Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Happenings at CCHD: Director of Public Health

John Kanoza, Director of Public Health 
After working for 14 years in the private sector as a consulting environmental engineer/hydrogeologist I decided it was time for a switch. I was looking to set aside the #1 goal of “making money for the company” in favor of helping people and communities. In September of 2002 I accepted the position of Director/Engineer of Environmental Health & Safety here at the Clinton County Health Department (CCHD) where I served for 15 years. Fast forward to 2017. Our previous Director of Public Health, Jerie Reid, announced she would be retiring in October 2017. She recommended that I consider applying for the position. The thought of this took me by surprise but I figured since we have a very solid and experienced department I could become a successful Director over time. And here I am!

Though I do miss the engineering and problem solving work that I did as Director/Engineer of the Environmental Health & Safety Division, I have found that my role as Director of Public Health also includes a variety of problem solving tasks (of a different nature, but problem solving none the less J).  As well as doing everything possible to network and expand our many public health objectives I sincerely enjoy my daily interaction with department staff.

So, what else do I do all day?
·         Check on and attend to specific division, program and department needs. Our department has 5 different divisions and over 20 different programs/grants...this is a never ending task.
·         Answer requests from our Board of Health and County Legislature.
·         Chip away at our Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) and Community Health Assessment (CHA)…see what I did there?
·         Protect residents from potential health harms. See an example here.

Our field of Public Health is no doubt very strong. Based on new and changing risks to public health, it appears very likely that the need for public health professionals will only increase in the future. Over the last 17 years, I have grown to enjoy focusing on the single BIG objective of keeping our residents and community healthy and safe every day.

John M. Kanoza, P.E., P.G.
Director of Public Health
Clinton County Health Department 

HABs – Say Algae You Later!

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