Marion County’s Resource Directory

The Florida Department of Health in Marion County provides a wide variety of public health services. Popular programs include the Dental Clinic, Healthy Start, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), Family Planning, Immunizations, hepatitis testing and treatment, HIV services, and more. The Department also provides naloxone to the public as part of its ongoing overdose prevention efforts.

The Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs operates eight skilled nursing facilities and one assisted living facility. All facilities are licensed by the Agency for Health Care Administration and inspected annually by AHCA and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The homes are supervised round the clock by registered and licensed nurses.

Resident Admission: Basic admission requirements for all state veterans’ homes include an honorable discharge, state residency prior to admission, and certification of need of assisted living or skilled nursing care as determined by a VA physician. A resident application package for each facility is available for view and downloading below. Eligible spouses are also able to be admitted. For specific questions regarding admissions, please contact the Admissions Coordinator at the numbers listed below.

The Florida Diagnostic & Learning Resources System (FDLRS) provides diagnostic, instructional, and technology support services to district exceptional education programs and families of students with disabilities. Service centers include 18 centers that directly serve school districts in the areas of Child Find, Family Services, Human Resources Development (HRD), and Technology. In addition, the FDLRS Network also includes 6 Multi-disciplinary Centers who focus on in-depth evaluations and several statewide projects offering specialized services.

Information regarding elder services and activities is available through the Elder Helpline Information and Assistance service within each Florida County.

Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY). HIPPY is an evidence-based, home visiting program that partners with parents of children ages two through five to help prepare parents and children for school success.

Each week, HIPPY delivers curriculum, books, and materials to families and, through peer-to-peer mentoring, provides parents and guardians with the confidence, tools, and strategies for engaging their child in the HIPPY activities for that week. Parents who enroll in HIPPY all four years will engage in 105 hours of home visits and can choose to attend more than 240 parent group meetings. The children of those parents will engage in at least 120 weeks (600 days) of high-quality, language-building, self-regulating developing, and fun-filled school preparation!

HIPPY does not replace preschool but is meant to work in collaboration with children’s early childhood educational experiences, bridging the school and home. The HIPPY curriculum is meant to provide important opportunities for parent and child to interact around educationally enriching activities. These 15 – 30 minutes spent together on 5 days-per-week across 30 weeks each year develop the adult caregiver’s confidence to act as their child’s first advocate while also building the child’s love for learning, language, and social emotional skills required for school success.

Florida Kid Care: Florida KidCare is the brand name for four income-based health insurance programs – Medicaid, MediKids, Florida Healthy Kids and the Children’s Medical Services (CMS) Health Plan – that together provide seamless coverage for Florida children from birth until the 19th birthday. Medicaid: Medicaid provides free or low-cost health care to people who qualify. It can help pay for doctor visits, hospital care, immunization (vaccines), pregnancy-related services, nursing home care, and other services.

Narcotics Anonymous is a non-profit fellowship of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using

FreeD.O.M. Clinic USA is a mobile clinic that provides free dental care, optical care, and medical care for uninsured and under-insured Marion County residents.

Fun 4 Ocala Kids is your local resource for family friendly events and activities in Ocala and surrounding areas. Listings include kids events, children programs and classes, youth sports, kids eat free directory, birthday party resources, rainy day activities, free fun for kids, summer camps, and MORE fun things for kids and families to do in and around Ocala.

We are a 501C-3 Non-Profit Christ-based ministry dedicated to serving the homeless, needy, underprivileged, frail, elderly, and working poor in the Greater Ocala area.

We offer DRIVE-THOUGH free food pick-up for individuals and families who need support meeting their basic nutritional needs.

Gateway to Hope provides free nutritious food;

PACKAGED / BAGGED FOOD
Saturday mornings approximately
7:15 AM & ends 10 AM.

A PREPARED LUNCH
Thursdays
11:00 AM.
(Note: Saturday afternoon distributions have been suspended)

Benefit overview