PORT ST. LUCIE — St. Lucie Medical Center has received the highest designation for excellence in nursing from The American Nurses Credentialing Center.

The HCA Inc.-owned hospital is the first on the Treasure Coast to get the prestigious Magnet Designation and the 23rd in the state.

The ANCC, of Silver Spring, Md., gives the designation to health care organizations that demonstrate the highest quality in nursing practices and adherence to national standards. (more…)

Samuel Jenkins

On Friday night police received an anonymous call that a man was swinging a bat at a woman on Lennard Road. When officers arrived, they couldn’t find either person.

The next day, police were called to St. Lucie Medical Center, where a 22-year-old woman told investigators her younger brother, Samuel Jenkins, had hit her with a bat the night before.

The woman reported she and her brother were at a home in the 1600 block of Lennard when she blamed Jenkins, 19, for breaking her cell phone. Jenkins became upset, she said, retrieved the bat and struck her several times. He later left with other relatives, she said.

According to doctors, the woman suffered no broken bones and was discharged from the hospital the same day she came in.

Jenkins was arrested Saturday and on Monday afternoon was being held in the St. Lucie County jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

FORT PIERCE — Most people don’t tuck a list of emergency contacts in their pockets when they leave home.

But they usually do carry around their cell phones.

So fire, law enforcement and hospital officials throughout St. Lucie County on Friday kicked off a public awareness campaign reminding residents to program just a few more numbers into their portable phones. (more…)