In-Home Care for Bunnell, Espanola and Western Flagler County

Flagler County Public Transportation, based at 1769 East Moody Boulevard in Bunnell, is a shared-ride, door-to-door service. Riders qualify by being over 60, having a disability that keeps them from driving, or having a low income, and they must apply and be approved before the first trip. Rides cost $2 each way, and new trips are booked at 386-313-4100, ideally four to five days ahead; there are no same-day rides and no trips out of the county. The driver waits three minutes, then leaves, which is not long at the end of a rural driveway for someone with a walker. Our caregivers can have a parent dressed and at the door when the bus pulls up, or skip the bus and drive: to the pharmacy, to the grocery store, and to a specialist outside Flagler County, where the county bus does not go, sitting in on the visit and taking notes for the family.

Flagler County’s two hospitals are both AdventHealth hospitals in Palm Coast. AdventHealth Palm Coast, at 60 Memorial Medical Parkway off State Road 100, is recognized by The Joint Commission as a Primary Stroke Center. In free-flowing traffic it is about 8 minutes from downtown Bunnell and 13 from Korona, but about 33 from the houses near Dead Lake on the western side of the ZIP. AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway, a 100-bed hospital that opened in 2023 between US 1 and Belle Terre Parkway, is about 12 minutes from downtown and 14 from Espanola. Whichever one your parent comes home from, hospital-to-home care puts someone in the house on discharge day, with prescriptions picked up on the way and meals that follow the discharge instructions. Far from town, overnight care covers the first nights, personal care handles bathing and dressing, and mobility care means a steady arm on the steps up to the front door and from the car to the house. For the hospitals’ side of the county, see home care in Palm Coast.

Inland does not mean out of the storm’s way. As Hurricane Ian approached in September 2022, Flagler County urged residents in mobile homes and RVs countywide to evacuate, and its evacuation order covered Zone F, which it described as the area around Crescent Lake and Dead Lake. Bunnell Elementary, at 305 North Palmetto Street, opened as a shelter for the general population and pets, and the special needs shelter was at Rymfire Elementary in Palm Coast. The next day the county listed State Road 100 from the Flagler Government Center to the Bunnell post office among the places with intermittent heavy flooding, and Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord warned of Crescent Lake and Dead Lake area flooding “for a few more tide cycles that may impact homes.” Ahead of Hurricane Idalia in August 2023, the county ordered everyone in mobile homes, RVs, trailers and unsafe structures to evacuate. With about a third of the homes in 32110 being mobile homes, an evacuation order here can reach a parent no matter which zone the address is in.

Residents who depend on electricity for life-supporting medical equipment, or on a health professional for oxygen therapy, daily wound care or daily nursing assessment, can register for the county’s special needs shelter program online, by email, or by mail to Flagler County Emergency Management at 1769 East Moody Boulevard, Building 3, in Bunnell; questions go to 386-313-4200. The county is plain about the limits: a special needs shelter is a backup to a personal plan, caregivers should come along, and shelter staff cannot provide one-on-one care. So the plan for a parent in a mobile home or on a road that floods needs settling before a storm is in the forecast: where they will go, who drives, and what comes with them. With live-in care, someone is already in the house when a watch is posted, packing medications, chargers and paperwork and leaving early rather than at the last minute, and extra hourly care shifts afterward check that the power is back, the refrigerator is cold and the medications stayed dry. Our phone, (904) 204-2046, is answered around the clock. For the coast, see home care in Flagler Beach, or find every town on our Ponte Vedra service areas page.