The Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge recently welcomed Jeff Curtiss, DVM, as its new staff veterinarian. Curtiss will provide veterinary care for wildlife at both the Wildlife Refuge on Okaloosa Island and the ECWR Zoo in Crestview.

Joanna Rein knew there was a way to prevent her rambunctious Labrador-collie mix from tracking in mud, water and drool from the soggy outdoors.

As the summer recreational boating season gets into full swing, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is ramping up its efforts as part of a national campaign to stop boating under the influence.

Life is full of challenges and can change in an instant. Dealing with those challenges is one of the many ways the Bindu Institute of Navarre helps people get their lives back on track.

No one who suffers from chronic back pain wants to be told, “It’s all in your head.” But in a literal sense, it is. Even after the soft tissues in the back have begun to heal, the brain produces ongoing pain and assigns it to the back. That’s because the initial back injury sets off “pain impulses” that form neurological pathways over time, and once those pathways are in place, they are there for good, said Seattle-based orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. David Hanscom, author of “Back in Control” (Vertus Press, 2012).