The Role of Public Health Departments – through the eyes of Dr. Larry Wile
What does a health department do? Ask any young 20s person that question and probably 9 out of 10 would respond with, “Something related to sexually transmitted disease.” That’s what Dr. Larry Wile, the Medical Director of the Van Buren-Cass District Health Department used to think, too, before exploring an opportunity to work as a public health official. Now, he says, he understands the responsibility is much larger, it’s very rewarding work, and it plays a huge and mostly unnoticed role in every person’s life.
“I was a family practitioner for over 30 years in the Kalamazoo area, and when I took my first, in depth look, I was amazed to learn that public health departments do an incredible amount of work,” Wile noted. “They help protect our community through protecting the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe. They work on emergency preparedness and monitoring communicable diseases. In our nursing division, we have people working with the families of parents who have special needs, children. It’s just one of the many great things that the Health Department does that most people don’t realize.”
Wile says he spent his summers during college and medical school going into migrant camps, filling out forms and vaccination records for them as a liaison between the workers and area schools. Later in his career, he returned to volunteering for that same program. One day, a health officer who was running the program approached Wile to ask him about “helping out some more” at the public health department.
Wile thought about the opportunity and eventually agreed. He quickly learned it was a substantial obligation.
“The more I looked, the more I said, ‘OK, I’ll do this.’ What I didn’t realize is that I had to go back and get a master’s degree in public health. Fortunately, they let me do this while I was working.”
Wile agrees that going from a successful family practice working individually with patients to working with groups and communities was a seismic shift – but a rewarding one.
The medical director notes that the Van Buren Cass County Health Department has six divisions – each looking at different areas that are vitally important to protecting and enhancing public health. That includes a mandate to promote public health.
“One example is a recent wellness grant we secured to promote nutrition, movement, and exercise among our region’s young people. National studies show nearly 20 percent of adolescents have obesity. We’re using the grant resources to create a program with area schools called the Eat Well/Be Well campaign. It starts as simply as that.”
Wile notes other health studies show that nearly 70% of all our deaths in our country are preventable through lifestyle changes. The main three things are eating better, not smoking, and exercising. So, if we can concentrate on improving our diet and nutrition, eating better, and exercise, we can help people live longer, live healthier, and enjoy their life and do the things they want to do longer in life than what they’re currently doing.
Beyond health promotion, Wile notes responsibilities related to emergency preparedness – on a communitywide scale, monitoring area water quality for both drinking and recreation, food preparation inspections, and insect-borne disease monitoring.
Public health departments were also on the front lines during the COVID pandemic.
“We had a group of nurses that worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day – at least. And it wasn’t just week after week, it was month after month. And we almost had to lock the doors on the weekends to keep (the nurses) out because they were exhausting themselves. But they were so dedicated, and they really felt that what they were doing made a difference and was saving lives. That first year of COVID was especially scary, and they were healthcare heroes.”
At the end of the day, the mission of the Van Buren-Cass District Health Department is, “To protect and promote the highest level of health possible for the communities we serve. Centered on our community, dedicated with a passion for public health, fostering a strong sense of teamwork, and being readily available, approachable, and authentic.”
Wile says while it is a tremendous responsibility the entire team shares at the health department, it’s also rewarding work.
“Doing this has taught me how much I enjoy what I do and who I work with. Every day I drive home thinking, ‘I really like my job.’”
Learn more about the Van Buren-Cass District Health Department at their website.