Dr. Antonio Luis (L) and Dr. Tony Trunzo at Inclusive Care Group and Bell Pharmacy’s new Tampa facility. (Photo courtesy ICG)
TAMPA | Inclusive Care Group and Bell Pharmacy opened a new Tampa location Sept. 24, welcoming supporters to celebrate their shared commitment to LGBTQ+ health care.
ICG, led by Dr. Antonio Luis, previously opened its Pinellas Park location in Sept. 2023 to offer “healthcare beyond the binary.” Bell Pharmacy and CEO Dr. Tony Trunzo began offering LGBTQ+ services in St. Petersburg just two months prior.
“My major takeaway from our first year of business is that ultimately, this is a service business,” Trunzo says. “It may seem like we sell prescriptions, but we are selling a service … it’s about creating an environment where patients feel safe and cared for.
“I think a lot of medical practices, and just the medical space in general right now is overlooking that,” he continues. “It’s become a very commercialized space, and we’re trying to bring back a little bit of care to the area.”
It’s an ideology that appeals to Luis, who began working with Trunzo in November before opening their shared space last month. While their entities remain separate, he says their missions have always aligned.
“I’m a minority. I’m in the LGBTQ community and I’m also Hispanic — and through my career, I’ve worked for several places, big hospital systems, an LGBTQ community center, and I noticed that people got lost in the numbers,” he explains. “I also noticed that a lot of my friends got lost in it by not getting appropriate care, by people not following standards or … doing the bare minimum to get through the day.
“I finally got to a position in my life that I was tired of dealing with corporations and tired of them telling me that I’m not supposed to do my job well,” Luis continues. “I said, ‘I think I can do this better than you all, and I’m going to give this a shot.’”
That coincided with the height of the Mpox endemic. Luis began working with the Department of Health to serve patients other local facilities would not, offering telemedicine before opening his two offices.
“Tony really put his head out there for me,” Luis says of the Tampa expansion. “He has faith in what Inclusive Care Group is doing … and the queer and transgender patients that have come to my practice and trusted me with all their care have really pushed me to do this even more.”
The Tampa site is divided between Bell’s full pharmacy and ICG’s medical practice, which has three exam rooms. Trunzo and Luis say the expansion was made possible with support from the Tampa Housing Authority, the City of Tampa, the Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber and others, and that centering LGBTQ+ care is just as critical as ever. Especially given Florida’s anti-transgender healthcare laws.
“I practice medicine. I don’t practice medicine based on the color of your skin, religion, who you love, what you look like, who you feel like. I practice medicine — and I expect everyone to do the same, but I know they don’t,” Luis says. “There are still providers that send people away when they have Mpox, providers that don’t know about PrEP or understand sexuality and STDs or are scared to talk about sex.”
“A lot of us want a world where any type of patient could go anywhere and get the same level of care, but ultimately, everybody specializes in something,” Trunzo adds. “There are certain issues that the LGBTQ+ community faces that other communities don’t, and it’s our job to make sure that those issues are addressed.”
View photos from the grand opening below:
Bell Pharmacy and Inclusive Care Group’s new location is located at 1246 Ray Charles Blvd. in Tampa. For more information about their other offices and details about the services they offer, visit BellSpecialtyPharmacy.com and ICGFL.com.
