Case Manager Appreciation Week

56:44Now move to R S two. Declare on the second of October Case Manager Appreciation Week.

56:56I had a feeling you were all for that.

57:02Oh yeah. Ow.

57:07Who's stepping

57:08up to the mic? I'll go ahead and I'll I'll start reading the the resolution you can figure out who's gonna stand at the at the microphone. By the Board of County Commissioners, resolution number 26397, a resolution by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, declaring the second week of October as case manager's appreciation week in Pasco County. Whereas case managers play a pivotal role in ensuring that every resident in Pasco County has access to

57:38essential social, health, and community services. And whereas these dedicated professionals excel in coordinating comprehensive care and navigating complex service systems to meet a wide variety I'm sorry, a wide array of individual needs. ANRAS Pasco County's Human Services Case Managers, Senior Services Lead Agency Case Managers, and the Office of Disaster Recovery Resources Case Managers demonstrate exceptional dedication in their daily work, providing critical support that uplifts

58:09individuals and families across the count the county. ANRAS, the Human Services Team, works tightly. Tirelessly to connect residences with resources related to housing, economic stability, health access, and crisis support, while the Senior Services lead agency team ensures older adults receive the care, advocacy, and specialized assistance necessary to maintain independence and dignity. And whereas the Office of Disaster Recovery Resources, ODRR, R.

58:39Case managers have demonstrated exceptional dedication in guiding community members through the hurricane disaster recovery process, providing reimbursement, repairs to damaged homes, and replacement and reconstruction of destroyed homes. Through their expertise and compassionate approach, case managers strengthen the community's overall well-being, serving as trusted advocates who empower residents to achieve greater stability. And RAS, their unwavering commitment to service to service

59:09benefits every citizen in Pasco County and enhances collaboration among governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community stakeholders. Creating a robust network of care. ANRAS, the exemplary efforts of case managers reflect the county's dedication to ensuring that all residents receive timely and effective assistance during both times of crisis and periods of transition.

59:42Fabric of Pasco County, and whereas the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County recognizes the invaluable contributions made by case managers in the human services and senior services departments and affirms the importance of honoring their commit their commitment to serving the community. Now therefore be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Pasco County, Florida, that said board hereby declares the second week of October as Case Manager Appreciation Week in Pasco County, done and resolved in regular session with a quorum present and voting this twenty-second day of September 2026.

1:00:14Okay. Move to approve. Second.

1:00:17All in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Aye. Mr. Yeager.

1:00:20Alright. Well as you guys know I did case management for ten years, so Thank you for what you do. Uh it is not an easy job. It's very heavy to carry. And I know when you get home You're still thinking about that client saying, you know what? I really hope that goes through. You know what? Maybe we can do this. Like your brain never shuts off. Am I right? I and what you guys do, you're creative, you you try and get things through for these for these citizens. And it's just

1:00:51a lot, and people don't realize What all is involved in case management. So thank you for what you do for our citizens, you know, during your work time and your time off, because I know you're still working when your time's off and your brain is going. And um, I think it's so great that you're taking care of our most vulnerable and and helping everybody. So it is much needed. And I'll tell you, when I'm out in the community, Everyone is singing your guys' praises. So um I

1:01:21appreciate that so much. We appreciate that. Um you guys are amazing. And um there's a lot of you. So um So keep up the good work.

1:01:33Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Board. We appreciate this recognition. Our human services team assists more than 200 residents on a day-to-day basis to try to give them a hand up and allow for them to have a more dignified life in our community. As well as our senior services team lead agency, over 640 clients, those are seniors that day-to-day need a connection to someone to come and help them in a variety of ways and without these incredible individuals behind us uh that work could

1:02:04not be done and it takes a lot of resilience and a lot of patience and compassion to work with our needest residents. So thank you so much. This is extremely meaningful for our team. Um May I

1:02:15Commissioner Starkey.

1:02:16Um yesterday I was talking with is it Mari or Mary? Mary. Mary. That's what I thought, yeah. But someone else was saying Mari, so that's my mother's name. Um And you mentioned someone who's our housing navigator. So who is that person? Can that person step forward? Yes. She said step forward a little bit. And just so so so because I didn't know we had this I didn't even know we had this going on. So um I answered to someone online who

1:02:46was a a senior woman who was really having a hard time. She had moved to be near her kids and that fell apart and and so she found herself about to be homeless and um was desperate and so I said call my office. And um so my staff all of a sudden started getting a lot of people calling the office about because I mentioned we had some senior housing coming available, low-income senior housing. So my staff did not really know who to send them to.

1:03:18Can you can you please talk a little bit about what you do so my fellow commissioners

1:03:24that we have?

1:03:26So as a housing navigator Uh my name is Fernando Serrano, I'm the housing navigator at Human Services. I try to connect people with affordable housing, uh people with limited income, difficult backgrounds, uh I try to create and build relationships with landlords to remove some of the red tapes and help them into uh stable housing. Let's meet it again.

1:03:48Okay, so if you get a call, if you work trying to call someone send them to your

1:03:52office.

1:03:53This is the main. Yeah. No, no, don't send them my stuff. Uh you know, I did that on like next door or something in uh I can't tell you my call it got yesterday. From seniors looking for help. So thank you.

1:04:06Uh Chuck Lane, Director, Office of Disaster Recovery Resources. Case managers are really the lifeblood of our individual housing program. We have 17 case managers. Right now they're managing about 725 or so active cases. We've had a ton of closings. We actually have six closings today on grants. And one of the things that I see, you know, at almost every one of these closings is the resident raving about our case management. We see happy tears at these closings. And it's because of the relationship our case managers built with these

1:04:36with these residents. It's exceptional and they do great work for us. I just want to say thank you to all of them.

1:04:41Um I'm gonna be bringing this up in commissioner items, the social services guide. Um but I handed one to a lady on the street yesterday said you don't need to be out here begging for food. We have resources. Please call this number. It's on the back. So um I'm sure some of you all get the calls from when we hand these out. So thank you for what you do really.

1:05:01You

1:05:01want

1:05:01to go down? I think the crowd might be a little bit too big for all of us.

1:05:05Hi, so my name's Jordan French. I'm the Assistant Director with uh Support Services. And I just wanted to say thank you, because this genuinely means a lot to our teams, all of these teams. I'm honored to work with Human Services. Our team works diligently on or with the most vulnerable populations and they do an amazing job and they they work through a hard system and they love what they do. So we're lucky to have them. But thank you very much.

1:05:31Alright. Um I think we have enough for everybody.

1:05:36You've been around long enough for a telephone book? This is pretty close.

1:05:41I think this is the most I've ever seen when we've had the water. It's a lot. Alright, who wants to be in charge of these? Where's the bottom?

1:05:55They are.

1:06:04All those people where

1:06:07I was gonna

1:06:08put that staff right over here.

1:06:14Alright, can everyone see me? Everyone find a window? Should they be in the front? As long as you can see me, I should

1:06:20want to be in the front. Are you ready? I'll squeeze right here. Yeah.

1:06:43Just for the record I think.

1:06:44Commissioner Oakley, Cathy Pearson, Assistant County Administrator of Public Services, speaking about Fernando and that group He did over 125, 126 citizens last year with no funding. We had no funding at all to help with first and last month's rents. He was relying on community partners. This year we were able to apply for a grant through Mari's department and he has funding now to help. Mari. That's what I say. Is it Mary? Mary. Oh never

1:07:15mind. I say Mari. Mary. Tomato Tomata. But anyways, I just want to say thank you on behalf of the board. Thank you.