The Clallam County Health Department lacks the staffing and resources to develop formal surveillance and reporting systems for communicable disease investigations, responses to disease outbreaks and public health threats.
So states the county Department of Health and Human Services 2002 annual report, which department leaders this week presented to county commissioners acting as the Board of Health.
The presentation came during a joint meeting of the commissioners and the county’s Public Health Advisory Committee.
The presentation led the Board of Health to direct the advisory committee to set priorities for the health department.
“We’ve under-invested in the whole system, and in particular Clallam County shows where areas are understaffed,” Dr. Tom Locke said of the Health and Human Services departments, which have 26 full-time equivalent positions, including full- and part-time staff members.
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The rest of the story appears in the Thursday Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition.