Flagler County Health Department Administrator Patrick Johnson is resigning at the end of the month to take a public health post in North Carolina as county departments in Florida see their roles shift and diminish.
patrick johnson
Flu Visits to Flagler ER Spike 33% Over Last Season, But Officials Aren’t Calling It an Epidemic
Flu visits to the ER were especially pronounced in November. They leveled off a bit in December. But the first week of January saw the numbers spike again, especially compared to last year,
Faith Coleman, Founder of Flagler County Free Clinic and Champion of Grit, Is Dead at 60
Even as she battled a cancer that kept recurring over the past 11 years, Faith Coleman created in the Flagler County Free Clinic one of the county’s most crucial and enduring institutions, which a board of directors now vows to preserve in her memory.
Preparedness Before Hype: Flagler Emergency Responders Form Team With Ebola in Mind
An “incident management team” was created to respond to any infectious disease emergency in Flagler, with Emergency Management, Florida Hospital Flagler and the the Health Department leading the response, should one ever be necessary.
Misleading TV Report Raises Overblown Fears About “Flesh-Eating” Bacteria on Beaches
Flagler County Health Department Director Patrick Johnson and his staff have been fielding calls from tourists worried about reports of “flesh-eating” bacteria on local beaches. And they’ve been telling them to relax: the reports are misleading and outright false.
Flagler Democrats Will Demonstrate For Obamacare in Front of Health Department Tuesday
The noon demonstration by the Flagler County Democratic Club marks the first day of Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, and protests Florida’s sustained opposition, and various obstacles, to the law, including the prohibition against use of local health departments to make it easier for the uninsured to get coverage.
Flagler Health Department Chief Defends Ban on Navigators, Citing Privacy and Logistics
Flagler County Health Department Director Patrick Johnson defended the state’s controversial ban from DOH property against outreach workers called Navigators, who help uninsured people sign up for subsidized health coverage under Obamacare–a law Florida officials have actively and chronically obstructed.
Flagler Health Department Launches “Gospel” to Combat Twin Killers: Tobacco and Obesity
Two initiatives will be the centerpiece of the Flagler Health Department’s strategy in the coming year: Tobacco Free Flagler and an effort to reduce the incidence of overweight and obese residents through more awareness of good nutrition, BMI and healthier activities.
As if Flu Wasn’t Enough: Flagler on Alert For New Strain of “Winter Vomiting Disease”
It’s not here yet. But it’s spreading fast: a new, virulent strain of norovirus, an intestinal and very contagious virus that causes projectile vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms, and that has the Flagler County Health Department cautioning schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other such places to beware.
Shrinking Flagler Health Department Looks to Community Care As Neediest Alternative
The $700,000-a-year federal grant would open a community health center focused on the uninsured and providing the sort of care people seek out more expensively in emergency rooms.
Flagler’s Quality of Health Ranks It 17th in the State; Smoking and Obesity a Problems
Department of Health Administrator Patrick Johnson cautions that Flagler’s health rankings should not be overdramatized–for good or ill–but that they still point to trends that should clarify where the county’s health priorities should be.