanding labor and delivery options, throughout the state.

So that the rural communities are going to need the help the most.

I know you've been a firm believer in expanding access, making sure that folks can get to the doctor, obviously, through this legislation.

But a lot of folks question, why has Florida said no to Medicaid expansion?

We're just one of, I think, about ten states who said no to billions of dollars, federal dollars to this Medicaid expansion, who would which would provide more people access.

Well, I think there's a misconception, misperception of the status of, Medicaid, at this point.

And it's not free money.

And but the overarching, discussion for me is, you know, we we decided that we were not going to expand Medicaid.

Even if we had, it wouldn't have made a difference.

If you don't have enough health care personnel to deliver health care to you, to to a population, whether you have the best insurance in the world, whether you're a billionaire who could afford to pay cash, whether you have no insurance, whether you're on Medicaid, Medicare, it doesn't matter.

Because if there's nobody to provide the health care, it doesn't matter.

So for me, the focus is we need to bring, bring up our health care system, the delivery of system, access to health care.

We're doing a lot, of, of a programs through our, free and reduced, clinics and, and working with our partners on the federally qualified health care, clinics.

So there's a lot of misunderstanding, of of what we do provide and what we will be providing in Florida.

Senator prasadam.

Well, thank you for your time.

Thank you.

It's been a pleasure.

Now, the clinic where Doctor Ila works is one of the programs trying to reduce the shortage of primary care doctors in the region.

We have partnered with Florida State University on this residency program.

Doctors who have just finished medical school spent three years at Lee health.

They hope this time there will encourage them to stay in the region and continue their practice here.

Well, doctors and nurses aren't the only ones in demand.

So are teachers still to come from low paid?

A few?

Are college students seeking education degrees.

We take a closer look at Florida's teacher shortage and the creative plans to solve it.

We're a month into the new school year, and Florida short.

About 4000 teachers districts are becoming more aggressive and creative, filling vacancies in Lee County.

Leaders are bringing in teachers from across the globe.

They're also trying to convince local professionals to try a new career in the classroom.

Recently, week's In Focus team had the opportunity to document that training process.

Don't be nervous, okay?

You have your tools.

It's easy to see why this group of 300 would be nervous.

When we met them at Dunbar High, they were just days away from becoming Lee county's newest teachers.

Very scary.

One of the issues I brought up was phones.

You know, these kids live by their phones now, and I never had that when I was growing up.

Bill Diedrich is a former ceramics engineer who also worked in the golf industry.

He'll now teach math to middle schoolers.

All right, so planning for Lee County Way this week of intensive training covers everything from instructional strategies to technology.

It's a world of change.

From Dietrich's own days in school.

I was nervous about teaching in a class because when I was there, it was just all rows.

You kids are quiet, I talk, you shut up, you know?

Now it's like, now we want these kids involved.

A big reason for his career move.

He'll be on the same schedule as his wife, and he'll avoid working in the southwest Florida heat.

You know, when I work for ceramic companies, I was teaching the people that worked in our plant what we do and why we have to make it this way.

So I've been teaching, so that's what made me put that all together.

Like, hey, I could teach children and I'll be indoors doing it, and I know I'm going to like it.

School districts need these career changers because fewer young people are pursuing education degrees.

For the 20 2122 academic year, the state projected more than 9000 teacher vacancies, while less than 2500 people majored in and completed teacher education programs in Florida that year, Suzette Rivera leads recruitment efforts at Lee schools.

I hear all the time from students that say, you know, when we've been recruiting, well, my parents said that I should.

Maybe not.

I want to teach, but they said, I'm not going to make any money in teaching in the public eye.

It's been a profession that's been hurting a little bit.

About half of the people in this group are career changers, searching for new jobs that are a better fit for their personal dreams and professional goals.

Jeremy Moore is excited about finding purpose in his new job teaching science.

I actually felt fulfillment in my my last career to getting to, you know, be a kid's director in a kids ministry.

Like, that was exciting for me.

I got to continue to elevate and lift them up.

