Initial fears that St. Joseph County elected officials won’t opt into a state public health funding expansion are instead turning in to fears that the county will lack the expertise to effectively use the new money.
That was evident Monday night when the Health Improvement Alliance of St. Joseph County held an “educational” session at the Main Library downtown South Bend. The group convened a panel discussion with Kreg Gruber, Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Health System; Chris Karam, president of Saint Joseph Health System, Rose Meissner, president of the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County; and Trina Robinson, president of the NAACP’s South Bend chapter.
Counties have until Sept. 1 to opt into the new funding, which becomes available in January. The county health department could receive from $3.1 million to $4.2 million more annually from the state, to add a much larger array of services aimed at improving Indiana’s dismal health statistics.
But County Council Member Amy Drake had gone to Indianapolis to testify against the state funding bill. Giving the senate committee a letter she said was signed by all Republican council members, Drake testified that they were worried about losing local control of public health if they accepted the new money.
But since then, Drake has signaled she’ll support opting in, as have other Republicans. Perhaps before that change became clear, moderator Jessica Brookshire had prepared questions for the panelists, asking them to talk about how their organizations would be affected if the county chooses not to opt in.
Panelist Meissner, with the community foundation, indicated there’s a new worry: whether the health department will have enough staff and board members who know enough about public health to spend the money effectively.
Last week seven health department staff resigned, most of them citing harassment by Drake and another new Republican council member, Dan Schaetzle. The board of health also last week voted to eliminate the position of Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox, without waiting for the incoming health officer, Dr. Diana Purushotham, to say whether she would like his help in getting situated into the job.
Purushotham replaces Dr. Bob Einterz, who quit in March, citing continued harassment by Republican county commissioners and council members. She starts in the job July 24 and has not responded to WVPE’s multiple interview requests. But her career thus far has been in clinical medicine and she has never worked in public health.
Before he came to the county, Einterz had been a global health expert at Indiana University, where he pioneered ways to increase access to health care in Kenya, he won a prestigious university award for his work addressing how poverty and hunger contribute to poor health.
Fox holds a master’s degree in public health and is an associate dean of the Indiana University School of Medicine.
“I don’t understand why Dr. Purushotham isn’t consulted about whether or not she wants to hit the ground on Day 1 with no transition after losing eight employees,” Meissner said. “That is not setting her up for success. I think Dr. Fox’s contract should be honored if he’s willing to stay with it. And for the life of me I do not understand why Dr. Beidinger would not be filling out her term if she’s willing to stay with it.
“The money is important and we have to go for it but money doesn’t make anything happen by itself. It’s just money. It’s a means to an end.”
Meissner was referring to health board member Heidi Beidinger. Her board appointment runs through December, but she was appointed by South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. The board’s make-up will change under the new state law that creates the added funding. County health boards must grow from seven to nine members. Beidinger says based on how she’s seen commissioners replace other health board members with people lacking public health knowledge — their past two appointments were an attorney, Ellen Reilander, and a real estate agent, Jill Kaps Van Bruaene — she said she figures her days are numbered.
Gruber, the Beacon CEO, said the Indiana Hospital Association asked him to support the public health expansion and he was happy to do so. As part of that process, he said he asked the health departments in all five counties where Beacon operates to show him what they might do with more state funding. Of the five, St. Joseph had the “most comprehensive work and picture done of a forward-looking future plan of how they would spend those dollars,” Gruber said.
“I think it’s important that you as citizens and community members know that you have and have had a group of individuals who are thoughtful and have put work into the potential to move the dial on public health, and I think that’s a material issue to be aware of,” Gruber said.
Neither Baxmeyer, the county commissioners president, nor Purushotham, the incoming health officer, replied to WVPE’s requests for comment for this story.
