Congressman Boyd acknowledged that many folks have health care issues, so he suggested regional problem solving for many of the problems our local counties might have. He says a collaborative effort will help us better match resources with need.

Boyd says, "Each county commission in the sixteen county area put a person on this council and then we bring these people together and let them talk about regional problems and regional resources that they can use for solutions."

Boyd talked Monday about budget issues and the plight of rural counties when it comes to health care. He says some vital rural hospitals have had trouble staying open because of the small populations surrounding them not creating enough funds. Gadsden County knows this plight, but says it's gradually working towards improving its health care.

Max Martinez with Gadsden County Community Health Center, "Congressman Boyd, through his efforts, was able to get Gadsden County $97,000 to extend our prescription assistance medical services program in the county. This is a very important step."

Another item brought up to Congressman Boyd from district health care officials was the lack of Medicade dental resources. They say Florida has one medicade dentist to every 10,000 children and one for every 40,000 adults. But Boyd says it will take time for congress to recognize all health care problems.

He said, "In the meantime, we're going to work together locally and in a regional manner to try to solve some of our regional problems."

The district committee meets three times a year, which will hopefully bring more progress in solving health care issues as they go along.