Longboat doctor plans to expand health services at The Paradise Center

When Dr. Daren Spinelle moved to Longboat Key, he realized how difficult it was to get decent health care as a snowbird. 

With many Longboaters having their primary care doctors elsewhere, he saw an opportunity to accomplish his dream of owning his own practice and making residents' lives easier.

After more than a year of being on the Key, Spinelle continues to create innovative ideas to educate and provide health care opportunities for Longboaters on the island. 

Spinelle opened his concierge medicine practice last January in the Medical Suite at The Paradise Center with his Concierge Light program. This program allows Spinelle to work with people’s primary care physicians in their hometowns to provide personalized health care without being on a full health plan during the season on Longboat. 

He also offers Concierge Complete for full-time residents to have access to a full health plan without leaving the island.

With a year under his belt, Spinelle is planning to open the second leg of his practice, a full-fledged health clinic. Spinelle is putting together a team of specialists to cover most medical needs for the new Longboat Key Health Clinic. 

Currently, he has a nutritionist and a physical therapist to go along with his concierge services. His wife is a PRN nurse who plans to help when she can. He recruited a gynecologist and plans to release more of the team during the season.

“You'd have a one-stop shopping for most of your medical needs,” said Spinelle. “We probably can’t get all the specialties, but we're hoping to get the main ones.”

Along with new specialists, the practice has three new pieces of equipment including an EKG machine, an incentive spirometer for lung health and a physiology tracker. The tracker is a scale that can measure height, weight, measure, metabolism, bone density and fat composition. Spinelle is considering getting an X-ray machine.

Being a part of The Paradise Center inspired Spinelle to educate community members on how they can take care of themselves and their health. Spinelle also is putting together a 12-part lecture series to provide accessible education on medical information that people usually don’t think about. 

His current list of topics includes sleep health, home health regarding air and water quality, nutrition and supplements, longevity and maintenance and disaster preparedness regarding medical needs. He plans for this to be a monthly series and is open to requests on what lectures to give. He hopes to start this series in the late summer.

Spinelle said that he hopes to reach and connect with more residents by offering more services and providing educational opportunities. Spinelle’s patients expressed that they love the accessibility it has given to be seen when they need it and how Spinelle’s team is great with communication. 

“I'm excited about the potential of the future,” said Spinelle. “I have a lot of stuff that's coming down the pipeline, the bringing in the new physicians and the lecture series. We just want to be as available as we can and help everyone we can.”