Lake Shore Hospital Authority: Willie Peacock – Who will he be tonight? What will he promise?
Meeting tonight at 5:15 pm, see it on Zoom
Posted May 26, 2022 04:30 pm
March 2022, Willie Peacock is Haven Health
| Columbia County Observer photo
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COLUMBIA COUNTY, FL – Governor DeSantis’s Lake Shore Hospital Authority Board is at it again tonight. After squandering up to $150k a month since October 2020, tonight is Willie Peacock night, a man and a business without business cards, brochures, or a letterhead.
The meeting is carried on Zoom.
Background
Shands at Lake Shore, the hospital the Lake Shore Hospital Authority has leased for decades, has been vacant since October 2020.
Since that time, the Authority has spent over a million dollars maintaining the empty hospital, other buildings, and grounds.
Under the leadership of Chairman Brandon Beil and part-time executive director Dale Williams, the Governor’s board has yet to appraise the hospital.
It is not clear what the Authority is waiting for.
The Authority has put out two rounds of Requests for Proposals or statements of interest for its hospital and other buildings.
Tonight, one responder will answer questions from the Governor's board.
The questions were prepared by the part-time executive director Dale Williams yesterday afternoon.
It appears that not all board members knew about the questions this afternoon.
It is not clear why the Board members could not develop their own questions as three of the members are experienced business people, and one was an investigator for the public defender for thirty-eight years.
Willie Peacock: What is going on here?
The March Haven brochure has gone missing.
Tonight Willie Peacock, who claimed in March 2022 to represent Haven Health Management of Palm Springs, and in April 2022 claimed to be Hope Bridges, will appear before the Governor’s board again to answer questions.
The March brochure that Mr. Peacock [Haven Health] presented to the Governor’s board has disappeared.
In April, Mr. Peacock showed up with a pie-in-the-sky presentation without a date and a letterhead.
When your reporter asked for a copy, Mr. Peacock said it was “proprietary information.”
Dale Williams had to explain that is not how Florida Sunshine worked and gave your reporter a copy.
What is Hope Bridges?
A check with Florida Sun Biz shows that Hope Bridges was formed as an LLC on February 5, 2021.
Willie M. Peacock is listed as the manager of the LLC. Shay Garcia is an authorized member.
The company’s headquarters is in a four-bedroom, two-bath house in Jacksonville.
The incorporation papers list a wellcare.com email address.
What does Hope Bridges do?
On April 11, 2022, Mike Peacock appeared at the Authority as Hope Bridges and explained Hope Bridges.
Mr. Peacock immediately announced that Hope Bridges was willing to relocate. He did not explain that the current headquarters were located in a house.
He said, "Haven Detox, which is me as well, as well as other partnerships that I have observed – I mean that we have. Hope Bridges is willing to relocate their corporate offices here, in this building -- here locally… to bring the management portion of it here, to orchestrate everything I am about to go over with you."
Mr. Peacock said he is bringing Hope Bridges to Columbia County, not Haven Detox because his attorneys told him to do it that way.
Mr. Peacock explained, "It looks bad to have the detox and rehab entity that's going to be doing all of that work, bein' the management entity over community outreach, dietary, workforce, home healthcare, clinical, VA, and of course the nonprofit, and then, of course, the partners. That's why we brought in Hope Bridges along with Blue Cross Blue Shield and everyone else that we brought in collaboratively.
Mr. Peacock continued, "I'm Hope Bridges. We've been in business now -- I've been in business for over 30 years, multiple facilities, and literally been in the mental health and healthcare industry for 30 years or better."
Mr. Peacock went on-and-on about his excitement about reopening the hospital as a full-service hospital with an OBGYN center. He said he would keep the hospital "under 20 beds."
Mr. Peacock said he has preliminary agreements with health care vendors and that he would offer "more services than the hospital off the interstate [Lake City Medical Center]."
Mr. Peacock said he has John Hopkins interested in growing a garden and wants to open an urgent care center and Meals On Wheels.
He continued, "I'm super excited. You all have no idea how much I've invested in time and resources."
Mr. Peacock explained that he is working with Florida Blue for tobacco outreach and that he has worked out a verified agreement with them.
He did not share the agreement with the Governor’s board. No one asked for it.
Mr. Peacock said, "The uninsured will be switched over to Florida Blue. It's about sustainability."
Mr. Peacock added, “I have contracts with individuals who are willing to come in. Experts who are willing to come in who know how to do this to meet every goal that you all have strategically right now -- we have that mapped out.”
Mr. Peacock did not have the map.
Two Other Proposals and the Peacock Claim
Meridian's President Don Savoie listens to the
presentations in March.
The Authority has heard two other proposals for the Authority campus from established long-term organizations.
One from Meridian Behavioral Healthcare, which wants to occupy the Hospital, and another from Florida Gateway College, which is looking to bring a downtown presence to Lake City with innovative healthcare and other programs.
Mr. Peacock claimed, "I reached out numerous times to Meridian and the college with emails – texts and everything else to collaborate with them."
Mr. Peacock said he had received no response.
Your reporter has checked with Florida Gateway College President Barrett and Meridian’s president, Don Savoie.
Both have said they received nothing from Mr. Peacock.
Epilogue
Mr. Peacock will be answering the Governor’s board’s questions at 5:15 tonight.
Maybe someone will ask him for copies of the "texts and everything else" that he sent to Meridian and FGC and a financial statement.
