The Florida Department of Health honors and supports veterans, members of the military and their families on Veterans Day.  More than 1.5 million veterans call Florida home, many of whom have served during wartime.

In recognition of Florida’s veteran health care practitioners the Department has released a special Veterans Day message and a new resource, “Florida Veteran Health Heroes.” The 2014 Florida Veteran Health Heroes are Orland K. “Lance” Armstrong, D.C., Dean Aufderheide, Ph.D., Morris Carter, M.D., Joyce P. Fiedler, M.D., and Robert Pickard, M.D. For more information about these exceptional individuals, please visit Florida Veteran Health Heroes.

Florida seeks to become the most veteran-friendly state in the nation, launching the VALOR (Veterans Application for Licensure Online Response) System on July 1, 2014 to expedite licensing for military veterans. The state also extended fee waiver eligibility for health care practitioner licenses to 60 months after honorable discharge and included military spouses. Learn more about how military members and spouses can obtain health care licensing by visiting the Department’s Armed Forces Licensing webpage.