Cuts to health department severe

In 2003, the Adams County Commissioners voted to terminate their membership in the Adams County Health District. RCW 70.46.085 states the county is responsible to bear expense of providing public health services.

In 2004, the Adams County Health Department was created and became part of the Integrated Health Services, which included community counseling and mental health.

Ownership of the health district office was transferred to the county. The Adams County Commissioners wanted total control of the money and policies providing health services to Adams County residents and by law, opted out of the district membership.

Commissioners (Rudy) Plager and (Jeff) Stevens were board members at this time. As a district, the board membership included the three county commissioners and representatives from the five incorporated cities in the county – Othello, Ritzville, Lind, Washtucna and Hatton. In the early stages, a lot of appeasement type ideas were discussed and not implemented. The city representatives were very concerned about providing health services to their residents and wanted a Health Dept. Advisory Board that would provide input and oversight to the county commissioners.

There was to be a remodel of the Ritzville office with plans to incorporate the counseling/mental health services, as they pay rent at their present location in Ritzville. The new health department’s building had been paid for by the health district and there would be no rent expenses for either agency.

There has been no follow through by the commissioners in the past eight years. The economy will be blamed, but remember the change happened in 2004, not 2008, and we are now eight years down the road in 2012. In reality, lip service and false promises have preceded the gutting of public health services to the residents of Ritzville, Lind and Washtucna.

A recent edition of the paper reported on the service cuts to the Ritzville office. An office that had been opened five days a week through 2008, cut to four days a week in 2009 and now in 2012, cut to one day a week. The support/administrative staff in the Ritzville office during this time had been cut from three to zero during the eight years under the county’s control.

Soon after the change to a department, Environmental Health headquarters were moved from the Ritzville office to Othello. The vital records services were moved to Othello in 2009. Ritzville is the county seat of Adams County and as a district, health services were well provided previously with an office, also in Othello.

One of the big changes in finances going from a district to department has been top-heavy administrative costs. Now, as a department, the county does not even feel obligated to provide food handler classes in the Ritzville location at least once a month!

However, I well imagine that they will provide inspections and feel free to assess infractions or fines.

There is no excuse, with all the mileage being paid for the nursing staff to travel from Ritzville to Othello, that our Othello-based sanitarians cannot come to Ritzville. The county commissioners should insist upon this.

Instead Commissioner Plager states, the public health program decides how the loss of funding impacts the services and what cuts to make, the commissioners do not play a role in that decision.

The commissioners cut $60,000 and don’t know how this will play out. It is their job to know and Commissioner Plager needs to better represent Ritzville, Lind and Washtucna.

The answer isn’t always just to cut at the bottom.

Should there not be some revisions in the cuts and a feeling that services should be better provided to the residents of the Ritzville, Lind and Washtucna areas, as a former employee and Deputy Registrar, I would suggest that there are several services you can get elsewhere.

Spokane Regional Health District provides outstanding vital statistics services (birth and death certificates) for the entire state of Washington.

You can stop by their location for walk-in service at 1101 W. College Avenue, Spokane, check online at http://www.srhd.org or call them at (509) 324-1522.

Food handler cards are also available. The class is offered online at your convenience with follow-up testing at their office.

You can call them at (509) 324-1563 for more details. Grant County Health District in Moses Lake also provides services and you can contact them at (509) 766-7960 for more details.

I hope this information will help the local residents obtain these services as the Adams County Health Department and the Adams County Commissioners do not seem to care about their obligations to provide services for Ritzville, Lind and Washtucna residents.

Mary Arlt, Ritzville