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DOH-BAY TO RECEIVE $320K FROM THE FLORIDA BLUE FOUNDATION FOR MOBILE MEDICAL EFFORTS

February 03, 2020

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The Florida Department of Health in Bay County, DOH-Bay, is the proud recipient of a Florida Blue Foundation grant. Over the course of four years, DOH-Bay will receive $320,000. Funding will expand services on the mobile medical unit. This will allow for services and an educational clinic to provide care for underserved persons in Bay County. This grant will focus on persons living with diabetes, hypertension, HIV, and other chronic diseases. Collaboration with interdepartmental partners and community partners will address the ongoing needs of the community population.

“We are extremely pleased that the Florida Blue Foundation is providing additional funding for the mobile medical unit”, said Sandon S. Speedling, MHS, CPM, Administrator/Health Officer. “We believe, especially following Hurricane Michael, that providing care where people are can be critical for those with chronic diseases.”

The Florida Department of Health in Bay County will choose a minimum of six locations that are in underserved areas with persons with high rates of chronic disease. The mobile medical unit will visit these locations at least twice annually. Although DOH-Bay does not provide primary care, we will be offering screenings, education, and referrals to partners who do provide primary medical services at no cost or reduced rates. Our goal is to help bring access to care and health education to those in need who are underinsured or without insurance.

Life Management Center is our first partner for the mobile medical unit expansion program and we will be going to their location quarterly. Our first event at Life Management Center will be Thursday, February 6 from 10 am – 2 pm. The address is 525 15th Street, Panama City, FL 32406.

In addition, we hope that the program will improve referral processes internally and externally to connect people with a warm hand off to the healthcare they need. We also believe this will further strengthen partnerships with DOH-Bay and improve the Local Public Health System as a whole.

For more information about this program, contact Marsha Sumner, BSN, RN, Senior Community Health Nursing Supervisor, Diabetes Services Program at 850-252-9652, email Marsha.Sumner@FLHealth.gov or visit our website at Bay.FloridaHealth.gov.

About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.

About Florida Blue Foundation

Florida Blue Foundation enables healthy communities by making grants, building coalitions and rewarding best practices. More than three million people in Florida have received direct health services as a result of grants made to nonprofit organizations since its founding in 2001. Florida Blue Foundation is a trade name of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation, Inc., an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information about the Foundation, please visit www.floridabluefoundation.com.

 

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