I would like to thank you all for coming.

Joining me at the podium: To my left is Art Cooper, director of the Leon County Health Department; To my right is Robbin McDougal, of the WeCare Program.

We are here today to make an important announcement that really defines, in my opinion, what Leon County is all about.

We elected officials often boast about our close-knit community that enjoys some of the nation’s most beautiful greenspace and canopy roads. We brag about our two top-notch universities which contributes to Leon County being the most educated county in the state. And as elected officials, we are also proud that we are an open and responsive local government that prides itself on community input and involvement. I am proud to say that these attributes are a reality in Florida’s capital community.

However, there is also a reality here in the capital community that is not so bright or boast-worthy. America has built the most sophisticated medical system in the world, but access to that system is not guaranteed for all citizens. And in this grand county of ours, more than 50,000 people live without health insurance. Of those 50,000, 10,000 are children.

Can you imagine your child breaking his or her arm and having to wait over a weekend to have it set and placed in a cast?  Or can you imagine your spouse coming down with a simple cold that turns into pneumonia and actually threatens his or her life because it was not treated in time?

I’m told by the Vice President of Emergency Operations at TMH that more than 60,000 people visit the emergency room there each year. Of that 60,000, about 30 percent are underinsured, and another 20 percent have no insurance at all. That means that 50 percent of all the people visiting TMH’s emergency room are underinsured or plain uninsured.

This, my friends, is a reality here in our capital community.

And that reality is why we are here today.

Over the past several years, the Leon County Board of County Commissioners has made great strides toward providing health care for indigent residents in Leon County. Today, we announce another giant step toward ensuring that residents receive health care, even if they can’t afford it.

Leon County will receive a $438,000 State Challenge Grant for Primary Health Care to be allocated over three years for its uninsured residents. More than 21 communities statewide applied for the grant. Because of Leon County’s track record of providing episodic and primary health care to uninsured residents, Leon County was one of eight communities awarded the grant.

Overall, the Challenge Grant will help Leon County to provide health care for as many as 3,400 residents over the three-year period. Allow me to elaborate a little on Leon County’s track record.

In 1996 access to primary health care for uninsured, and low-income residents of our community was recognized by our community leaders and elected officials. Co-chaired by myself and Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox, the two commissions created the Indigent Health Care Task Force to study this issue and make a recommendation to both the City and County commissions to address the need.

Some of the findings of this working group were astonishing.

From the work of this group, we know that the uninsured or underinsured people visiting the emergency rooms at both hospitals seek non-emergency care. It was also found that many people wait until their minor illnesses escalate to something major and then visit the emergency rooms. Either way, the visit costs the same: Up to $500 if they were brought to the hospital by an ambulance. Whether it is a non-emergency visit, or an illness that escalated over time, the visit to the emergency room could have been prevented. Either way, it is the rest of the community who picks up the tab.

With this kind of information in hand, the Task Force put forth a final report with a strategy that included implementation of a network with three components:

• Implementation of a local Healthy Kids Initiative.

• Creation of increased capacity for episodic care to result in the diversion of inappropriate use of the hospital emergency rooms, and

• Expansion of traditional primary health care capacity.

The report was accepted and the road to change began.

• In 1997, a Health Care Advisory Council was created to oversee the implementation of this effort.

• In 1998, Leon County established a local Healthy Kids Program that insured approximately 1,000 uninsured children in Leon County.

• Also in 1998, Leon County implemented Care-Net which is a model of health service provision that was unique to Leon County. This program allowed us to build upon primary health services at Bond Community Health Services and the Neighborhood Health Services.

With this Challenge Grant, we will be able to continue our efforts to ensure that ultimately, everyone in Leon County has access to health care. At least that is our goal, and with the caliber of people committed to this project, I am sure we will achieve our goal. We will pursue that goal through our Care-Net Program.

I would like to take this opportunity to reintroduce you to Art Cooper, Director of Leon County’s Health Department, who will explain how Care-Net works and what this Challenge Grant means to this community.

Art. . . .