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| 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.
·
Chip
away at our Community Health
Improvement Plan (CHIP) and Community Health
Assessment (CHA)…see
what I did there?
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
