11/21/2009 5:01:00 AM
ODH Director visits VWC health officials
| |
|
 |
Kirk Dougal/Times Bulletin
Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Alvin Jackson speaks with health officials of Van Wert County on Friday morning. |
|
BY KIRK DOUGAL
Times Bulletin Editor
kdougal@timesbulletin.com
VAN WERT - On Friday morning, Dr. Alvin Jackson, the Director of the Ohio Department of Health, met with city, county and hospital officials to open a dialog between the state and the local health care workers.
Jackson began the meeting by thanking the officials and stressing the importance of the local health care systems. He pointed out that in 1900 the average life expectancy for Americans was 47 years. Now it is 77 and health care is directly responsible for 25 of those 30 years gained, even though clinical medicines seem to get all the publicity.
"We hear so much about clinical medicine and not nearly enough about public health," said Jackson. "Immunizations, clean water, clean air, wearing seat belts - those are the things that have given us the extra years."
He is currently in the midst of visiting all 131 local health departments around the state so that he can hear firsthand what the local officials have questions or concerns about.
Of course the first thing mentioned in the meeting was the current situation with H1N1 and vaccines. Jackson said that Ohio has seen 30 swine flu-related deaths as of the first of the week and more than 2,500 hospitalizations with the vast majority of those being youth. Ohio has received 1.602 million doses of the vaccine and are in line to receive 5.3 million more.
H1N1 virus cases seems to have peaked a few weeks ago during the week of October 18 and has since fallen off. However, a regular seasonal flu tends to ebb and flow and he cautioned the workers to be on the lookout for fluctuations in the amount of cases. When questioned, Jackson said that he did not yet know when second tier vaccines would be made available.
During the ensuing discussion Linna Kelly of the Van Wert County Hospital said the state software showed they had received about twice as much vaccine as they actually had because of the way the deliveries were entered when the program began. That had led to the county receiving fewer and fewer vaccines as the weeks progressed. Jackson and the group was able to work out a solution to the issue that should bring Van Wert back into line to what they should be receiving.
Another key discussion revolved around government grants. Van Wert currently lags behind other counties in receiving government funds. The officials pointed out that they do not have grant writers on staff that can do nothing but concentrate on writing and administrating the programs because everyone is involved with field work as well as administrative duties. Jackson suggested finding a nearby county that would team with Van Wert with one writer for both as a way of searching for government monies to help with programs.
But he also said that at the state level he understood what the officials were saying when they talked about lean staffing levels. He named one project that was running six months behind because of the economy and cuts to the Health Department.
One area that he was not aware of was the issue with the Vaccines for Children program. Two years ago three physician groups provided vaccines to children in the county as well as the County Health Department. One of those has since left town and another has stopped providing the service. That has pushed a large number of those children to the health department and they are having trouble receiving enough vaccine to take care of the children because they are being supplied based upon previous years' numbers.
Jackson's final comments were on the various pending health care reform legislations. He believed that all of them currently on the table would dramatically change the local health departments as more emphasis was placed upon local prevention methods.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
