Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health Immunization And Clinic topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Montrose public-health director asks commissioners to resume county vaccinations, add staff and one-stop clinic services
Summary
Public health director Mirza Ahmed told the Board of County Commissioners the department needs additional staff and board approval to resume county-run immunizations, expand reproductive and basic testing services and create a one-stop clinic; he cited heavy WIC enrollment, vital-records workload and regulatory demands for environmental health.
Mirza Ahmed, Montrose County public health director, told commissioners at the July 28 work session that his office needs more staff, space and formal approval to resume immunization services and expand clinic offerings.
"We are requesting actually to resume the immunization, so that the county can provide the immunization service," Mirza said, asking the board to review the request at the BOCC meeting on Aug. 6. He said the county already requested authorization to hire a nurse practitioner and has asked HR and finance to approve the position.
The presentation outlined current caseloads and capacity shortfalls: public health employs seven staff total; WIC (Women, Infants and Children) serves about 1,100 Montrose families; vital records process roughly 350 birth and death certificates each month; and environmental health currently oversees about 276 retail food establishments. Mirza said vital-records staff are near retirement and require state-mandated training, leaving the office vulnerable if one person departs.
Mirza described other proposals the department would pursue with BOCC support: restoring routine immunizations countywide, expanding reproductive-health counseling and basic pathology/testing (HIV/STD/diabetes screening), and offering remote counseling and higher-risk clinical services. He also reported two permanently installed air-quality monitors (one in Nucla and one at the county public-health office) and said the department is pursuing partnerships with neighboring counties and River Valley Hospital for diabetes and prevention programming.
Commissioners pressed for budget details and next steps. Chair noted the capital-project conversation about clinic space would factor into any staffing or program expansion. Mirza said funding opportunities exist to offset staff costs for vaccination services and that the county could recover some costs through vaccine reimbursement and inspection fees if environmental-health responsibilities expand to neighboring counties.
The board did not vote on new funding during the work session; Mirza asked the BOCC to consider his staffing and service requests at the upcoming meetings so the department can move toward a "one-stop" model providing vaccines, reproductive health and basic testing in Montrose County.
