Preventing HIV/AIDS

The Guardian
By Shane Bailey, MBA/HCM, MPharm, Director of Community Initiatives, WellFlorida Council Inc.

Florida ranks third in the nation for the number of people living with HIV. Of the 101,456 persons with HIV, 49 percent are African American. Although these numbers are discouraging, it is important to know that HIV cases in Florida have decreased significantly among all races and ethnicities over the last 10 years, but there is much we can do, individually and as a community, to prevent the disease from spreading.

HIV is spread […]

The Guardian
By Lauren Pollock, North Central Florida Cancer Control Collaborative Coordinator for the WellFlorida Council

Throughout the United States, African-Americans endure far worse health outcomes than other ethnicities for problems such as diabetes and heart disease. In the North Central Florida community, however, it is cancer outcomes for African-Americans that are among our region’s most pressing health issues.

According to a report by WellFlorida Council, a nonprofit health organization in Gainesville, the death rate of cancer in African-American residents in North Central Florida is higher than the […]

WellFlorida News Release
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (April 17, 2013)—A new High Impact Prevention (HIP) project by WellFlorida Council is aiming to decrease the spread of HIV and link HIV-infected individuals to prevention and care services in Alachua, Marion and Putnam counties.

Everyone’s Doing It, It’s Everyone’s Business and ARTAS are components of the HIP project, which is funded by the Department of Health.

Everyone’s Doing It promotes condom use and HIV testing throughout the three counties. Testing is confidential and teens do not need parental consent to be tested […]

Gainesville Sun, March 24, 2013
By Kristine Crane

Michael Perry thought he had food poisoning last summer. He doesn’t remember what he’d eaten, but he remembers cramps so bad that in the middle of the night he went to the emergency room in Keystone Heights.

Perry said he has an “old school” philosophy about his health: “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

Perry felt broken that night.

But it wasn’t from anything he’d eaten.

It was something he didn’t know much about: colon cancer. At 56, Perry knew he […]

Gainesville Sun, March 24, 2013
By Kristine Crane

African-Americans in the 11 counties comprising North Central Florida have higher rates of cancer mortality than other African-Americans throughout the rest of the state, according to the North Central Florida Cancer Control Collaborative Report released in January.

“Disparities between the races are well-documented,” said Jeff Feller, CEO of the WellFlorida Council, which produced the report. “We’re woefully worse off in our black population in almost every form of cancer.”

The overall age-adjusted death rate (which removes the confounding influence of […]

Washington Post, March 10, 2013
By Michael A. Fletcher

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — This prosperous community is the picture of the good and ever longer life — just what policymakers have in mind when they say that raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare is a fair way to rein in the nation’s troublesome debt.

The county’s plentiful and well-tended golf courses teem with youthful-looking retirees. The same is true on the county’s 41 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches, abundant tennis courts and extensive […]

WCJB TV-20, Janauary 22, 2013
It’s a disease that translates across the globe…but has left behind a devastating trail right here in North Central Florida.
  A new study shows our area has a higher death rate for those with cancer—higher than anywhere else in the state.

See the whole story

Citrus County Chronicle
By Chris Van Ormer

INVERNESS — Not all county residents who are eligible for Medicaid, a federal health care program, are getting its benefits, a group of care providers said Thursday.

“For Medicaid, the county has a lower rate than the state rate,” said Lindsey Redding, associate planner with the WellFlorida Council, a private, nonprofit organization that is state-designated to offer health consultancy for clients and projects.

“Overall, 15.6 percent of the county’s residents are eligible to receive Medicaid, which is lower than the state […]

WUFT News, January 16, 2013
With the county ranking in the bottom 25 percent based on factors such as chronic illness and death, according to a news release, a new awareness program is necessary, said Marion County’s Health Department spokesman Craig Ackerman.

Marion County partners are developing the Community Health Improvement Plan, also known as CHIP, which will raise health care awareness throughout the county.

This is not just another health care project, Ackerman insisted.

“The first thing we are planning to do is to bring together a group […]

WCJB TV-20, January 15, 2012
Its a New Year’s resolution for the entire county; to get in shape.

Officials with the Health Department, United Way, WellFlorida Council and other agencies gathered to talk about key health issues in Marion County.

A study showed that Marion County is ranked 17th in Clinic Care Delivery.
But in other categories such as death rates, Marion County came in at number 48.

These folks think that building partnerships and awareness can improve the overall health of Marion County.

“It’s not about more hours […]