- September 17, 2024
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Flagler Cares, a non-profit organization focused on a providing an expansive safety net for social and health services in Flagler County, is poised to celebrate its 10th anniversary next year.
Chief Executive Officer Carrie Baird has been with the organization since before it became a non-profit in June, 2015. At the time she was the only staff member as a part-time employee.
Now Flagler Cares has a staff of 16 and has expanded from a cramped office space to 10,000 square feet at City Market Place in Palm Coast. Flaagler Cares shares the space with seven other partner organizations under the umbrella of the Flagler County Village.
Ten years ago, Flagler Cares was the brain child of Barbara Revels, then a Flagler County Commissioner, Ken Mattison then the CEO of Florida Hospital Flagler (now AdventHealth Palm Coast) and Patrick Johnson, then the administrator of the Florida Department of Health-Flagler. Revels continues to be the vice president on Flagler Cares’ board of directors.
“They thought the health and human services sector could work better together,” Baird said. “And try to make sure that people didn’t fall through the cracks because there wasn’t an organization that could meet their needs.”
One of the first projects Flagler Cares took on was suicide prevention because at the time Flagler County was No. 1 in the state in per capita suicides.
“The school system said, ‘Please, can you help us?’ because it’s not a school issue, it’s a community issue,” Baird said. “So we did some work around that, convening people, sharing data, talking about solutions. And that turned into a formal project that was funded by a grant to do a whole year-long planning process around what do kids need, what are their behavioral health needs so they don't end up in deep end services or Juvenile Justice?
“And then we turned that year of planning into an implementation grant, and we were able to bring $400,000 a year to the community to focus on youth behavioral health services. So that was kind of our first win in capacity building.”
That grant is still active today with the award of a third three-year grant cycle that starts next month. Flagler Cares partners with Flagler Schools and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office along with a network of providers. The grant pays for coordination and monitoring of kids who have severe needs. It also funds two positions in the Sheriff’s Office known as the Behavioral Response Unit who go out with deputies to de-escalate crisis situations and follow up with care coordination for substance use, mental health or other services.
Through the grant, over 1,000 students a year are screened for mental health issues, Baird said.
Two years ago, the game changer for Flagler Cares came in the form of a $1 million a year donation for 10 years from Flagler Cares board member Dr. Stephen Bickel, who also pledged an endowment that would follow the funding at the end of the 10 years.
“He gave us an opportunity to amp up our desire to try new things,” Baird said. “I think that we are not a risk adverse organization. If there's a problem and we think we have a solution, we're going to try it. We did that before Dr. Bickel provided additional funding — through grants. So Dr. Bickel’s funding gave us an opportunity to do that with less risk where we could try to build new programs, new strategies, new initiatives based on the problems we are presented with daily by people who come to the office.”
Flagler Cares' expanded office now provides mental health services and Coordinated Opioid Recovery (CORe). They host quarterly help nights where several organizations come in and provide their services on the spot.
“They’ll screen you, enroll you and provide services that night,” said Rachel Gerow, Flagler Cares’ chief operating officer.
One Voice for Volusia has merged with Flagler Cares and now that organization is able to provide substance prevention programs in both counties, said Kristy Amburgey, One Voice for Volusia’s executive director.
Besides taking on big projects, Flagler Cares helps people navigate Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps and the Health Insurance Marketplace.
Even the Department of Children and Families, which manages Medicaid and food stamps, sends people to Flagler Cares because they can use their computers and scan documents with help from the staff.
Flagler Cares even helps people through Social Security disability applications, a process that can take longer than a year.
“I think it’s a unique thing that we're doing in this kind of general support of people,” Baird said. “Most agencies don't do that. They have a niche, they have an eligibility criteria, a population they work with. And if you don't fit into that, they can't help you. We don't set those parameters. We're going to help anybody who comes in as long as we have the resources to do it.”
