Public Health Department’s Leader Resigns

In a move described as a way to streamline public health services, Lawrence E. Dodds, head of the county’s Public Health Department, has resigned, county officials said Wednesday.

Dodds, who was director of the 235-employee department for six years, said he left the post to concentrate on evaluation of diseases and disease trends in the county.

He will retain the title of county public health officer, a job he held simultaneously with his directorship until his resignation Feb. 26.

Since the change, Dodds, 55, said, “What we do here is no different. It’s just an administrative reshuffling.”

The Public Health Department, which operates with a $5.5-million annual budget, provides preventive health care services for the county’s needy residents.

Control of the department, a small part of the county’s Health Care Agency, now lies with agency Director Phillipp K. Wessels. The agency oversees all county health programs on an annual budget of about $146 million.

County Supervisors Maria VanderKolk and Maggie Kildee, who serve on the Board of Supervisors’ hospital oversight committee, called the change a positive move toward consolidation of county health services.

“Phil has a pretty clear idea from the board as to what direction we want to move in,” VanderKolk said. “We want to continue providing good health service and consolidate as much as possible.”

Wessels said the change should have no impact on county health services. He has filled in as director of several departments in the agency, including the county hospital and Mental Health Services, he said.

“It comes with the territory,” Wessels said.

Wessels said he took direct control of the Public Health Department because Dodds declined to accept additional administrative responsibilities placed on him after the resignation of another administrator.

“Larry can only do so much,” Wessels said. “This is what he wanted to do and I agreed.” Dodds’ salary will not be cut as a result of the change, Wessels said.

“It’s not a demotion,” Wessels said.

Public health experts familiar with county health services said they are cautious but optimistic about the change.

“Obviously we’re concerned,” said Barbara Thorpe, who heads a committee of health professionals that advises the Board of Supervisors on health matters.

“There’s an administrative voice there that has been deleted,” said Thorpe, a nursing professor from Oak View. “But we’re hoping this will ultimately work to the benefit of the county’s vulnerable population.”

The committee is assessing the change and plans to send Wessels a letter stating its position soon, Thorpe said.

Chris Landon, another member of the committee who runs a pediatric clinic at the county hospital, said he hopes the change will lead to better cooperation between the Public Health Department and the rest of the county’s health services. “We have to stop seeing health care in separate boxes and start working together,” he said.

One example he cited was the county’s outreach immunization program that drew no clients on its first day of operation last month. “That was a public health decision that was a waste of valuable resources,” he said.

Although Wessels said the change initially will not impact services, he said he plans to spend the next few months looking closely at public health and ways of improving services. “There may be more changes,” he said. “But it’s really to soon to tell.”