March 29, 2024
Building healthier communities one ZIP code at a time

Photo: Jon M. Fletcher

Once a flourishing community, Jacksonville's Eastside now constitutes one of Florida's poorest ZIP codes.

Florida Trend Health Care

Building healthier communities one ZIP code at a time

| 4/18/2023

Florida Trend Exclusive
Building healthier communities one ZIP code at a time

Suzanne Pickett was caught by surprise at a baby shower she helped throw for Jacksonville residents in need of help last fall. The CEO of the Historic Eastside Community Development Corp. and other hosts had snacks and gift cards for about 40 new moms and mothers-to-be, and they crossed their fingers that so many would come. They were way off on the headcount. They had 168. “There was a line literally around the building,” Pickett recalls. “I just had no idea of the challenge and the resources needed.” [Source: Florida Trend]

Florida among several states confronting medical debt that's bankrupting millions

Lawmakers in at least a dozen states and the U.S. Congress have pushed legislation to curtail the financial burden that’s pushed many into untenable situations: forgoing needed care for fear of added debt, taking a second mortgage to pay for cancer treatment or slashing grocery budgets to keep up with payments. Some of the bills would create medical debt relief programs or protect personal property from collections, while others would lower interest rates, keep medical debt from tanking credit scores or require greater transparency in the costs of care. [Source: AP]

Florida Trend Exclusive
Health care landscape: Overcoming obstacles

Physician Kelli Tice needs only to look back one generation in her family to understand the devastation wrought by health inequities: Her grandmother died young from a preventable disease. “My mother was born and raised here in Jacksonville, in the New Town area. She was a nurse; she graduated from Brewster-Duval School of Nursing that was created because Black physicians in the area needed support staff; they needed nurses,” Tice says. “My grandmother died at the age of 57 from diabetes. She was on dialysis. My mother, who was a nurse, lived in fear of her 57th birthday.” The story illustrates how communities over time can come to see disease as inevitable. [Source: Florida Trend]

Florida lawmakers look to expand KidCare eligibility to thousands of children

The state Senate and House are moving forward with a plan that is expected to lead to thousands of additional children receiving subsidized health insurance coverage through the KidCare program. The Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved its version of the bill (SB 246), filed by Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami. The full House is scheduled to take up its version (HB 121) on Thursday. Under KidCare, families who do not qualify for Medicaid can pay $15 or $20 a month in premiums to insure children. [Source: News Service of Florida]

Florida medical students fear lack of training under 6-week abortion ban, seek schooling in other states

Brittany Perry is a medical student in Orlando, Florida. Her goal is to become an obstetrician-gynecologist one day, but to get the full training she needs, she says she will have to leave the Sunshine State. "I don't feel like I'm able to do my job and fulfill the oath that I've taken as a future physician," Perry said. Perry isn’t alone. Professors and medical students alike worry that Florida is narrowing options for health care for even more than patients. [Source: FOX 13 News]

ALSO AROUND FLORIDA:

› How Tampa General is using AI to rehab stroke patients
A key part of a new rehabilitation regimen is hourlong sessions strapped to the BIONIK InMotion ARM/HAND robotic device. The technology, comprised of the mechanical arm connected to a computer console, uses artificial intelligence to help retrain patients’ motor skills. It can be used to treat loss of mobility from strokes as well as spinal cord and brain injuries.

› How Collier’s Hispanic population experiences health care disparities
Hispanic and Latino immigrants make up one of Collier County’s largest yet most underrepresented communities. As of 2020, more than one-fourth of Collier’s population was born outside of the United States. Still, immigrants in the area face numerous socioeconomic challenges — including access to health care.

› UM researchers suggest it is possible for new mothers to pass COVID to their babies
A new study by scientists in Miami suggests that, in rare instances, a pregnant mother with COVID-19 can transmit the virus to the baby via the placenta — which can have serious consequences for the infants. Most pregnant people who contract COVID-19 go on to have healthy babies who leave the hospital without complications.

› Nurse pleads guilty to replacing fentanyl with saline at a Jensen Beach surgery center
A nurse who previously worked at a Florida outpatient surgical center has been convicted of stealing fentanyl and replacing the powerful pain medication with saline. Catherine Shannon Dunton, 54, pleaded guilty Tuesday to tampering with a consumer product in Fort Pierce federal court, according to court records. She faces up to 10 years in prison at a June 27 hearing.

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