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Tallahassee, Fla. —The Florida Department of Health has announced Sarah Hinds as the Health Officer in Gulf and Franklin Counties. She succeeds Marsha Lindeman who is now serving as the Department’s Statewide Public Health Nursing Director.

“The Department is pleased to have a proven leader with Ms. Hinds’ qualifications in public health,” said Deputy Secretary for County Health Systems Paul Myers. “I am confident that she will provide excellent public service to the people of Gulf and Franklin Counties.”

Hinds has been with the Department of Health for over 11 years, starting out at an intern-level as a Family Services Case Manager in 2007 for DOH-Gulf. Her success in this role led to her first career service position in 2008 as a Family Support Worker for DOH-Gulf. During this time Hinds also served as their Positive Youth Development Coordinator and Minority Health Liaison. She became a Health Educator in 2010, a role in which she was responsible for overseeing the tobacco prevention grant. Hinds also assisted with the DOH-Gulf’s quality improvement initiatives and community health improvement processes.

From 2012 until 2017 Hinds served as an Operations and Management Consultant Manager for DOH-Gulf and DOH-Franklin. In this position, she was responsible for grant writing, supervision and budget management for the health education programs, including Sexual Risk Avoidance, Closing the Gap, School Health, and Tobacco Prevention. Starting in May of 2017 she became the Assistant Health Officer for both DOH-Gulf and DOH-Franklin. Hinds has also been their Public Information Officer for the last six years.

Hinds graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2008 and a minor in Women’s Studies and Human Development.  She received a Master of Public Health with a focus on public health practice in 2015 from the University of South Florida. Hinds is a board member for several community organizations, including Chemical Addictions Recovery Effort, Gulf County Transportation Disadvantaged Council. She is also a member of the North Port St. Joe Project Area Coalition.

About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

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