Part-time health officer to serve Cowlitz County
Friday, November 7, 2008 6:18 PM PST
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleCowlitz County will soon have a dedicated health officer in a new plan to share services with Clark and Wahkiakum counties, save money and provide better planning to address the county’s health woes.
The previous health officer, Dr. Mimi Fields, left in January as National Guard duties became too much of a disruption for her local work. Since then health officers from Clark, Lewis and Thurston counties have filled in on a rotating basis.
In the next few weeks, though, Dr. Jennifer Vines will be assigned to both Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties as Clark County’s deputy health officer.
The health officer provides clinical leadership and technical advice to the health department and also works closely with the medical community. The health officer also helps spot health trends as well as develop the department’s priorities, Guffey said.
In emergencies or disease outbreaks, the health officer also helps coordinate the response and has broad legal powers to shut down facilities or require that medical information be turned over to investigators.
Vines is waiting for her Washington medical license to be processed. She’ll work for Clark County with health officer Dr. Alan Melnick, but the other counties will pay for part of her salary. Vines will be assigned primarily to Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties, with Melnick available as backup.
“It helps regionalize services, which means it’s more affordable for all three counties,” said Dr. Megan Guffey, the health department spokeswoman. “And with resources fewer and fewer there’s an overall greater effort to regionalize.”
Under the plan, Cowlitz County will pay Clark County $150,000 annually toward Vines’ salary and benefits.
In addition to sharing costs and duties, the deputy health officer system also allows a younger doctor to gain experience while still serving a county’s needs. Smaller, rural counties often have trouble attracting health officers, and this structure helps address that while still having a more experienced doctor as backup, Guffey said.
Vines, 31, will be in Cowlitz County two days a week and available on the phone and through e-mail around the clock. Melnick also is available in emergencies. Fields also was in Cowlitz County roughly two days a week. Vines also will be in Wahkiakum County one day a month and also available by telephone and e-mail.
The schedule is perfect for Vines, who said she was looking for a way to combine public health preventative work while still continuing to see family practice patients part-time in Oregon.
“It kind of goes back to my general interest in medicine,” she said. “I have an affinity for people and the relationships you have with patients and with using science as a tool to help people. The relationship is sort of different in public health. You get to interact with the community and different partners, and I enjoy being part of the larger community and doing more networking to create a culture for people to be healthy.”
bmoc wrote on Nov 8, 2008 7:02 PM:
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