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Guest Column

County Health Department successes

By MARC YACHT
Published December 28, 2006

The Pasco County Health Department continues to excel in the provision of services to county residents. Thanks to cooperating partners - the Emergency Operations Center, the Sheriff's Office, Pasco-Hernando Community College, the Red Cross, and St. Michaels Catholic Church - the drive-by flu shot program was a howling success. Perhaps a few howls but close to 800 flu shots were given to seniors. This deliberate shooting was a Pasco County Health Department first with a 100 percent target score. No misses.

Our Family Health Services Division collaborating with the West Pasco Dental Society on "Give Kids a Smile Day" treated uninsured children free for basic dental needs. We are in the third year of this effort that occurs during Dental Health Month. Thank you, volunteers.

The Environmental Health Division kept busy with 200 plus water main breaks, increased inspections in growing Pasco County, enhanced tasks with the county's Emergency Operations Center, and new responsibilities overseeing optical laboratories. In spite of staffing problems due to sickness and vacancies, the Environmental Health Division met all inspection requirements for the year with distinction.

Our Women's Infant and Children program served its highest caseload ever, 15,986 clients received assistance with food, education, and referrals for other critical services.

Our Community Health Promotions Division had a 57 percent success rate bringing in critical grant dollars to needed Health Department programs.

Our Vital Statistics Division registered 1,543 births and noted the changing county demographics to younger families. Many are moving into upscale developments in our burgeoning Tampa bedroom communities. County schools, local businesses, and tax coffers will benefit from our new residents.

The best nonevent of the year was the anticipated "bird flu." To date, no infected birds have reached our shores nor have the dire predictions of a person-to-person pandemic materialized. Human cases are few and not found in the Western Hemisphere. Significant resources are required to maintain monitoring and to develop a protective vaccine should the disease occur. Public health leaders are less anxious about a potential outbreak, but they remain vigilant. Let us hope the nonevent continues.

This year marked AIDS 25th anniversary and 25-million people have died worldwide, including 500,000 in the U.S. and sadly 56,070 in Florida. Although treatment regimens allow for a better quality of life by delaying the onset of AIDS, the disease still kills. Treatments now available to HIV-infected pregnant women and newborns have reduced the infection of at-risk infants by 89 percent. Continued efforts to develop a vaccine protecting folks from HIV show promise and may be available in the next decade.

West Nile virus came and went through the rainy season in Pasco with no cases to report. Mosquito-related diseases took a holiday here and hopefully that will continue. Kudos to mosquito control.

Efforts to establish a hurricane shelter and indigent care center will occur because of a generous state grant. It is hoped that the care center will be an alternative to emergency room care by patients who could be served in an office setting. The hospitals want this, the doctors want this, and the patients need this. Emergency room visits are expensive, as is increasing hospital bad debt from those who visit and cannot pay. Also, people tend to wait too long before going to an emergency room often making minor problems more serious.

Also, primary care patients tend to clog up emergency rooms, crowding out real emergencies. This may cause delays in acute care as true emergencies wait for an available bed or are trucked off to other hospitals. The new center will provide a medical home for those who need one and offer ongoing preventive as well as sick care. Participation among the hospitals, county administration, Health Department, and Community Health Center is inspiring.

The problems of the medically uninsured and underinsured, who top 20 percent of the population, continue to grow in Florida. In Pasco County, 80,000 to 100,000 lack such insurance, and thousands more have inadequate coverage. Many self-employed affluent families are deciding against insurance due to high costs. This difficult problem affects all of us, triggering escalating health care fees and provider bad debt. Many wait to long for care or often have to choose between food, rent and prescription drugs.

This problem needs to be fixed, and fast. I continue to advocate for a national health plan (my opinion) and feel that is the only solution for affordable quality care for all Americans.

The year 2007 will bring about my retirement after 20 years as the Health Department director. I suspect a younger, brighter colleague will take over the reigns of our great Health Department team.

Marc Yacht is director of the Pasco Health Department.

[Last modified December 27, 2006, 21:32:27]