Nassau County health officer reports growth in school, WIC and clinic services; septic program stay extended

Dr. Kara Gloop, administrator and county health officer for the Florida Department of Health in Nassau County, told the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 20 that the department’s budget for fiscal year 2024–25 is about $5.6 million and is funded roughly in thirds by local, state and federal sources.

Gloop said the health department provided more than 90,000 school-related services during the fiscal year and increased Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program participation by about 7.5 percent. She said the WIC program also added clinic days and opened a walk-in site on the island, which has served more than 3,000 clients.

“Healthy Start is our home-based visitation initiative,” Gloop said, noting the program provided almost 7,000 services to 347 clients. She described services ranging from car-seat checks to case management and care coordination for pregnant women and families with young children.

Gloop reported increases in clinical services overall — “we’ve increased our services by 8.6% and our visits by 1.4%” — and that the department’s dental program served close to 2,000 clients and remains the county’s only Medicaid dental provider.

On environmental health, Gloop said the department completed thousands of inspections across drinking-water, pools, food establishments, tanning, tattooing and congregate care; she said the department will expand beach water testing from six sites back to 11 as funding allows.

Gloop also described a pending statewide transfer of on-site sewage (OSTDS/septic) services to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “We were anticipated and slated to be moving all of our services to the Department of Environmental Protection in September,” she said, but the department learned in July that DEP did not receive sufficient legislative budget dollars to hire full-time staff to assume the responsibility. “So we will keep our OSTDS or our septic tank program at least through July of this next year,” she added.

Commissioners thanked Gloop for the update and praised the department’s community engagement work, including more than 80 outreach events over the past year and a community health assessment that received participation from more than 5,000 residents.

The presentation concluded with staff noting work on IT upgrades, facilities maintenance requests and collaborative plans for a county health warehouse at the Musselwhite location, which will be part of the department’s upcoming core contract extensions.