In-Home Care on Anastasia Island, From St. Augustine Beach to Summer Haven

No hurricane has come ashore here since Dora in 1964, the St. Augustine Historical Society notes, but storms passing offshore have done plenty of damage. Hurricane Matthew stayed about 30 miles out on October 7, 2016, and the National Hurricane Center’s report on the storm still records surge flooding at the seawalls in St. Augustine Beach, more than 2 feet of saltwater on Anastasia Island, houses in Summer Haven flooded by at least 3 feet of seawater, and a new inlet cut through the island between Marineland and Matanzas Inlet. In September 2017 Hurricane Irma spun up an EF-2 tornado near Crescent Beach that did significant structural damage to vacation rentals. In November 2022, Action News Jax reported, Hurricane Nicole washed away Old A1A in Summer Haven just after the county had finished temporary repairs from Ian, leaving five homes that could not be reached without a boat. In the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s evacuation-zone map, every point on the island we checked, from Davis Shores to Summer Haven, falls in St. Johns County’s Zone A, which the county describes as its most low-lying areas along the coast and river. Confirm your parent’s address with the county’s zone locator all the same.

The bridges are the other half of the problem. When Irma’s tropical-storm-force winds arrived, the Sheriff’s Office and county Emergency Management closed the Bridge of Lions, the O’Connell Bridge and the State Road 206 bridge along with the county’s other major bridges, and the Ponte Vedra Recorder reported that the barrier-island bridges would stay closed until Florida Department of Transportation engineers had inspected and cleared them. Leaving has to happen first. The county’s routes depend on where the house is: Davis Shores and the island north of the St. Augustine Amphitheater cross the Bridge of Lions; south of the Amphitheater and from St. Augustine Beach, west over the 312 Bridge to State Road 207 and I-95; and from Ocean Trace Road all the way to the Flagler County line, to Crescent Beach and west over the Crescent Beach Bridge to US 1. The county’s Evacuation Assistance program takes residents who have registered in advance to a shelter when an evacuation is ordered, and registration runs all year at (904) 824-5550. Its Special Medical Needs Shelters are for people who need oxygen or rely on electrically powered medical equipment, and they have no hospital beds. With live-in care, someone is already on the island when a watch is posted, packing medications, chargers and paperwork and helping your parent leave early. Afterward, extra hourly care shifts mean someone checks that the house is dry, the refrigerator is cold and your parent is eating.

None of the St. Johns County Council on Aging’s six centers is on the island. The nearest senior center, the Coastal Community Center at 180 Marine Street, is across the Bridge of Lions, about 11 minutes’ drive from St. Augustine Beach City Hall; it is open weekday mornings for adults 60 and older, with lunch at 11:30, and arranges rides within a set radius. The Council ended its Coastal Transportation private-car service on June 30, 2026, but its door-to-door paratransit, which carries walking riders, wheelchairs and stretchers, still runs for people over 60 and those who qualify as transportation-disadvantaged; reservations are at (904) 209-3710. On the island itself, the Sunshine Bus Green Line runs Monday through Saturday down A1A through St. Augustine Beach to State Road 206, then crosses to US 1 and St. Augustine Shores, and with 24 hours’ notice a bus will leave its route by up to a quarter mile to pick someone up, for a $4 fee on top of the fare. A bus stop does little for someone who can no longer stand at one. Companion care covers the drive to the senior center, the hairdresser and church, and for a parent living with memory loss, Alzheimer’s and dementia care keeps meals, walks and bedtimes on the same schedule every day.

The farther south the house, the more planning care takes. From Crescent Beach and Summer Haven the hospital is 20 minutes or more away, the bus turns inland at State Road 206, and Summer Haven’s road needed repairs after Ian and again after Nicole. At that distance it is worth weighing longer shifts or live-in care against short visits, and the free in-home assessment is the place to work that out. On the mainland side of the river, see home care in St. Augustine; heading south on A1A past Marineland into Flagler County, see home care in Palm Coast; and find every ZIP code we serve on our Ponte Vedra service areas page.