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AVOCARE AWARDED $100,000 WIRED GRANT FROM FLORIDA’S GREAT NORTHWEST
Tallahassee, Florida – (February 14, 2007) - Florida’s Great Northwest,
Inc. has awarded Tallahassee-based Innovations, LLC dba Avocare a $100,000 Entrepreneurship
grant as part of the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED)
Northwest Florida Initiative. This grant award is the eighth Entrepreneurship grant
to be awarded through the WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative.
Avocare was founded two years ago with the mission of providing safer, faster, easier
and more cost-efficient systems for health care delivery via cutting edge technology.
Avocare developed the Automated Medication DispenserTM (AMD) system which
is essentially a pharmacy in the footprint of a vending machine. The device consists
of a unique robotic delivery system, an ATM-like credit payment system, a customer-friendly
user interface, a computerized inventory control system, and a network interface
to both the prescribing doctor and to a central command.
“The WIRED Grant is a tremendous help to us because it allows us to reach the staffing
levels we need to get our products to the marketplace quickly,” said Avocare CEO
and founder, Dr. Lonnie Draper. “That’s such an important element of success for
a young company like ours with an undertaking of this size.”
“We are particularly excited about this grant because it involves a high tech enterprise
that fits into our strategy to build the health care and life sciences sector of
our economy,” Bernard Jacob, Florida’s Great Northwest chairman, said. “Supporting
good-paying jobs in a clean industry that improves health care is a win-win-win
proposition.”
The AMD process allows a doctor to enter a patient’s prescription electronically
and send it to a machine in a pharmacy or in the doctor’s waiting room. Upon entering
a predetermined personal identification number, the patient can insert a credit
card and/or insurance card and the prescription will be dispensed. The WIRED Northwest
Florida Initiative grant funds were requested for the purpose of assisting with
the personnel expense for the newly created, high-level technical jobs required
to bring the AMD to market.
“One of the most important factors in creating the dynamics necessary for economic
development is relationship building,” said Kimberly Moore, CFO for Workforce Plus.
“Knowing and understanding the needs of our business community and being able to
meet their needs not only creates opportunities for sustainable growth but also
economic prosperity. Florida's Great Northwest through its WIRED Northwest Florida
Initiative has demonstrated its commitment to building a stronger future for our
local economy and for the state of Florida.”
The WIRED Northwest Florida Initiative is focused on the creation of high-wage,
high-skill jobs within the region in the target industries of Aerospace and Defense,
Life Science, Information Technology & Electronics Engineering, Alternative Energy
and Construction Services.
Florida’s Great Northwest, Inc. is the administrator and facilitating organization
for the U.S. Department of Labor WIRED Grant. The grant is to fund regional partnerships
aimed at expanding employment and advancement opportunities and catalyzing the creation
of high-skill, high wage employment in regional economies.
Florida’s Great Northwest is a regional economic development organization serving
16 counties in Northwest Florida from Pensacola through Tallahassee. Its primary
mission is the creation of high-wage, high-skill jobs, branding and marketing, as
well as support of the local economic development organizations in the region.
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