GAINESVILLE, Fla. UF Health Shands Hospital accepted a major donation this week of nearly 100,00 face masks from Cox Business Florida & Georgia. It is among the largest received by UF Health since the beginning of the pandemic. Caring for and protecting our front-line workers at UF Health Shands Hospital is a top priority and a special responsibility. These masks will help UF Health protect all those who come through these doors, health care professionals, hospital staff and the patients, said Harbin Bolton, vice president of Cox Business. All those at UF Health, and everyone in the health care field, are heroes in this fight against COVID-19.A delivery took place Tuesday morning among Cox representatives and UF Health officials, technicians at the UF Health Shands Integrated Service Center, 4807 NE 63rd Ave., while observing social distancing and safety guidelines.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. A first-of-its-kind procedure in the Southeast a double-lung transplant by UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville has given a COVID-19 survivor a second chance at life. UF Health said it was the first successful surgery of its kind in the Southeast region on a patient who has survived COVID-19. Surgeons eventually determined that his lungs were permanently damaged due to the virus and the viability of a double lung transplant became an option. The patient underwent the procedure and it was deemed a success. Our team works from a multidisciplinary perspective, said Dr. Andres Pelaez, M.D.medical director of the lung transplant program and an associate professor of medicine in the UF College of Medicine.

LAKE CITY, Fla. – A Suwannee County man was killed and his 2-year-old daughter was hurt Friday in a rear-end collision involving a log truck and a sport-utility vehicle in Lake City, authorities said. Troopers said a Ford Expedition driven by 40-year-old Daniel Clayton Fennell was following behind the log truck when it crashed into the back of the trailer. Paramedics extricated Fennell, who was airlifted to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville where he died of his injuries, troopers said. Fennell's daughter was taken to Lake City Medical Center for treatment and picked up by her mother, according to the Highway Patrol. The log truck's driver was not hurt.