He'll also be on a compatible schedule with his kids and wife.

She's a teacher.

As well, so being able to be together as a family on, like, the spring breaks and the summer breaks, is what is just a really, really cool opportunity.

Moore says he can see this being a lifetime career, and the district is trying to hang on to these teachers longer, combating the common struggle of teacher turnover with improved training and support.

But in Florida, salaries aren't helping the cause.

Teacher pay in the state ranks in the bottom five.

Nationally, Dietrich says, the pay could be better.

I don't think people realize what all goes into teaching and the district here, they should be paid more.

The district says.

It's also found a reliable source of seasoned teachers and educators from overseas.

This has been a long time.

Dream lab Mensah will teach science.

She was a curriculum leader at a school in Ghana.

I'm excited about everything Mensah has committed to teaching here for at least three years.

She says she'd like to sign a second contract after that.

This is an economic opportunity for her and her two sons.

This will be a financial help for me because we have been paid here in dollars.

The district recruited 50 international teachers last year.

There are 30 more this year.

Despite confidence in her ability to teach science, Mensah has concerns.

There are cultural differences and she's hoping she'll be able to communicate well with her students.

I'm most nervous about the classroom management and then my absence.

I've realized that, I speak differently as compared to how the teachers I've met here speak, but then they understand me.

Despite all the nerves, all three teachers believe they have a lot to offer their students.

I've had seven days of training, and I'm just.

I'm just just dying to go.

I really it's going to be fun.

So my thought was like a solar system all the way across.

Moore plans to be the goofy and fun science teacher costumes and accents?

Check.

And he may even have an Einstein wig on standby.

That's what I want to be known as in 20 years.

Is, the teacher who was a little bit crazy.

I have already planned on ordering a lab coat for our investigation days and being a little bit weird.

A little bit wacky.

That is 100% my personality.

So they will probably remember me.

I am sure they will remember him.

Well, the leaders of Lee County Schools acknowledge they must do more to attract and keep qualified teachers.

We sat down with Doctor Ken Savage, the interim superintendent of Lee County Schools, and Deputy Superintendent Doctor Jennifer Cupid McCoy, to talk about these issues.

We had the opportunity to meet three brand new teachers to the Lee County School District.

One was an international teacher, one was a career changer, and one was sort of new in the process.

So excited.

But it's no secret the Lee County School District, so many school districts are struggling to get enough teachers.

Where are we in that process?

And it is is the lack or the salaries still part of the big problem here?

First and foremost, yes, it's true that many districts around the whole country and in the state of Florida do have a pretty well defined teacher shortage.

The challenge for a district like ours is that unlike so many districts in the country and in Florida, even we're a growing district.

So not only do we have a do we have that shortage that others experience, but we also, on top of it, have significant growth as a district, whereas some districts are closing schools, they're experiencing retraction of that need.

You have other districts in the country that, you know, it takes years for a job to come open.

So people have to substitute in order to get their foot in the door.

Whereas here we need everyone.

We need all of them.

Every teacher we can, we can have we really need them.

And so we look in a lot of different ways to get them here.

So as you mentioned earlier, some of our international teachers, we've grown that program.

We're trying to develop and enhance all of our pipelines, whether it's career changers, people who come through traditional college of education, whether it's apprentice programs where we're training people who've worked as educational paraprofessionals or folks who don't have yet all those degree requirements.

There's so many different pathways for people to be able to join our system, but ultimately it's a significant issue because so many people are coming to Lee County.

That's really what makes it that much more significant.

Parents hearing that when they know that there's a lack of substitute teachers, for instance, when they are perhaps getting a first time teacher or a substitute teacher, taking over a classroom that their child is in.

Or maybe it's in an international teacher.

How do you reassure those parents who may have concerns about what the school year is going to be like?

It is important for us to convey what are the expectations within a particular building, right.

Sometimes there are cultural differences, particularly when you think about international teachers.

So what does education in the US represent in addition to that, whether it's an international teacher, a substitute teacher, or a brand new teacher, it could be an experienced teacher from a different state, that localized, school based, onboarding.

