Lake County Health Department celebrates 50 years of serving residents

Since opening its doors on Sept. 2, 1958, the Lake County Health Department has come a long way in serving the needs of county residents.

Growing from a 17-member staff to more than 1,000 employees, the health department today operates five primary care clinics, a tuberculosis clinic, an animal control facility and about 60 distinct programs on a roughly $70 million annual budget.

Today, the department serves more than 644,000 residents, more than double the county population of 280,000 in the late 1950s.

"The initial focus was on health issues related to the population growth and development, need for safe and sanitary sewer disposal, safe water supplies, lakes conservation and regulating the growth," said Irene Pierce, Lake County Health Department executive director.

Some of the department's high priorities in the beginning were child health services, school health programs, programs for the chronically ill and aging population, regulation of food facilities, nuisance complaints about rodent infestations and illegal dumpings.

The mission has stayed the same to this day: to promote physical and emotional health, prevent disease, injury and disability, and protect the environment.

Roughly 30 percent of the department's programs are funded by local property taxes, about 35 percent by federal and state grants and the remaining 35 percent through fees, reimbursable Medicare/Medicaid dollars and other revenues.

Here are some highlights marking the department's evolution:

1956: Lake County voters passed a referendum authorizing the establishment of the health department. The health department initially operated out of a 2000-square-foot office space in the Grand Avenue Shopping Center at 2307 Grand Ave. in Waukegan.

1960s: The focus was on enforcement of ordinances related to milk and restaurant sanitation, inspection and consultation to nursing homes, establishment of child health conferences, immunizations and maternal and child health care.

1970s: The Lake County Mental Health Clinic and the Lake County Health Department joined forces to provide preventive mental health services to county residents. The health department established a program for vision and hearing screening for children in nursery schools and child-care centers, established a rabies program, a 24-hour crisis intervention service, and environmental health staff began bacterial analysis of major streams.

1980s: The health department saw a 12.4 percent increase in public aid recipients with area factory closings. The food sanitation program began standardized inspections and record-keeping. Women's Residential Services began offering treatment programs for chemically dependent women and their children. The health department's Lakes Management Unit offered three main services in the 1980s, including diagnostic surveys, education programs and beach sampling.

1990s: Primary care services and facilities were designated as federally qualified health care centers. As a result, there was a substantial increase in primary care patients. In 1993, the first Kids 1st Health Fair was held in Waukegan providing families with necessary school immunizations and health exams. The health department overhauled its food protection program improving the way it inspected food facilities.

The new millennium: In 2002, the Tuberculosis Clinic was integrated into the health department's programs and a new clinic was built in 2007. In 2004, the Lake County Board approved funding for the establishment of the mental health and drug courts. The North Shore Health Center opened its doors in 2006 to serve Highland Park and Highwood residents, joining community health centers in North Chicago, Round Lake Beach, Waukegan and Zion.

Did you know?

• Your body needs 30-45 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of the week.

• Heart disease and stroke are the first- and third-leading causes of death for men and women in the United States, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all deaths, one every 33 seconds.

• A healthier waist circumference is less than 40 inches for men and less than 35 inches for women.

• About 127 million adult Americans - about 127 million - are overweight or obese.

• Alcoholism is a disease that includes four symptoms: craving, loss of control, physical dependence and tolerance.

• Myths about suicide: people who talk about it won't really do it; anyone who tries to kill himself/herself is crazy; talking about suicide may give someone the idea.

• As of 2000, 86,682 Lake County residents, 14.7 percent of the county's population, had no health insurance. Of those, 20,441 were under the age of 15.

• Children who are not fully immunized increase the spread of disease.

• Unintentional injuries were the fourth-leading cause of death behind cancer, heart disease and stroke, in Lake County, making up 4 percent of deaths from 2000 to 2003.

• The most common poison exposures for children are ingesting household products, such as cosmetics and personal care products, cleaning substances, pain relievers, foreign bodies and plants.

• Women should have a clinical breast exam performed by a doctor or nurse every 3 years starting at age 20 and every year after age 40.

• Each year, 3,000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer caused by second-hand smoke.

Source: Lake County Health Department

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