Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCUFGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
FORT MYERS Caught on Camera: Firefighters respond to dumpster fire at FGCU San Carlos Park Fire District responded to a dumpster fire Sunday afternoon.
FORT MYERS FGCU students affected by Covid celebrate first commencement ceremony Graduation is a right of passage from school to the real world, but for these students, reality hit them in 2020.
PUNTA GORDA Motorcycle crash leaves 1 dead One person has died after a motorcycle crash in Charlotte County.
LEE COUNTY Lee Deputies work to track down transient sex offenders who fail to register WINK News Anchor Corey Lazar goes on patrol with Lee County Deputies in search of transient sex offenders who don’t register.
National Hurricane Preparedness Week: Know your risk Hurricane season starts on June 1st, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has designated the week of May 5 through May 11 as National Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day, Meteorologist Lauren Kreidler will be highlighting ways to stay prepared ahead of this year’s hurricane season.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Stay alert – chance of showers and storms on Sunday Hot, humid, and more rain for parts of Southwest Florida on Sunday.
CAPE CORAL What we learned about Cape Coral’s water crisis after a ride along On Friday, WINK News got to ride along to see just what people are doing that could be wasting water.
The Weather Authority: A wet Saturday evening as storms move through Southwest Florida A rainy Saturday evening across much of southwest Florida.
FORT MYERS Lee Health Touch-A-Truck event educates families on Trauma Awareness On Saturday morning, sirens were ringing to celebrate Lee Health Trauma Center’s 30 years of service and to provide the public with trauma education and prevention methods.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (CBS) CDC says bird flu viruses “pose pandemic potential,” cites major knowledge gaps Bird flu continues to appear to pose a “low risk to the general public” for now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But the agency’s scientists ran into roadblocks investigating a human case of this “pandemic potential” virus this year, they said in a new report.
DOWNTOWN FORT MYERS Bay Street Yard set to open in late May A new place to hang out in Downtown Fort Myers is opening this spring.
Aetna agrees to settle lawsuit over fertility coverage for LGBTQ+ customers Aetna has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused the health insurer of discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers in need of fertility treatment.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WINK Neighborhood Watch: Robbery, Pawn Shops, and Child Porn This week’s segment of Wink Neighborhood Watch features an armed robber, fraud at a pawn shop, and possession of child pornography.
Southwest Florida The Weather Authority: Sun, clouds, humidity, rain – it’s all in your weekend forecast Saturday afternoon will be hot and humid, with a mix of sun and clouds.
LEHIGH ACRES Chaotic lake getting fence and security Now, with all the negative attention it has gotten, some think putting up a fence is a great way to keep that bad activity out.
(Left to right) Liz Chandler, the pharmacy and clinical specialist for infectious diseases at Lee Health, and Dr. Camillo Ricordi, a researcher at the UM Miller School of Medicine. Credit: WINK News. When doctors first began to respond to the coronavirus, they had a hard time identifying it, let alone treating people who had contracted COVID-19. “We saw so many hospitals that were absolutely packed and couldn’t even keep up with the number of COVID patients that were coming in,” said Liz Chandler, the pharmacy and clinical specialist for infectious diseases at Lee Health. The unknowns in the beginning left health care providers with an uncertain path forward, with high hospitalizations and death rates. “There was just so much we didn’t know about the optimal treatment of patients with severe COVID-19,” Chandler said. Despite all that was learned throughout 2020, cases are climbing once again. In December, Florida saw its highest number of positive COVID-19 cases, nearly 324,000 cases, which was the most since July 2020. January is on track to beat that too. Out of Florida’s top-10 highest days of new cases, nine were in the past three weeks, but new treatment options are making a difference. “Something that specifically comes to mind is the use of steroids,” Chandler said. “Very early on in the pandemic, steroids, especially dexamethasone, we were not using those therapies because we didn’t know they were effective. There was actually a concern that if you used steroids, it would increase viral replication, which you wouldn’t want to do. Fast forward into later on in 2020, there’s so much more literature and research that’s been done that actually shows dexamethasone specifically is one of the most effective treatments for hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19.” Add to that list the innovation of antibody cocktails, and researchers aren’t done yet. “From one single umbilical cord, you can obtain over 10,000 therapeutic cell doses,” said Dr. Camillo Ricordi, a researcher at the UM Miller School of Medicine. “These cells have the characteristics that are anti-inflammatory; they modulate the immune response; they are against the cytokine storm; they have antiviral and antibacterial properties; and they promote tissue regeneration and tissue repair after injuries.” Ricordi uses stem cells from umbilical cords to treat COVID-19 patients and calls the results unprecedented. “One hundred percent of the subjects of age less than 85 years old survived one month, versus less than 50 percent in the control group that received only the solution without the cells,” Ricordi said. While not FDA approved, this treatment has been used on compassionate care patients – and has helped. “We’ve been already distributing doses all the way to San Antonio, Texas and Florida. But what we can do now thanks to the NABTU support, the North American Building Trades Union, is create a rapid response repository of cry-preserved frozen cell therapeutic doses that can be distributed to hospitals in North America,” Ricordi said. Regarding data on results for anyone given this treatment under compassionate use (outside of the study where data results were documented), Ricordi said it depends on when the treatment is offered. “In a majority of cases, it has worked within two to three days from admission in the ICU or when put on a ventilator,” he said. “If doctors wait too long to request this type of treatment after everything else has failed, we get into the ‘miracle zone,’ not a treatment zone.” According to UM Miller School of Medicine, compassionate use is something that can be requested by the attending physician before the FDA has approved a treatment, but it means a therapeutic dose can be distributed. The physician must be the one to determine if the patient could benefit from this procedure. The request must go through the review process by the FDA, the hospital and the University of Miami Diabetes Research Institute (who supply the stem cells).