Douglas County Health Department launches environmental health division

The largest division in the new Douglas County Health Department is officially open and operating. 

The milestone comes almost a year after county officials voted to leave the Tri-County Health Department following disagreements over COVID-19 policies. Adams and Arapahoe counties later decided to leave the decades-old partnership as well, and now the department will stop its services at the end of the year.  

"It's a huge milestone for us," said Dr. Michael Hill, Executive Director of the Douglas County Health Department.  

Six months into his new role, Hill has a lot on his plate. On Thursday, his focus was the launch of the department's new environmental health division, one of the largest lifts in the departure from Tri-County Health. 

"We're now 85 percent of a complete health department," Hill said. "The bulk of the hiring process is behind us, getting the new data system in place, working with Tri-County to transition their data into the new system so we don't lose any history. That's been a major lift over the last few months." 

Now, inspections for food establishments, body art facilities, childcare facilities, and even septic tanks will be handled by the county. Eventually, they'll take over WIC services and health education programs too, which Tri-County still offers amidst the transition.  

According to Hill says Douglas County will have a lean department modeled around what the community and its leaders want. Part of that is a new "partner" mentality. 

"Our whole approach to this health department is to help people live happier, healthier, longer lives, not to make them do that, not to do things to make people feel bad, but to make sure people understand the things they could do to live a longer, healthier life," Hill said.  

Along with a change in approach, there will also be a change in services offered to residents. Unlike Tri-County, the Douglas County Health Department will not offer clinical services, such as vaccines and family planning. Instead, the department will contract those services out to a partner that has yet to be announced.  

"Douglas County residents are really small users of Tri-County's clinical services here in the county, so it's not going to be a lot of people impacted," Hill said. "There will be a great place to go." 

The final transition of services from Tri-County Health to Douglas County is expected in mid-December.  

In order to address any questions or concerns from the community, the Douglas County Health Department will host a live town hall on Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. You can watch at douglas.co.us/townhall or call in via 833-380-0668.