Archive for the
‘Other’ Category

Suwannee Democrat
By Joyce Marie Taylor

Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Mark Lander offered a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners on a community health improvement plan at their meeting on Tuesday, July 16.

“Part of our Hamilton County steering committee for health is a project that has been going on for about two and a half or three years, with steering committee meetings looking at health issues within Hamilton County and ways to address those issues,” said Lander. “More specifically, what we can do to […]

Gainesville Sun
By Christopher Curry

Tuesday’s conflicting court decisions have cast a cloud of uncertainty over the future of President Barack Obama’s health care law in Florida and about $4.8 billion in subsidies the state’s low- and middle-income residents could use to purchase coverage.

More than 983,000 state residents have health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and 91 percent of them receive financial assistance through the type of tax subsidies a Washington, D.C., federal appeals court panel said could go only to people in states with […]

Palatka Daily News
By Brandon D. Oliver

A state medical organization earlier this week released health and socioeconomic statistics comparing nearly 20 counties to state averages.

Putnam County was among Alachua, Bradford, Lake and 12 other counties that were in the study released by the WellFlorida Council.

The study reported that in Putnam, the average teen birth rate is more than two times higher than the state average, and the average number of emergency room visits in the county is higher than the state average.

The study, which can […]

WellFlorida News Release

GAINESVILLE, Fla.  (July 8, 2014) — Health data for each county in North Central Florida and the collective region has recently been published on WellFlorida Council’s website (www.wellflorida.org).

WellFlorida, the region’s health planning council, provides annual county health profiles to help residents and community leaders get a snapshot of the health status of each county and how it compares to the state.

The data represents the health status of over 1.6 million residents across 16 counties: Alachua, Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Hernando, Lafayette, […]

Suwannee Democrat
By Joyce Marie Taylor

The Florida Department of Health-Hamilton County held their monthly Strategic Health Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday, June 24, and an impressive line up of local and regional community leaders were in attendance, along with Jeff Feller, representing the WellFlorida Council.

In attendance were Mark Lander, Johnny Bullard, Nancy Sult, Brenda Brown and Aurelio Perea, all from the health department; Michelle Waterman, Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park; Pam Lake, FDLRS/Gateway; Grace McDonald, Hamilton County Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Coalition; Susan […]

Gainesville Sun
By Courtney Lindwall

If Bobby Davis were to write a story about AIDS, he said he would call it “Young Men With Canes.”

It would be the story of young men with short lives, of disease without treatment, of sickness with shame. Eventually, it would be the story of progress.

For nearly 30 years, Davis has led the fight in Alachua County agrainst the virus that at times has seemed unbeatable. In that job, he was an advocate, community leader, mentor and friend.

This year will be […]

WellFlorida News Release

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (April 15, 2014)— Julie Moderie has been promoted to chief operations officer of WellFlorida Council, Inc., a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) located in Gainesville. WellFlorida is the state designated local health planning council for North Central Florida and specializes in health consultancy for clients and projects throughout the state. As the program director for the Healthy Start program, Moderie has seven years of service with the organization, and has advanced from senior planner in 2007 to planning manager in 2010. In her current […]

Suwannee Democrat
By Bryant Thigpen

Suwannee County has been ranked 53 out of 67 counties in Florida regarding the overall health status of the county, according to recent data released by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Suwannee County’s ranking did improve from last year which was ranked at 54.

Union County was ranked this year at 67.

According to a press release by the Florida Department of Health, this study highlights the many community factors that influence health. These rankings are a snapshot of […]

Special to the Gainesville Sun

For most Americans, open enrollment for the health insurance marketplace ended on March 31. However, there are some special cases that allow consumers to finish their insurance application in the marketplace if they were not able to do so before the deadline.

It is important for consumers to fully understand their options when it comes to completing their enrollment, especially given the ever-changing climate that has been health care reform.

Despite information throughout the media, the open enrollment period for the health insurance […]

GTN News

There’s still a lot of confusion about the healthcare enrollment deadline. The Obama Administration announced a deadline extension, but was it extended for you?

GTN’s Hailey Holloway has what you need to know to avoid a fine from the IRS.

“We didn’t expect something like this to happen!,” said Lauren Vagelakos, an associate planner at WellFlorida Council and the coordinator of navigators in North Central Florida.

If you’re confused about the deadline to sign up for healthcare, you’re not alone. Even the federally-employed navigators had to figure […]