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Clinton County Health Department presents 2025 annual report, highlights population decline and service metrics
Summary
Melissa Ostler presented the Clinton County Health Department's 2025 annual report to the Board of Commissioners, citing leading causes of death, declines in population, service volumes (2,804 vaccinations) and regional grant opportunities; commissioners thanked staff but no formal acceptance vote was recorded in the transcript.
Melissa Ostler, speaking for the Clinton County Health Department, presented the department's 2025 annual report and walked the Board of Commissioners through its new, people-focused format, statewide reporting requirements and key local health indicators.
Ostler said the department reorganized the report around "our people, our purpose and our programs" and emphasized that the report follows state formatting rules, citing Indiana code 1620. She named the department's Board of Health members and said public-facing items such as food-inspection results will be posted online for public review.
The presentation highlighted county health data and service activity. Ostler said cardiovascular disease and cancer remain the leading causes of death and noted a cluster of neurodegenerative and frailty-related deaths (32 in the category she described as including dementia and "adult failure to thrive"). She also reported that last year the county recorded two overdose deaths and two suicide deaths, and that the county population change tied to births and deaths was a net negative of 44 residents.
On service volumes, Ostler said the Steven D. Tharp Immunization Clinic administered 2,804 vaccines in the last year. She listed follow-up activity the nursing division carried out: 17 latent TB cases managed, 29 reportable hepatitis C cases, 51 opened lead follow-ups (with six home visits), 103 chlamydia cases, and 72 animal-bite reports referred for rabies follow-up.
Financially, Ostler outlined multiple funding lines that support the department's work: a county tax-revenue line (one item cited at $345,180), county budget 1159, state grants, Health First Indiana funds and other permit and fee revenues. She also described community grants the department distributed (about $173,195 to local partners last year) and said the department budgets core service funding to support clinics and other community health partners.
Looking ahead, Ostler said the department has restored its PEPH grant and is engaged in the statewide Rural Health Transformation Program (Region 3), noting an anticipated regional base allocation of about $8.4 million with a possible additional $3 million and an estimated regional spend of roughly $57 million over five years. She described planned improvements to client-facing web tools, participation in mobile lung-screening clinics and other outreach events.
Ostler closed by asking commissioners to accept the 2025 submission (the report has already been approved by the Board of Health). Commissioners thanked the department for the report and its staff; the transcript does not record a formal motion or vote accepting the report into the county record.
