A Message from the Administrator

It is my honor that I present to you the 2016-2018 Clay County Community Health
Improvement Plan (CHIP) Annual Report. While the CHIP is a community driven and
collectively owned health improvement plan, the Florida Department of Health in Clay County
(DOH-Clay) is charged with providing administrative support, tracking and collecting data, and
preparing the annual report. The activities and collaborative efforts of the DOH-Clay and
community partners will be reflected in this report. This document will serve as a progress
review of the strategies that were developed and the activities that have been implemented.
It was an extremely productive first year of the CHIP working closely with the members of the
Clay Community Health Improvement Plan committees to make health improvements in the
(3) identified priorities:

(1) Mental health
(2) Access to healthcare
(3) Healthy lifestyles & behaviors

These ongoing priority areas are proving to be a challenging task but the health department
and the dedicated partners and stakeholders are achieving remarkable success through
collaboration and are working well together to fill the gaps needed to provide quality and
timely health outcomes.

The CHIP has been a priority this past year and the three workgroups have made incredible
progress in this important and life-changing strategies to improve population health and
access to services for the underserved. This annual report represents all the excellent work
accomplished from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017.

Thank you to all the community partners, non-profit organizations, community leaders and
citizens that worked together this past year to make Clay healthy. We cannot achieve these
successes alone and appreciate the support of all of our partners. I personally want to also
thank our staff for their hard work at continuing to keep our community focused. It’s been a
great year and I am confident the next year will be even more successful.

Heather Huffman, MS, RDN, LD/N, IBCLC