Madam Speaker, this Black History Month, I am celebrating Tampa’s health care heroes. Today I rise in immense gratitude for the life of service of retired pastor, Dr. Patrick Emmanuel Vincent, who because of his vision and leadership, approximately 1,500 of our neighbors of the East Tampa community have a medical home and access to free health care through the Calvary Community Clinic. Born in 1948 in the southeasterly Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, our community is fortunate that for the past nearly 20 years he has called Tampa Bay his home and for his pastoral service leading the congregation of Mount Calvary Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church since 2001 until his retirement in 2016. 

Dr. Vincent always wanted to be a minister of the gospel as far back as he could recall. He started his preparation for ministry at the University of the Southern Caribbean in Maracas Valley, a few miles northeast of his childhood home. He then attended Mandeville, Jamaica to complete his bachelor's degree at the Northern Caribbean University. He graduated with a master’s degree in Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University in Michigan. He completed his Doctor of Ministry degree at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. His pastoral ministry took him to Nashville and Chattanooga, TN, as well as Birmingham, AL and Orlando, FL. He became a renowned church builder and church growth specialist. As the senior pastor of Mount Calvary SDA Church in Tampa, Dr. Vincent led his congregation into their beautiful new sanctuary and reconstructed the church’s school. 

But Dr. Vincent’s vision went beyond serving the congregation of his church. He led a survey within the East Tampa community where his church is located to determine the most critical need. In response to the growing uninsured population in this area, the Calvary Community Clinic was established in 2015 to provide quality, compassionate health care. Dr. Vincent raised funding through Mount Calvary Church endowments and membership contributions, community initiatives, donations from corporations as well as grants. Today, Dr. Vincent serves as the chair of the Board of Directors for the clinic and a volunteer staff of certified physicians, physicians assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, counselors, social workers, and clerical and support personnel provide free healthcare and health education services to the uninsured, underserved and working poor individuals and families of East Tampa and Hillsborough County.

Dr. Vincent is happily married to Judy Williams and together, they have committed their lives in service to God and their neighbors.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of a grateful nation and Tampa Bay community, I am proud to recognize Dr. Patrick Emmanuel Vincent, and his lifetime of servant leadership, spiritual guidance and his entrepreneurial spirit to uplift and grow his congregations and beyond that, his community at large.