A.G. Gancarski
The final Lenny Curry transition team budget meeting of Thursday morning, headed by new CAO Sam Mousa, involves a meeting with the Department of Health.
11:38: A discussion of Health Department initiatives, in preventive care and other areas. Mousa mentions that people don’t think about the Health Department until a public health emergency hits. There could be better coordination and communication going forward, and integration into administration communication and priorities.
11:39: Charles Griggs clears up a misconception between programs and grants in the documentation.
11:41: The office is moving to the Ed Ball Building. There will be an allocation from the building for the space they will occupy. This will allow them to expand services, and will remove them from paying rent at their current facility.
11:44: The facility discussion continues. IT is being moved because the previous facility was unsuitable, especially relative to temperature control. The current space is $1M a year. The space is not being efficiently used.
11:50: In other counties, administrative space is provided to health departments. In Duval County, no such accommodation is required.
11:51: Money saved on rent would go back into services, especially given funding decline from LIP. Services are under where they need to be, relative to targeted immunizations, juvenile and young adult STD prevention, and so on. They’ve cross-trained, done more with less, and are now at critical mass.
11:58: Mousa: “What do you provide to the poor that Shands does not?”
11:58: Adult primary care and clinical services; an on-site pharmacy. The Hospital Emergency Room Alternatives Program. They augment what UF Health provides, taking care of the same folks, just at different places on the continuum.
