For many months now, the Florida Department of Health in Okeechobee County has been working with the residents and leaders of Douglas Park on a PACE EH project. The Bureau of Environmental Health adopted the National Association of City and County Health Officials' (NACCHO) Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health - PACE EH. County health departments work within their communities and address environmental health concerns.

Collectively, the county health departments across Florida who have implemented PACE EH in communities have become a national model and provided evidence that communities identify built environment and urban planning issues as environmental health issues.

The Douglas Park PACE EH project is designed to open the lines of communication between the county health department and the Douglas Park residents. We are collecting information to address community concerns and needs brought forth by the residents of the community.

This week the Florida Department of Health in Okeechobee County will be sending postcards to every address in the Douglas Park area. These postcards have a survey link. We ask every member of the community to fill out the survey. This will give the PACE EH team the data and information needed to move forward with outcomes proposals on community driven objectives.

Residents of the community may pick up or drop off a paper copy at Chobee Grocery and/or the Health Department. All surveys need to be completed by June 24, 2020. Results will be forwarded to the Office of Minority Health and Health Equity in Tallahassee with plans to pursue an improvement project.