HEALTH

Vital Signs in Bay County

by: Michelle Flaat, Executive Director of the Emerald Coast Medical Association

Let’s be honest. Everyone wants to take a peek. A glance at the monitor, the test result printout, the MRI report, or any other vital sign or indicator to see if we can determine our own health status. Human nature is to want to know, without waiting, what our prognosis is. However, this usually only increases blood pressure and heart rate since we really need the expertise and interpretation provided by our physician or a team of physicians and highly trained healthcare providers.

Bay and the surrounding counties have suffered significant attacks on our health and our ability to provide stellar healthcare. We weathered a Cat 5 hurricane followed by a pandemic. That combination might have been fatal for communities of weaker genetic makeup.

The reality is these attacks on our healthcare systems resulted in the hemorrhaging of resources. Hospitals were handicapped, physicians were displaced, and healthcare staff suffered. Patients needed increasing levels of care and wanted certainty and a definitive timeline for healing; to know when and where care was available. Everyone wanted a peek at what their personal and our collective prognosis would be.

However, what most of you didn’t see happening behind the closed doors of tattered and sometimes makeshift offices, surgical suites, healthcare board rooms, and even temporary healthcare facilities was the birth of a viable and even more robust healthcare system in Bay County.

The next 48 months and beyond will include unbelievable change and growth in our healthcare systems. Resources are coming our way. Ascension Sacred Heart, HCA Gulf Coast, and Tallahassee Memorial Hospital are working hard and spending capital on building systems to provide care with a regional reach. Increased state-of-the-art medical office space by the end of 2024, increased hospital beds by 2027, and promises of new partnerships with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital have provided an infusion of needed resources.

The hospital system is not the whole being of a community healthcare system; it is part of it, a critical part, but not the heart. A healthy and effective healthcare system needs a strong foundation. The heart and soul of this community’s healthcare system are the dedication and loyalty of our local physicians.

The history of healthcare in this community began with a small group of doctors with vision who met in the back of station wagons, founded the Medical Society, policed each other regarding ethics and quality of care as well as built small local Hospitals that companies bought, and they were the seeds of our current Hospitals.

After the hurricane, we lost as many as 50 physicians from the system of care in our area. Certain specialties were scarce, and the heart of our community was simply working at an unsustainable pace. To many of you, that number or vital statistic seems scary. It was a critical value that needed urgent treatment. Together the leadership of Emerald Coast Medical Association, the Florida Medical Association, our local elected officials, and specific business community members worked on a care plan. Bay County's recent growth spurt has also caused some growing pains, but I am happy to announce the prescribed therapies have made an impact, vital signs are improving, and rehabilitation is on track! I believe our county medical system is in a transition—a transition to a stronger and more flexible system of care.

Some vital signs are still unstable, especially at the federal level. The culmination of government intrusion and the corporatization of healthcare is moving us into a wholesale system. Proposed payment cuts threaten the business of medicine. Statewide, the recent expansion of medical tort is increasing costs. Regulatory burdens that grew during the Covid crisis are creating undue strain on the practice of medicine.

At the local level, our medical infrastructure vital signs are more robust than ever. The Emerald Coast Medical Association added over 60 new members to our association this year. Medical Students from the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine are here learning from our physician members. Some choose to stay and practice medicine in our community, creating organic recruitment.

So, here’s a sneak peek at the prognosis of healthcare in our community. The future looks bright. The vital signs of growth are strong. The heart of our system, the physicians, are involved and optimistic and spend countless hours advocating for and providing the highest quality patient care possible. Just wait until you see the full results!

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