"From Cradle To Grave" …aptly sums up the Health Department’s presence in the lives of each of Lee County’s 400,000 residents and nearly two million annual visitors. If you’re born, move or die here, eat, drink, build, swim, live your life or just visit Lee County, then to a great degree the responsibility for your health and safety falls under the domain of the Lee County Health Department.
"Public health, at its best, is invisible," states Judith Hartner, M.D., M.P.H., who as Director oversees the entire 220 employee agency. "But our services touch everyone in the county – sooner or later." A joint venture between the state of Florida and the Lee County Board of Commissioners, the Lee County Health Department enjoys partnerships with a multitude of other public and private health care providers, contractors, law enforcement and social service agencies. Last January, the county became the host for the department’s internet website – www.lee-county.com/healthdept. Headquartered on Michigan Avenue in Fort Myers, the health department has satellite clinics and offices scattered throughout the county. With a budget of over seventeen million dollars, Dr. Hartner oversees such areas of public health concern as disease and epidemic control, immunizations, environmental health, water supply and pool safety, as well as Vital Statistics, Injury Prevention, Women’s Health Services, AIDS and several other health issues.
Often numbers are the best way to convey the department’s activities and impact within our community. As an example, last year the department’s Vital Statistics branch filed 5,359 Birth and 4,721 Death Certificates – testifying to the dynamic growth of our area. Yet the agency’s influence often begins even before an infant’s birth, through programs such as Healthy Start and WIC Nutrition, geared towards ensuring healthy pregnancies and healthy babies. The effectiveness of programs such as these can be seen in statistics showing Florida’s infant mortality dropping dramatically and consistently since 1991, and greatly improved infant immunization rates during the same period. Last year 27,608 child immunizations were administered throughout the county; adult and overseas travel accounted for an additional 3,942 shots. And when the flu season hits, the health department reaches out to the community through additional, temporary clinics set up at churches, retirement parks and migrant camps. In 1998 the staff administered nearly 10,000 doses of flu protection.
Assuring a safe drinking water supply through the county’s 295 public systems and maintaining disease-free swimming pools are among the responsibilities of Environmental Engineering employees, who work out of Danley Drive near Page Field. More than 26,000 water tests were performed last year at their state certified laboratory. With a staff of 28, the Environmental Health Services team made 17,000 trips to over 8,000 Lee County sites in 1998, granting approval for over 1,700 new septic systems, inspecting 163 mobile home and recreational vehicle parks, and taking legal enforcement action against 328 environmental infractions.
Lee County’s restaurants, schools and day cares benefit from constant surveillance by Epidemiology and Disease Control Services, which in the past twelve months investigated over 900 cases of reported disease. School Health, Women’s Health, Tobacco Prevention, teen
pregnancy prevention, STD services, AIDS education and treatment… the list goes on
and on, with programs that affect each of our lives either directly or indirectly. Florida
KidCare, funded by Federal Block Grants and Tobacco Settlement money, is a health
department program aimed at providing affordable health care to every child in Lee County.
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