Making Maricopans healthier – proposed county Public Health District’s goal

Making sure Maricopa residents are as healthy as possible is the goal of creating a Public Health District, according to Pinal County Manager Terry Doolittle, who spoke at the city council meeting Tuesday evening.

“We’re here to get feedback from the council, chamber members, people in the city,” Doolittle said. “Pinal County is at a crossroads in terms of the direction of public health,” he noted, adding that there are currently four other Public Health Districts in the state.

Doolittle, who also recently gave a presentation to the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce, told council the Public Health’s core functions include providing childhood immunizations, controlling sexually transmitted and communicable diseases, as well as family planning and nutrition of children and pregnant mothers.

According to information provided by Doolittle, the childhood immunization rate for Pinal County is 53 percent; the Arizona rate is 75 percent, and the national goal is 80 percent. Doolittle said that sexually transmitted disease rates are growing at a rapid pace, and limited clinic hours restrict accessibility, thereby reducing the delivery of core public health services.

Adding staff would reportedly assist in the investigation of communicable and sexually transmitted diseases. “Currently there is only one investigator,” Doolittle said. “The staff could be increased to three or four investigators.”

Doolittle noted that currently the Pinal County Division of Public Health is 78 percent funded (a decrease from 82 percent in 2005 and 86 percent in 2004). “Over that time, the Division of Public Health has struggled to keep up with the basic public health needs of this rapidly growing community,” Doolittle said. “The issue is one of resources.”

ARS 48-5802 provides the Board of Supervisors, with a unanimous vote, the ability to establish a Public Health District. The district would be funded through a $0.001 per dollar (1/10th of one percent) sales tax. Pinal County Public Health Director Thomas Schryer told inmaricopa.com the cost of 1/10th of a cent per dollar (one penny for every $10 spent, excluding food) is very small in comparison to the overall community benefit.

The benefits of a district, according to Doolittle, will be that local clinics will continue to operate with increases in accessibility and to offer the same services as the extended access clinics. Other features such as mobile clinics will be used to offer services in areas without a clinic and to work with schools on immunizations and nutrition.

Doolittle explained that, currently, Public Health provides more than 140,000 separate services per year to Pinal County residents. Examples of these services include 7,500 children and pregnant women being served each month for their nutritional needs, 18,000 food boxes supplied for the elderly per year and 19,000 immunizations offered each year.
According to Schryer, Pinal County Public Health currently provides minimal services in Maricopa due to limited facilities.

“Judge (Scott) Sulley has been kind enough to allow us to use his court room to provide immunizations and services,” Schryer said. “Within 30 to 45 days we will take delivery of a mobile clinic that was paid for with gaming funds from the Gila River Indian Community. We will operate the mobile clinic in the Maricopa area and hope to secure a permanent facility in the future.”

Schryer added that the most commonly asked question from Maricopa residents is what level of service the community will receive. “Specifically for Maricopa we will have services available no less than one day per week initially, and we will increase that level as the demand grows,” Schryer said.

Photos by Joyce Hollis