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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MARCH 29, 1977 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in special session on Tuesday, March 29, 1977, at 7:30 p.m., in the Commissioners' Room of the Courthouse in Hillsborough. Present were Chairman Richard Whitted, Commissioner Norman Gustaveson, Jan Pinney, and Donald Willhoit. Absent was Commissioner Norman Walker. Others present were 5. M. Gattis, County Manager, Neal Evans, County Finance Director, and Agatha Johnson, Clerk. Chairman Whitted opened the meeting by requesting that members from the Berard of Commissioners and the Orange County Health Board introduce themselves. Members of the Health Board present were Nancy Coleman, Ruth Cooper, Evelyn Lloyd, Betsy McAdoo, Dr. William Mayes, Jim Boyd, and Dr. William Nebel. Commissioner Willhoit also serves on the Health Board. Chairman Whitted expressed his appreciation to the Health Board for agreeing to serve on this vital Board. He stated that the Board of Commis° sinners were aware that much wo=k is ahead for the Interim Berard of Health in order to have an on-going Health Department by July 1, 1977. He stated that a tap priority far the Health Board is the hiring of a Health Director and that a job description should be ready by April 15.th, and the Directoz should be hired by Jujne 1, 1977. Mr. Whitted stated that Dr. Charles Harper from the U.N.C. School of Public Health was present and had been asked to present to :.the Boaid his views of a health department, its organization, functions Arid types of services. Dr. Harper stated that those people at the School of Public Health were willing to help the new Board in every .way possible, and the School was hopeful of having a role in making the Orange County Health Department a model for North Carolina. Dr. Harper stated that the Department of Public Health had the broadest legal mandates of any other health or health related organiza- tion. The Department of Public Health is charged with the promotion and protection of the health of the public by General Statutes. This is a broad mandate and not restricted to a set of functions that would restrict its activities. Tn the past, functions of a health department have been the traat- ment of communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, venereal diseases and childhood diseases. Also, an important function has been that of environmental sanitation and control of environmental conditions. Health Departments services include a collection of vital statistics, as well as a monitor for health status. These are functions one would find in a typical health department. As you continue to look at health depart- ment, there is a thinning out, in terms of frequency, of what a health department does. Detection of chronic diseases has received great _ emphasis in recent years. Hypertension is another program which is an acceptable role of health departments. More recently, health departments have gotten into the medical care area of services. Dr. Harper stated that historically, it has been felt that health departments should not get involved in treatment services, but that this should be left to the private sector, however, today many health depart- ments do provide certain treatment programs for the medically underserved. These programs usually have to do with particular types of illnesses. Nutrition programs have been added to the role of health departments, to attempt to identify individuals who have health problems related to food deficiency.