Just before heading into the weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced some personnel news regarding the Lower Florida Keys Hospital District (LFKHD) Board of Commissioners.
Joining the nine-member panel is optometrist Stephen Oppenheimer of Key West/Key Haven. Staying on is Realtor Stephen Hammond, who was last reappointed in May 2024.
Oppenheimer, an 80-year-old optometrist, is a member of the Florida Keys Lions Club Board of Directors.
State records show he switched from the Democratic Party to Republican in 2017.
Federal Election Commission records show he donated $7,000 — the maximum sum allowable, representing $3,500 for the Primary and General Elections — to DeSantis’ super PAC, RON PAC, in June 2023.
Hammond, meanwhile, works at Lokation Real Estate and is a member of the Key West Association of Realtors.
Division of Election records show Hammond, 69, gave $200 to Republican Ashley Moody, whom DeSantis appointed to the U.S. Senate in January 2025, during her successful 2018 campaign for Florida Attorney General.
LFKHD is a special taxing district the Legislature created in 1967 to fund and maintain hospital provisions for residents between Key West and the Seven Mile Bridge. That includes a lease to Key West HMA, a Tennessee-based limited liability company that operates the Lower Keys Medical Center acute care hospital; and the Key West Health and Rehabilitation Center nursing home.
Members of the LFKHD that met at the panel’s last meeting in early January, according to local records, included Mary Chambers, James “Doc” Muir, Katheryn Ovide, Mary Spottswood, Erica Sterling, Nancy Swift, Leslie Thompson and Richard Toppino.
The press note from DeSantis’ Office announcing Oppenheimer’s appointment and Hammond’s reappointment did not say whom Oppenheimer would replace.
