Interim health director talks about progress and problems
By Dwight Otwell Editor

As applications for the position of health director continue to come into the Cherokee County office, Interim Director Bob Wood recently spoke about the department and what he has seen since his arrival in August.

Dubbed the $600 a Day man by some because that is what he is being paid until the county can find a full-time director, Wood said he was "perfectly happy" in his retirement but he hopes that he has been providing some experienced direction for the department since he took the reigns on August 2. Wood worked for the Cherokee County Health Department starting in 1974 as an environmental specialist. He was appointed health director for the county in 1983 and held that position until 1996 when he transferred to Haywood County until he retired in 2006.

The environmental side of the health department has been in the news since before Wood arrived because of the backlog in septic permits. Two of the most experienced employees on that side of the department recently resigned. Soil Scientist Stuart Black and Registered Sanitarian (RS) Jamie Godfrey went to work for private companies.

"Both of those were the most experienced we had," Wood said. "It is hard to attract people with local environmental experience." However, there are four on staff with RS status and two more have passed the RS exam and will soon have RS status. There are seven on the staff who can write septic permits and two others are working in food and lodging, Wood said.

"We have made progress (on septic permits) but there is still a backlog," Wood said.

When Wood arrived, there was an 800 backlog in septic permits. There is now about a 600 backlog. Much of the improvement can be traced to the real estate slowdown.

A priority schedule has been implemented for real estate people with contracts in hand or when someone is ready to "do something now", Wood said. Those developers with a subdivision in which they will eventually need permits are placed on a lower priority. It should take no longer than a month to get to those on the priority list and four to five months for others, Wood said.

"The wait has decreased for everybody," he said. Wood has requested a state review of the county's environmental health department. The main body of the review should be completed by mid-November and it should be completed sometime in December, he said. The review will document the program for quality as well as quantity of work.

"We have a good, young staff and they shouldn't be concerned about this review," he said.

On the clinical side of the health department, flu shots began to be administered on October 22 and it is still not too late to be vaccinated. A state health audit that included the women's and children's programs were completed recently and the state found very few deficiencies, Wood said.

A program of open access appointment procedures is being implemented. Instead of blocks of time being set aside for different programs, in open access an individual can call for the day he/she wants an appointment. Most people are seen that very day or no later than 48 hours, Wood said. This program allows the same staff to see more people. It makes the staff more productive as far as the number of persons seen per day, he said.

Wood has also been instrumental in obtaining a Smart Start grant. Cherokee County hadn't participated in obtaining a Smart Start grant during the past two years.

Smart Start is a county by county program to enhance day care facilities to provide a health component, Wood said.

When asked why the county didn't get a Smart Start grant the previous two years, Wood said, "There was a difference of opinion between the previous administration and Smart Start and the choice was not to participate."

The new Smart Start grant will provide a child health consultant to provide education, training, immunization screening, etc. at day care centers. A nurse will be hired to be a child health care consultant.

The nurse will be based at the health department and will work with Pre-K programs in the schools.

Wood said he hopes that whoever is hired as the new full-time health director, will be experienced in the health field and will be someone who can "communicate and understand our mountain people".

Wood said that when he came into the position in August "there were considerable problems in the department". There was a "significant morale problem, which he called "critical".

"There was a lot of controversy around the board (of health) and changes in the board and the previous administration," Wood said. "It worked into a negative morale in the entire staff.

"Changes in administration is a time of stress and there will be apprehension (when a new director takes over) again."

Wood lives in Waynesville but since he took over as interim director, he has lived at his mother's house in Andrews.

"I don't know what I will do when I retire (again)," Wood said. "I have been missing a lot of golf and bird hunting. My honey-do list is becoming a book."

"We have an excellent staff," he said. "It is the best department in Cherokee County government, but I am biased about that. We all have room for improvement. We should never be satisfied with the status quo."