Countywide

A reorganization of the county’s Health Services Department was endorsed Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

The plan, put forth by Chief Administrator Norman Hickey, calls for the creation of four new divisions to handle drug, alcohol, and environmental health services as well as the planning and evaluation of the department’s services.

By giving those programs status as divisions within the department, Hickey said, he hopes to elevate them to the same level of attention previously given the divisions of mental health, physical health, public health and administrative services.

The reorganization will also include the hiring of Dr. J. William Cox as director of the department and Steven Escoboza as assistant director.

Cox, a former surgeon general of the Navy, is now associate director of the San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health. Escoboza has been assistant director of employee services for the county.

Supervisors Brian Bilbray, who supports the creation of a separate department for environmental health services, and George Bailey, who believes mental health might warrant similar stature, agreed to let Hickey and Cox work with the proposed reorganization and decide for themselves if more changes need to be made.