ST. AUGUSTINE – Governor Rick Scott and the Florida Sterling Council have announced that the Florida Department of Health in St. Johns County (DOH-St. Johns) will receive the prestigious Governor’s Sterling Award for 2015 at the 23rd annual Sterling Conference on June 5, 2015. The Governor’s Sterling Award is the highest award a private or public organization can receive for performance excellence in Florida.

“I am proud and humbled to lead and serve with my team of Public Health Professionals as we are recognized for the third time as a role model organization in the State of Florida,” said Dr. Dawn Allicock, Director and Health Officer of DOH-St. Johns. “I believe that the Sterling Baldrige Management Model has enabled us to be flexible and agile, and to respond robustly in a competitive ever-changing world, whether we are responding to an H1N1 pandemic, a TB cluster, or the threat of Ebola.” 

DOH-St. Johns was a 2009 Governor’s Sterling Award recipient, and also received the Governor’s Sterling Sustained Excellence Award in 2011. The Florida Sterling panel of judges has once again recognized DOH-St. Johns as a role model organization that continues to demonstrate organizational performance and excellence

With 63 full time employees and approximately $5 million annual budget, as an agency of the integrated Florida Department of Health, DOH-St. Johns provides core public health services to the 219,000 residents and 6.5 million annual visitors of St. Johns County from their new location in the state-of-the-art St. Johns County Health and Human Services Center, at 200 San Sebastian View, St. Augustine, FL 32084. These services include Epidemiology and Disease Control; Environmental Public Health; Public Health Preparedness and Response; Healthy Start; WIC; Pediatric Dental Services; Immunizations; Vital Statistics; Clinical Services of Public Health Significance, linkages to and assuring access to health services and healthy weight and lifestyle initiatives.

DOH-St. Johns’ role model status is evident in its leadership of the St. Johns County public health system when in 2015, for the fourth consecutive year, St. Johns County was ranked #1 of 67 counties in the state in both Health Outcomes and Health Factors by the University of Wisconsin and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s, County Health Rankings Report.

For more information about the Florida Department of Health in St. Johns County please visit https://stjohns.floridahealth.gov.

The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts. Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook.