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Officials in Washington, Greene counties rethinking regional health department concept

4 min read
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Harry Funk/Observer-Reporter

Harry Funk/Observer-Reporter

Diana Irey Vaughan

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Mike Belding

A regional health department between Washington, Greene and Beaver counties is being explored once again as local officials are becoming increasingly frustrated over how the state is handling the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, especially in rural areas.

After initially floating the idea at the beginning of the pandemic early last year, commissioners in the three counties are restarting those discussions, although it would be years before a regional health department takes shape, if at all.

Unlike Allegheny County, which runs its own health department that has been at the forefront of handling the pandemic within its jurisdiction, few counties in Pennsylvania have their own agency, meaning they have to rely on state health officials for information and guidance.

Washington County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughn said they initiated the discussions last March when local officials struggled to get information about residents infected with COVID-19. The idea quickly fizzled when the scope and cost of a regional health department was determined, but it’s been restarted following the state’s cumbersome rollout of the vaccine.

“They’re really just in the initial stages,” Irey Vaughan said of the preliminary discussions. “But what we’ve been asking is what’s it going to cost? What are the responsibilities? Will it require us to take on all aspects of health, and would it be environmental as well? We have to have answers to a whole lot of questions before we proceed.”

A partnership between Washington, Greene and Beaver counties would be a natural one considering their geographic proximity and their current relationship on the Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board, Irey Vaughan said. She has reached out to Daniel Camp, her counterpart in Beaver County, but is awaiting a response. Camp did not return a phone call Thursday seeking comment on the proposal.

“The reason we’re talking about doing it is because of our disappointment in the lack of information we’ve received (from the state Department of Health) during the pandemic,” Irey Vaughan said. “It’s too early to say yet. There have been some sidebar conversations.”

Mike Belding, chairman for the Greene County commissioners, said the formation of a regional health department is still in the preliminary stages, but he thinks it would be useful to have several of them across the state to better serve rural counties.

“The issue is fair representation of our rural population. Counties that have health departments are urban and larger populations so they get a larger voice in Harrisburg, “Belding said. “There are established relationships with adjoining counties, and you could work out the same representation for a health department. But it’s expensive.”

That high cost, which would include employees working in an office building, could be prohibitive for Greene County, which doesn’t have the resources to fund such an operation by itself. He’s not sure the county could support even a regional department, so he hopes the state would be able to offer more localized resources to better serve smaller counties.

“We’re years away from doing this,” Belding said. “Unless it’s going to be a state-initiated program, Greene County does not have the resources (right now) to do this.”

While the coronavirus pandemic will likely be a distant memory by the time any regional health department is launched, both Irey Vaughan and Belding think it would be beneficial to help manage the next major crisis in addition to chronic health issues that plague rural areas.

Belding pointed to chronic diseases, obesity, poor nutrition, lack of preventative dental and medical care as some of the issues experienced in Greene County. He also suggested mental health problems could be a lasting effect of the pandemic, adding to the importance of a local health department.

Meanwhile, Irey Vaughan said a regional health department will help with the problems they already know about, along with those that are unforeseen.

“We don’t know yet, and those are some of these questions,” she said. “We didn’t see the coronavirus two years ago. We don’t know what the future holds.”

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