Ulster County public health director outlines services, staffing gaps and priorities

Dr. Walter, Ulster County director of public health, gave members of the Health, Human Services and Human Rights Committee a broad overview of the county Department of Health’s programs and priorities during the committee’s Feb. 6 meeting.

The presentation laid out the department’s statutory responsibilities under Public Health Law 602, which Dr. Walter said defines core public-health services including communicable-disease control, chronic-disease prevention, environmental health, family health, emergency preparedness, health education and development of public-health policy. “None of these are my words. This is the state's words that guide all the work we do,” Dr. Walter said.

The department is organized into divisions for patient services, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), health promotion and chronic-disease prevention, public-health preparedness, environmental health and the medical examiner. Dr. Walter said environmental health is a “full-service” unit handled at the county level and cited responsibilities that include permitting and inspections for on-site septic and private…