Monroe County honors public health leader, highlights community health priorities

Monroe County marked National Public Health Week by honoring a familiar name in Keys health care and by laying out the services that keep daily life moving from Key West to Key Largo.

On April 15, county commissioners and Mayor Michelle Lincoln presented outgoing Florida Department of Health in Monroe County administrator Dr. Carla Fry with a Conch Certificate. The recognition was not just ceremonial. It tied Fry’s departure to the work residents depend on every day, from easier access to care and response to substance abuse and mental health needs to water safety, human trafficking awareness and protection for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Those priorities are written into the county’s 2025-2029 Community Health Improvement Plan. The Florida Department of Health in Monroe County said the plan identifies access to care, mental health and substance abuse, community safety with an emphasis on bicyclist and pedestrian safety, and human trafficking prevention and awareness as the county’s main health concerns. In a place where services are spread across the island chain, the plan doubles as a map of what public health has to cover.

Fry’s own career reflects that reach. She is a United States Army veteran with more than 35 years in medicine and public health. Before taking leadership in Monroe County, she worked at the College of the Florida Keys as director of nursing and health sciences. She became nursing director for the health department in 2021, then was appointed administrator and health officer in 2023 with support from county commissioners and the state surgeon general. She has since moved into the health officer role for the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County.

The department said Dr. Mark Roby, DNP, MBA, RN, is now serving as interim administrator and health officer in Monroe County. Roby had already been director of nursing in the county since January 2023, after previously serving as dean of sciences and nursing at the College of the Florida Keys. His appointment keeps leadership inside a local system that relies on close coordination with schools, clinics, first responders and county offices.

That coordination is part of the department’s daily job. The Florida Department of Health in Monroe County said it researches, prepares and issues health statistics across the Keys and works with local government, law enforcement agencies, business organizations and other partners. It also renewed its Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan through a resident Well Being Survey launched in January 2024.

National Public Health Week, observed during the first full week of April by the American Public Health Association, is meant to highlight that kind of behind-the-scenes work. This year’s theme, Ready. Set. Action!, fit Monroe County’s message: in the Keys, public health is not abstract, but a network of people and programs that has to stay ready every day.