BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The chief operating officer for Meridian Healthcare told Union County Commissioners that her Gainesville-based organization helped nearly 800 Union County residents over the last 11 months. Ashley Brooks also asked the board to contribute $37,500 to continue the organization’s services to the community.
Brooks told commissioners during their June 16 meeting that her organization, which serves 14 North Central Florida counties, operates two 24-hour crisis facilities, one in Gainesville and one in Lake City.
She also said Meridian rebranded last year, organizing its values around the acronym H.E.A.R.T. Those values are hope, empathy, accountability, resilience, and teamwork.
“And that’s something that we strive to do as an agency and also encourage of our clients in the communities that we work in,” she told commissioners.
Telehealth expanding
In a handout to commissioners, Brooks said the majority of Meridian’s Union County patients received outpatient treatment and psychiatric care.
Rural counties within Meridian’s service area rely on the organization for crisis psychiatric care and substance abuse treatment. Brooks said Meridian treated 42 Union County residents at its acute care facilities from July 2024 through May 2025.
The COO emphasized Meridian’s other services, including its telehealth service. She said 307 Union County residents made 1,805 telehealth calls to providers over the last 11 months.
“We’ve seen a lot of increase in (telehealth),” she said. “It really increases access to care for individuals. We have true telehealth, where an individual would be in their home, and then our provider, whether a therapist or a psychiatrist or whatnot, would be in the office, and they would see each other that way.”
She said patients may also use inter-office telehealth, where they visit a local Meridian office and speak to a provider in another location.
Brooks said around 75% of Meridian’s patients report improved functioning and an overall reduction of symptoms. She said that feedback compares favorably with national benchmarks, in which 33% of patients recover from serious mental illness and 57% from substance addictions.
82.7% below the poverty line
Brooks told commissioners that 82.7% of Meridian’s Union County patients are at or below the federal poverty line. She said around one-half of the fees paid for Union County patients have come through indigent care funding from government sources.
She added that the organization’s estimated local match requirement for next year would be $2.3 million.
After Brooks asked county officials for $37,500 in support for the upcoming year, Commission Chair Channing Dobbs asked the COO if Meridian’s funding request, based on each county’s number of residents, takes into account Union County’s large inmate population. He also asked Brooks if she had asked municipalities, like the City of Lake Butler, for support.
Brooks told Dobbs she didn’t know the answer to his questions but would follow up with him.
Later in the meeting, Commissioner Donna Jackson pointed out to Dobbs that last year, the county contributed $15,000 to Meridian.
