Lake County health chief retiring

Dale Galassie, head of the Lake County Health Department and a driving force behind its growth in the area of community health services, is retiring next year after 27 years with the agency.

Galassie joined the health department as the director of administrative services in 1981. He became executive director in 1992. Since then, the department has grown from a $19 million budget with about 600 employees to a $64 million budget and 1,000 staff members.

"It's been a wonderful and outstanding run here," the 55-year-old Lake Forest resident said. "I think it's a good time for the department and a good time for myself (to retire)."

Galassie said in the past year and a half he lost three 50-something relatives and friends and had his first grandchild.

"It alters one's perspective on life," he said. "It gets your attention. I want to just chill and enjoy life for a bit."

Galassie said he believes he is leaving a healthy workplace culture as a legacy. But he is most proud of getting Lake County to go smoke-free and for successfully lobbying the state to do the same.

"(It is) the most significant public health impact in my career here," he said.

Among his accomplishments are overhauling the health department's food protection program and increasing access to health care for the county's uninsured and underinsured.

"He's done an exemplary job," said Steve Carlson, who serves on both the Lake County and health department boards. "The biggest one is he brought in the community health center."

Today, the department's five community health centers in Waukegan, Round Lake Beach, North Chicago, Zion and Highland Park serve more than 40,000 clients and log about 100,000 visits per year.

Under Galassie's leadership, the department's primary care services met federal requirements that allowed it to increase services for low-income residents.

"He's going to leave a void, but Dale has such a well-oiled machine there," county board Chairwoman Suzi Schmidt said. "He has really brought that health department probably to one of the best in the country … whether it be for health care, lakes management, septic systems, water or well testing."

The board of health will discuss Galassie's replacement at its Wednesday meeting. The board likely will hire a firm to do a national search and consider successors from within the health department.