AdventHealth outlines multi‑year partnership with Volusia County Schools

AdventHealth officials told the Volusia County School Board on July 28 that a multi‑year partnership with Volusia County Schools has expanded services aimed at student health and education. Rob Dininger, chief executive of AdventHealth’s East Florida Division, said the relationship “has been a real joy” and framed the collaboration around reducing chronic absenteeism, supporting athlete health and safety, and creating career pathways for students.

Anna Lohmann, AdventHealth’s executive director of strategic partnerships, described a recent pivot that dedicated $50,000 toward root‑cause work—addressing transportation and food insecurity—and an incentive program the partners credit with a roughly 2.8% drop in chronic absenteeism during the last year. “Some of our funds do go towards rewarding those schools and providing incentives for them reducing chronic absenteeism,” Lohmann said. The group also presented programs ranging from book vending machines tied to attendance incentives to paid internships and career preview events that brought more than 250 students onto hospital campuses this year.

Board members from multiple districts thanked AdventHealth for volunteer efforts, school‑based internships and community feeding programs. Superintendent Dr. Carmen Balgobin noted the partnership “goes beyond those three pillars” and invited AdventHealth to help align new district priorities and program needs.