Summit County Health Department outlines 2026 priorities, expands COVID vaccination access
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Summary
Public Health Director Phil Bondurant briefed the council on accreditation progress, vaccine availability, behavioral-health initiatives and a planned shift in women's-health services to reallocate resources to cancer screening and prevention.
Dr. Phil Bondurant, Summit County's public health director, told council members that the health department is prepared to offer COVID-19 vaccines to everyone 6 months and older and that staff "believe we are within, well within our rights to offer COVID-19 vaccines" by following FDA guidance and working with legal counsel. He said the department has worked with legal counsel and Salt Lake County counterparts to ensure a lawful service delivery model and is scheduling drive-through clinics and community sites.
Bondurant summarized the department's 2026 work plan, which is organized around three divisions: traditional public health, sustainability and behavioral-health/prevention. On behavioral health, the department is planning a stabilization and mobile-response pediatric team (a MCOT-style pediatric mobile response), transitional housing for recovery-court participants, expansion of youth prevention coalitions into North Summit and Park City, and an updated suicide-prevention plan that adds postvention services.
On sustainability, Bondurant said Emily (Director of Sustainability) and staff have advanced the county's participation in the Utah Renewable Communities program and that the county will seek code changes early in 2026 to implement utility-related elements of that program. He also reported internal promotions in the sustainability team and plans to expand the county's green-business program in partnership with Park City Municipal and local foundations.
On clinical women's health services, Bondurant described a proposed reconfiguration: because state funding has declined and device-based IUD services are relatively expensive per user at present volumes, the health department is considering shifting provision of IUD insertions to partner clinics (People's Health Clinic) while the county increases emphasis on free traditional contraceptives and expands cancer-screening outreach. He said roughly 55 unique users currently use the county's IUD program and that per-visit costs under current contracting make that line expensive relative to the department's population health priorities.
Bondurant said the department remains in a strong financial position for the coming weeks despite federal funding uncertainties and that contingency plans are in place to sustain WIC services if stateside support changes. He also reported progress on environmental monitoring (new EPA-calibrated PM2.5 and ozone monitors at the Bittner site), strengthening of the PurpleAir network, and near-term feedback on the health department's accreditation readiness assessment.
Why it matters: the health department is positioning itself to maintain vaccine access, expand behavioral-health mobile response and prevention programs, and reallocate some clinical services toward screening and prevention—decisions that will affect county budgets, partnerships with clinics and the scope of locally delivered clinical care.
What's next: Bondurant said the department will present a final community health improvement plan (CHIP) and a new strategic plan in 2026 after completing the accreditation readiness review and that staff will return with detailed grant-driven implementation plans for targeted case management and 0-to-8 early-childhood services.
