Dr. Cassia Portugal began practicing in Orlando as a solo practitioner. After finishing her second residency in Iowa she decided to open her own practice in 1998. She rented a small house in the Winter Park area and remodeled that to be a little office. There were three exam rooms that soon turned to be not enough to Dr. Portugal. Everyone wanted to become her patient. She was so dedicated to all patients and everyone that was coming for the first time would refer her to at least 4 to 5 other patients. In 2000 Dr. Portugal could not any more accommodate all patients at her office in Winter Park, so, she began looking for a new location. She was blessed when she found a building that was for sale in which she would be able to expand her practice. This building was a two story floor and she would be able to use the whole first floor. She was so excited that she would have 8 exam rooms. She finally moved in November 2000. Those were very busy times, so many patients to see. That was the time for Dr. Portugal to make another decision. She could not be alone anymore; she had to become a Corporation. First Choice Pediatrics was born. It was very hard to become a corporation. She had a lot of work in organizing her business, hiring employees, selecting other doctors to assist the patients. Everything turned out to be so successful that by the end of 2002 she had to add the second floor of the building to her corporation, and finally have separate areas for well and sick patients, and also the possibility of developing specialties inside her own office. This is how First Choice Pediatrics is now organized. It has a large crew responsible for the patients: from the reception clerks, nurse staff, referral coordinators, medical records staff, administrative manager, medical manager, treasurer, billing clerk to our providers. Those people work as a team in order to provide the best care for all the patients that are assigned to this office. First Choice Pediatrics has grown since the very beginning and it is still growing, but what will never change is the quality of attention Dr. Cassia Portugal wants to provide to every patient since birth until they are already adults.   Copyright © 2003 - First Choice Pediatrics