The Okaloosa County School District officially opened its new Employee Health Clinic on Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Okaloosa Technical College Fort Walton Beach Campus on Lewis Turner Boulevard.

• Community leaders, elected officials, school board members, and representatives from the Fort Walton Beach and Crestview Chambers of Commerce joined district staff for the event, which drew a large turnout despite gusty winds.

The clinic, operated in partnership with Marathon Health, will provide district employees and their dependents enrolled in the OCSD health plan with free medical services and no-cost prescriptions. The facility will also offer employees their own dedicated healthcare provider with appointment times built around the school district’s schedule.

Superintendent Marcus Chambers traced the clinic’s origins back roughly five or six years to a school board meeting where members pushed back on rising health insurance costs.

“If you think back about five or six years ago, I’ll never forget sitting at a school board meeting and Mrs. Evanchyk, she grabbed the mic and she talked about health insurance,” Chambers said. “At that time, our costs were continuing to go up and up. Other school board members, Mr. Bryant as well, at that time, they all basically said, this has to stop.”

Chambers said the district moved from a fully insured model to a self-funded healthcare plan, a shift that has allowed OCSD to hold costs flat while saving money for both the district and its employees. He said the district had already expanded services before the clinic’s opening, adding telehealth and mental health services for employees.

• “When people come together to formulate a solution, that’s when great things happen,” Chambers said. “We are not increasing our costs. We’re able to save money as a school district, but even more importantly, we’re able to save money for our employees while also providing better services.”

Chambers credited the district’s HR department, risk management team led by Director Sarah Cato, and the benefits oversight group for driving the effort. He said a visit by Dr. Lee Hale and members of the benefits oversight group to a health clinic in Pensacola helped spark the push to bring a similar facility to Okaloosa County.

“They went to Pensacola and they were looking at the health clinic, and they came back and said, we have to do something,” Chambers said.

He also thanked Jacobs Titan and the district’s maintenance department for quickly preparing the building and parking lot ahead of the opening.

Assistant Superintendent Lindsay Maxey, who emceed the ceremony, recognized school board members Linda Evanchyk, Tim Bryant, and Parker Destin for attending. She also credited Cato’s risk management team, Chief Financial Officer Julie Perry, and association partners including Patrick Strong, Angelique Cox, and Jordan Appleberg for their work in getting the clinic to completion.

Maxey also acknowledged her predecessor, Dr. Lee Hale, for his role in advancing the project.

• “This is going to be revolutionary for our employees and our community,” Maxey said.

Marathon Health Regional Operations Manager Paul Lutz told the crowd that the company’s mission is to make healthcare easier to access, more personal, and focused on prevention and long-term wellbeing.

“By bringing care directly to the people we serve, we help remove barriers so that staff members and their families can get the care they need when they need it,” Lutz said. “When the people who support our students are healthy and supported, our entire community benefits.”