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Orlando, Fla.— Friday evening, State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo attended Family Café’s 25th Annual Governor’s Summit on Disabilities, alongside Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez, other state agency leaders, and Floridians living with disabilities and their families.

This summit took place on the first day of Family Café, an annual three-day event that brings together resources and fosters collaboration between those living with disabilities, state government leaders, and disability-serving initiatives. During the three-day event, Family Café hosted more than 200 breakout sessions, with topics such as advocacy, assistive technology, employment, and military families. Each hour-long session allowed participants to advance their understanding of the chosen topic related to living with a disability.

“The Florida Department of Health is committed to advancing the well-being of those living with disabilities in Florida,” said State Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. “Creating Individualized Family Support Plans, ensuring medically complex children have a safe family-home environment, and offering a specialty health plan with expanded benefits – such as swim lessons and transition assistance – comprise just a portion of the Department’s efforts to ensure those with disabilities are supported on a path to success. Family Café provides a great opportunity for us to come together and learn about resources available for those in Florida living with a disability.”

The Florida Department of Health (Department) offers many programs that work to expand opportunities for those with disabilities and their families and caretakers. During Family Café, Department programs provided information on available resources and services and hosted fun family-friendly activities – such as the Club Café, storytime, and free play. Some of these programs and resources included:

• The Early Steps Program, which provides early intervention services, such as an Individualized Family Support Plan, to families with eligible infants and toddlers that have developmental delays, disabilities, or at-risk conditions. Early Steps hosted an Early Wishes playgroup during the event.
• The Newborn Screening Program, which screens all newborns in Florida for 58 conditions, including sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis, hearing loss, and congenital hypothyroidism.
• The Medical Foster Care Program, coordinated with additional state agencies, which provides training and support for Florida foster care parents of medically complex children ages 0-21.
• The Children’s Medical Services Health Plan, which provides medical care, legal guardianship, and other benefits including swim lessons to children with special health care needs.
• Bright Expectations, a webpage brought to you by the Department which provides information on developmental disabilities for pregnant women, health care providers, parents, and families.
• The Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program, which provides services and resources to those who sustain a brain or spinal cord injury.
• Chronic Disease Prevention programs, such as the Disability and Health Program, which works to improve the health of those facing mobility limitations and intellectual or developmental disabilities, including expanding opportunities for adapted physical activity for students with disabilities in schools.

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.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.

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