Here's to professional learning that we will engage in, because if I equip you with the skills that are necessary, then you're in a much better position to support our students.

Doctor Savage, thank you, thank you, thank you for your time.

You're welcome.

Now, the Florida Department of Education says teacher vacancies are more than 13% lower this year than last, while the Florida Education Association acknowledges an improvement in teacher hires, the union is calling on lawmakers to increase funding by $2.5 billion a year for the next seven years to raise teacher salaries.

You know, you should.

Do.

Well, a new location could soon be the next big thing.

Among downtown areas of southwest Florida, Bonita Springs has revitalized the old U-S 41 corridor.

As GCU news reporter Mike Walter explains, it hopes to join Naples and Fort Myers as a vibrant hotspot.

Downtown Bonita Springs looks like a peaceful respite from the daily rush.

Palms lined the medians and brick pavers mark intersections.

New buildings sparkle quite a contrast to the way this stretch of oh 41 used to walk downtown became bland decades ago.

There wasn't much to do, and some felt it wasn't even safe.

Now, locally owned coffee shops draw crowds of people from teenagers to those somewhat older.

Jason and Heidi Shuman, both 37, live in Bonita with their three children.

The couple loves to come downtown.

I think, location between Naples and Fort Myers.

It makes a ton of sense and it's such a beautiful community here.

And, the idea of kind of bringing more life to it, places like this would be, I mean, well welcomed, I think, by a lot of people.

The Sugar Shack has live music some months of the year.

Stephen Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley, performed at Sugar Shack a few months ago.

I want to jump in.

You people also can hear live music and view their surroundings from the rooftop at Riverside Bar and Restaurant.

Even the historic Shangri-La resort is back in business as a boutique hotel and spa.

The gators and crocs remain at Everglades Wonder Garden.

The longtime tourist attraction has resolved recent differences with the city and Bonita now has a barber shop.

The owner says local young people are helping the place thrive.

And she adds, teens and 20 somethings are coming from Fort Myers in Naples.

I feel like we bring a lot of good, good young wives, you know?

And then people really like our store for the trains and for the theme that we are doing it.

So it's very fun.

There's more to come.

This vacant land on the north side of the Imperial River, once the site of Bamboo Village, which had become a not very attractive trailer park.

Now picture this the city says the barren Collier Company hopes to break ground early next year for Imperial Crossing, a mix of retail shops and homes.

Bonita Springs Council member Laura Carr says the city has spent between 30 and $35 million to redevelop downtown.

I'm proud, we as a city and as staff put together.

Charm.

But progress.

Slowly but surely.

We're built.

We're smart.

Growing.

Carr admits past redevelopment attempts have failed in downtown Bonita, but she believes this effort has reached a critical mass and there's no turning back.

I see more beauty coming.

The plans are there and the commitment to hysterics in the town of Bonita is 100%.

And Mike Walter joins us now.

Welcome, Mike.

Thank you.

Glad to be here.

So what obstacles could still stand in the way for more progress?

Well, some people are telling us there worried that the small town atmosphere, the home town feel of downtown Bonita will not fit in with Barron Collier's Imperial Crossing, which will be bigger and newer.

The city says not to worry.

It's all going to build together.

But opponents aren't sure.

They think it could be an odd couple fit, but we won't know until it all comes together in a couple of years or more.

What struck you most about the area?

Oh, it's definitely the youth.

So many people in their 20s and 30s in this.

They're not snowbirds.

And this was not on Saturday night.

We were there in the mornings, on weekdays, around noontime.

They're local homeowners.

They're out jogging.

Running.

They're walking through the downtown streets.

They're stopping for coffee, and they say they're love downtown.

And that's encouraging.

That's great to hear.

No thank you, Mike.

We appreciate it.

Well, coming up, the local music scene is about to shine as area musicians join national acts for a songwriter spectacular.

But it's more than a jam session.

Just ahead here, how the Island Hopper Music Festival offers more than entertainment.

It's also a hit for the local economy.

