A paddling of bright yellow ducks was spotted at the Captain Hiram’s Sand Bar last Sunday afternoon, the flock of rubber duckies having flown in for the sixth annual Great Duck Derby, which supports patient services at Treasure Coast Community Health.

The mission of TCCH is to provide accessible, cost-effective, high-quality, comprehensive care to individuals regardless of their socio-economic circumstances through its medical, dental and behavioral healthcare programs.

“We anticipate that we’ll end up serving around 22,000 unduplicated individuals this year,” said CEO Vicki Soulé, adding that they have already served 1,500 more people than at this point last year. “Some of them have insurance, some of them don’t. All of them need care. Honestly, there’s a lot more that we could do for them but for the financial aspects on both sides.”

Derby devotees arrived early to make the most of the day – frolicking in the river, snatching up 50/50 raffle tickets, and enjoying Sand Bar hospitality and the music of the SeaWind Duo. They could also ruffle feathers with a huge collection of duck bling, including duck T-shirts, necklaces, sunglasses, towels, quackers and hats adorned with duck bills and tail feathers.

In the days leading up to the event, supporters had paid $5 to “adopt” the 4,150 ducks in hopes that their lucky ducky would emerge victorious, earning them the cash prize of $1,000. The annual duck migration is typically held in the spring but was moved to the fall this year to take advantage of warmer water temperatures, said Soulé.

The course was framed with floating bumpers to help funnel the raft of racing waterfowl toward the shore, where a massive yellow duck stood as a beacon for the birds of a feather to be drawn together. Among the fancy fowl with themed sponsor designs were a cowgirl, pirate, diva and caped crusader.

As the crowd anxiously stood by, the little yellow ducks were released from the deck of a Sea Tow boat into the Indian River Lagoon. A crew of young volunteers, aided by an easterly wind, happily provided the stragglers with a swish and a nudge.

In addition to patients with insurance, TCCH, the only Federally Qualified Health Center in the county, provides services to low-income families, homeless, under- and uninsured, immigrants, migrants and seasonal farm workers, with payments on a sliding scale based on an ability to pay.

During its 25-year history, the nonprofit has continued to expand to meet the needs of residents. It currently operates out of six locations: two in Fellsmere, one in Sebastian and in Vero Beach, two medical and one dental facility.

Soulé said TCCH will open a new center at the 777 Building on 37th Street before the end of the year that will offer medical and behavioral health services, noting that the new facility will help ease their wait list.

“We hired other providers, but we didn’t have any place to put them. So we’re responding to the need of the community. We are not being supported in any other way for the new opening. But it’s the right way to take care of patients,” said Soulé. “Today is about the community. It’s more of a fun-raiser than a fund-raiser. We’ve met a lot of new people that are moving into the area, and so it’s an exposure to them that there is help available in our community.”

For more information, visit tcchinc.org.