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<br />Orange County health director leaving <br />December 19, 2016 <br /> <br />HILLSBOROUGH – Orange County Health Director Dr. Colleen Bridger is leaving to become public health <br />director with the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District in Texas. <br />Her resignation is effective Feb. 23, 2017. The Board of Health will name an interim health director while <br />conducts a national search. <br />Bridger will begin her new role with the 7th largest city’s health department on March 6. <br />Bridger called her decision difficult. “I love it here! I love the Board of Health, the Board of County <br />Commissioners, and most of all; the Health Department staff.\,” she said. ‘”They make my job easy, fun, <br />and fulfilling. It is because of the great work we have done in Orange County, that I am ready for this <br />next big challenge.” <br />Bridger has led the Orange County Health Department for more than five years and pioneered several <br />innovative, public health initiatives. <br />“Orange County has implemented programs that have not only created access to, and improved <br />opportunities for, a culture of health beyond the clinic walls, but opened doors for other health <br />departments to do the same,” the department said in a release announcing Bridger’s departure. <br />Those inititives included a comprehensive Smoke-Free Public Places Rule; the county’s collective impact <br />anti-poverty program, The Family Success Alliance; the town/gown high-risk alcohol collaborative; as <br />well as overdose prevention and harm reduction projects related to safe syringe disposal and acquisition <br />and naloxone access. <br />“With Colleen at the helm, Orange County has been able to adopt and implement many progressive <br />policies and programs. The Board of Health and health department’s dedicated staff are committed to <br />continuing her legacy in our search for the new Director,” said Liska Lackey, chair of the Board of Health.