Do You See What I See?

We used to boat on Lake Erie; to navigate safely to distant destinations you need to keep one eye focused on horizon looking for a buoy or other marker in distance and the other watching for submerged hazards and other boats while checking your compass often to prevent getting off course. For the past three and a half years I’ve been navigating toward the possible merger of the Newark City and Licking County Health Departments. I can see light from the marina ahead; next Monday a merger agreement will finally go before the Newark City Council for their consideration.
Almost everyone who has looked into the merger has reached the same conclusion; it is a good public health decision. The devil is in the details, especially when politics, jobs, turf, money, and change are involved. That is why it has taken two study committees, and months of negotiations to finally get to where we are now.
The benefits are clear. Combining the health departments will streamline emergency response and disease control efforts. Reducing staff time wasted on duplicate activities; from payroll and general administration, to disease case reporting and tracking, will free up staff time to expand or improve services. Strategic planning and quality assurance programs established in the county will be extended to the city programs. Customer service will improve because we get calls and walk-in customers every day that we have to tell that they have the wrong health department, we then pass them over to the city department. Most of the residents don’t know that there are two health departments in Licking County.
Over the years we have seen that increased technical expertise is expected to meet state and federal program requirements. A small department usually lacks the staff to allow specialization and it is hard to keep up with changes in technology and regulations. It is unrealistic to expect an employee to be an expert in half a dozen program areas. Adding the city employees to the county health department will permit staff to specialize and become better trained to do their jobs.
Looking back, merging the health departments has been attempted numerous times over the past 60 years. Every time, either the politics couldn’t be overcome, or the employees fear of losing their jobs got in the way. This time the jobs are all protected, with the exception of the city health commissioner and the environmental health director, who have been offered early retirement incentives. The politics are more difficult, because you can’t please everyone, but I believe that we have an agreement that protects both the county and the city’s interests, and more importantly is in the best interest of the citizens of the entire community.
I believe that our elected officials will see the big picture – a combined department will be better equipped to prevent disease, protect the environment, and promote healthy lifestyles for all of Licking County. Our shared vision is “Healthy People, Living in Healthy Communities.” I hope that our vision will overcome political division.
We’ll see:)