Back home.

Slowly.

Songwriters who have penned some of country music's biggest hits will hit the sand and bars in Lee County for the 10th anniversary of the island.

Hopper Music Festival, starting on September 20th.

New this year, a music video that's been called a love song to Southwest Florida.

It's going viral on social media.

The song, by Brian Sutherland and Clint Daniels, features iconic locations and island vibes.

Take a listen.

to me.

A place to let it all go.

And take it all in.

Lay it all back home.

Sway in the wind.

Where it's come as you are.

And everybody is your friend.

It feels like home.

Feels like home to me.

Then Riverside night night.

The Edison lights might be just today.

Or the rest of your life.

Well, that's all on The Island Hopper Festival includes songwriters who have written number one hits for chart toppers like Garth Brooks and Rascal Flatts.

But as Tara Halligan explains, it also includes local artists who will perform throughout Lee County.

90 songwriters are slated to perform at this year's Island Hopper Festival, offering attendees an intimate glimpse into the creative process behind their original songs.

Our goal is to raise awareness about the destination and its beauty, and by bringing these songwriters in and putting them on at a hotel, on a beautiful beach, it excites them.

And then our locals are more apt to go out and visit because they get a chance to see a, a superstar, perhaps that they might not normally visit.

The event also draws visitors to support local businesses for the end of September is very slow for our area businesses.

So by bridging the two weekends of Fort Myers Beach and Captiva with Cape Coral in downtown, we were able to touch four communities and hopefully stimulate the economy for the for the lodging partners and our bars and restaurants during this time.

The lineup features performances by the greatest BMI singer songwriters from Nashville and nationwide.

Longhorn singer and songwriter said, along with some of Southwest Florida's top songwriting talent.

I'm really excited to be back again.

The first year that I went, I was so nervous, I thought that I never really hung out with other professional songwriters, in, in the Nashville, world.

But it was a really eye opening experience to play alongside people who write for labels and who write for, like, bigger acts like, you know, like Kenny Chesney or Lainey Wilson or, people that have had number one hits.

And it helped me create bonds and friendships with people I wouldn't have ordinarily come across, you know, hard lessons.

Never.

Most of the island hopper shows are free to the public, with ten ticketed special events featuring special guest headliner Scotty McCreery.

We think it's really unique music moves people and inspires people, and we're just really excited to to to present it to the community.

And Terry joins us now.

Welcome.

Thank you so much for having me.

Sandra, I'm very happy to be joining you today.

Yes.

Us too.

So, so exciting to have these big names in town.

But what does it really mean for the local music scene?

Local musicians don't have many opportunities to perform their original songs.

Songs they've worked so hard on creating, writing, recording in studios.

Usually it's covers that you'll see quite often at gigs that they perform.

So they're having the opportunity to perform not only with huge names, but sharing the stage with them and explaining the songwriting process and really showcasing their original music to such a huge audience.

And again, that's throughout Southwest Florida, all of the islands, you know, you're hitting downtown Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Sanibel, Captiva, and they just have such an opportunity to perform in front of so many new people that wouldn't have seen them otherwise.

That's awesome.

Thank you, Tara, for your reporting.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

And that's all for Southwest Florida.

InFocus.

Remember, you can rewatch or share all of today's segments by checking out GQ's YouTube channel.

We'd also love to get your comments and story ideas.

You can find GQ Public Media on your favorite social media platform, and be sure to join us next week.

I sit down with firing lines Margaret Hoover to discuss her new documentary exploring reform ahead of the 2024 presidential election, from counting the votes to disinformation.

Find out what voters need to know before heading to the polls in November.

Plus, we head to Pine Island to see how electric poles are bringing joy to a community still recovering from Hurricane Ian.

Those polls deliver more than power.

They are electrifying the spirit of residents and business owners.

Those stories and much more next Friday.

We'll see you then.

Have a great week everyone.

home to me.

A place to let it all go.

And take it all in.

Lay it all back home.

Sway in the wind.

Where it's come as you are.

And everybody is your friend.