County health board lays out full-time health officer proposal

Job description with $275,000 salary going to Tippecanoe County commissioners Monday, a month after health officer resigned in dispute over what he saw as pushback to evolution of the role

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COUNTY HEALTH BOARD LAYS OUT FULL-TIME HEALTH OFFICER PROPOSAL

A month after Tippecanoe County’s health officer resigned, frustrated over that county officials weren’t buying into his moves to make the position a full-time one, the county health board on Monday will bring county commissioners a proposed job description and salary suggestion to join in the push.

The Tippecanoe County Health Board in recent weeks endorsed the idea of a full-time health officer. The proposed job description calls for hiring a licensed physician as a health officer at a $275,000 salary, expanding the role – started during the past two years under Dr. Greg Loomis – to oversee clinical services through the Tippecanoe County Health Department and with local partners.

(Photo: Unsplash)

Dr. Julianne Stout, president of the Tippecanoe County Health Board, said the health board members applauded the work of the department on environmental health aspects of the work, including restaurant, pool and sewer inspections.

But she said health board members, who work in clinical settings, “are well aware at a ‘boots on the ground’ level of the barriers many of our community members face when trying to access mental health and medical care.” Stout said the board had seen improvements in statistics related to deaths from overdoses and in fetal and infant mortality during Loomis’ two-year pilot project of a health officer “functioning at a full-time capacity and providing expanded clinical services.”