Comfort and Care Are Close to Home in Greater Daytona

Nathan Lambrecht

The Greater Daytona region is experiencing a surge in health care resources to serve the area’s growing population, thanks to medical professionals who embrace the opportunity to give back to their community. Meet a few of the people responsible for top-notch health care in Daytona Beach and Volusia County.

Finding Balance 

Dr. Matthew Wilson, a board-certified colon and rectal surgeon with AdventHealth, relocated here with his family in 2022. The U.S. Navy veteran completed a specialty fellowship in Orlando before practicing in Oklahoma for several years. 

“Our work-life balance there was not very good,” says Wilson, whose wife also is a surgeon. “That was the catalyst for us to consider a move.” 

He says they looked at several options around the U.S. and, with encouragement from colleagues he knew from his time in Orlando, found the opportunity in Greater Daytona. 

He is one of two new partners in a long-standing practice that became part of AdventHealth last year. “The area, the organization and the practice all seemed like a great fit, and it has not disappointed,” Wilson says. “We were kind of missing the ocean, and the little pond behind our house in Oklahoma didn’t really give us that fix.” 

He says it’s a good area to raise his family, with public schools that have been great for his children. “And where else can you live where you’re an hour away from Disney World, or from watching a rocket launch from the Space Coast, or where you can go kayaking with a manatee?” he says. 

Connecting to Community 

Family ties drew Dr. Robert Feezor to the area. A vascular surgeon who joined the University of Florida after his residency and fellowships, Feezor jumped at the opportunity to have his children grow up near their grandparents. “Halifax Health is a wonderful place to be a physician,” Feezor says. 

His work is part of an affiliation between UF and Halifax Health, with 13 different specialty partnership programs. 

“The idea is to escalate the level of care available here, preventing the need for patients to go to Gainesville,” he says. “People by and large trust their doctors here, and I think some of that is the reputation of Halifax Health and UF Health.” 

He says the collaboration within the organizations, and between the administration and the clinicians, is a strength. 

Feezor’s three sons attend Spruce Creek High School, and he enjoys being part of their community athletic groups. 

“Daytona Beach is very much a family community, and I think of Halifax Health that way, too,” he says. “It is a wonderfully small town with big resources. No matter how stressful my day is – and vascular surgery can be stressful – when I cross the Halifax River and look at the ocean, roll down my windows and smell the salt air, life gets a little bit better.” 

Investing for the Future 

“I grew up in Ormond Beach,” says Jim Flatley, president and CEO of Recruitment Reimagined. “I was raised here, so I have a unique perspective on the culture of the community. This area supports a multitude of lifestyles, from suburban estates to beachfront bungalows and countryside ranches.” 

Flatley’s firm recruits highly specialized clinicians, from primary care to neurosurgery, anesthesia, neurology, obstetrics-gynecology and more. 

“The quality of health care in this area has soared,” Flatley says. “We have some sub-specialists right here in our backyard that rival those at the largest academic medical centers.” 

Flatley focuses on building the medical workforce by developing close partnerships with area health care organizations, other recruiters and physicians. His goal is to make the pathway to employment for physicians as seamless as possible. 

“We work to educate those who are considering relocating here, to help them understand the community,” he says. “We try to cover all the bases, from commute times to cultural considerations.” 

The primary objective, he says, is to ensure highly qualified providers and their families become a part of the community and provide excellent health care in Daytona Beach and Volusia County.

“Every time we bring a physician into this market, there’s a good chance they’re going to provide services to someone I love,” Flatley says. “It’s really great to wake up every day and know I’m helping improve the quality of health care in my community.”