MEETING — The Jefferson County Board of Health met in regular session Tuesday in the second-floor community room of the Jefferson County Tower. -- Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County’s health commissioner Tuesday expressed his hope that, with the new federal administration and its priorities, funding won’t dry up for the county public health department.

“I don’t want to speak for everyone, but I think there’s a large number of us who are eager to see what public health will look like here with the new federal administration,” Henry said during his monthly report to the Jefferson County Board of Health. “It appears that there’s going to be a focus on chronic disease, obesity, diabetes, food policy, prevention-based care and environmental health.”

Henry noted that a large number of Ohio Department of Health grants begin at the federal level, and he’s hopeful that the Jefferson County General Health District’s “position in the community will remain strong, and we see funding still come to the local health departments.”

“And we have worked hard the last several years to raise the bar with outreach and community events, and we want to see that continue,” he added.

Environmental lawyer and former third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in Thursday as the 26th secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, as part of President Donald Trump’s cabinet. A critic of vaccines and food additives, Kennedy has identified remedying chronic disease as a priority of his “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

Separately, the board heard from the health department’s environmental health employees, who explained upcoming changes to their performance review process through the ODH and Ohio Department of Agriculture.

Environmental Director Marc Maragos reported that, on March 18, ODH officials will begin surveying the environmental division’s food service operations. The survey will last about a week and see officials review the division’s cases dating back to 2019.

Maragos said the review will include a knowledge test for division employees, as per rule changes proposed by the Ohio Environmental Health Association and recently approved by the ODH and ODA. It’s a departure from the agencies’ previous mode of operation, namely conducting field training, he added.

Registered Sanitarian Carla Gampolo said that field training would see highly experienced reviewers accompany sanitarians in the field and evaluate their performance. This proved to be “intensive,” particularly for newer sanitarians, and evaluation results were opinion-based to a fault.

Gampolo said the knowledge test will provide better insight into “what we do definitely know, rather than someone picking and choosing what they feel we know.”

The environmental division typically conducts two inspections annually per food establishment, Maragos said, though designated higher-risk establishments must undergo four inspections, which are usually accomplished in two visits. The presence of violations may be cause for additional inspections.

Gampolo said that, although Jefferson County sanitarians adhere unflaggingly to rules, “we want (establishments) to understand that we’re here for them. We want to work with them as a team. Rather than going in there and just sending them a paper about what’s wrong, we want them to understand why it’s wrong, so that the next time we go back, it’s been corrected.”

She added that the division has positive relationships with the establishments and communicates frequently with them.

Finding no violations whatsoever — even minor ones — is “very rare,” Maragos said. The division covers roughly 400 establishments, so violations are sure to be present, though no type of establishment is more frequently guilty than another.

Gampolo and Registered Sanitarian Jack McGuire are finishing the previous year’s food program, which runs from March 1 to Feb. 28.

Anyone wishing to file a complaint can call the division’s office, Maragos said. That begins the division’s complaint investigation process, which may result in temporary suspension of an establishment’s license until issues are remediated. Establishments can also voluntarily close until concerns are resolved.

“Our goal is never to close anybody, but public health is our priority,” Gampolo said.

Also, Henry reported that the health department submitted all of its accreditation documents two days prior to the Feb. 5 deadline. It’s a major accomplishment for the department, which poured time and resources into the effort in order to achieve state-mandated accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board.

The department now awaits word from PHAB, which may request corrective action or supportive documents, Henry said. A site visit will follow in the future, as well.

“I’m looking forward to the continuous improvements that we will see working to achieve the PHAB standards and measures,” Henry said.

Health board chair Anthony Mougianis said, “I can’t say enough (about) where we’ve come from and how hard it’s been on (finance and administration director Kelly Wilson) and everyone else who’s sweated bullets over this. It just goes to show you how fortunate we are, as a team, to have that kind of dedication.”

In other business:

• Henry noted that the District Advisory Council — a voting group of representatives from all Jefferson County municipalities — will convene at 6:30 p.m. on March 12 in the Jefferson County Tower’s second-floor community room to elect a health board member. Applications are due March 7 for the seat currently held by Mary Mihalyo, who said she “absolutely” intends to reapply.

• Henry reported that local stakeholders — including the health department, treatment centers, first responders and the Jefferson County Prevention and Recovery Board — will meet Thursday to review the second half of 2024 overdose fatality cases in the county. Meant to identify possible gaps that could affect outcomes, the review meetings may be expanded to include suicide fatalities, due to a perceived decrease in overdose fatalties, from 22 in 2023 to 15 in 2024.

• On March 3, Henry said, several health department staff members will undergo Smoke Free Ohio Workplace Program training. The department does not currently enforce smoke-free policies in Ohio, he added, but the department hopes to bring that locally and leverage available payments per case addressed, from the ODH. The training does not carry any commitments.

• Maragos reported there were 17 calls to the Apex Landfill odor complaint hotline in January, and there had been 12 in February, as of Tuesday morning.

• Nursing Director Kylie Smogonovich said her division’s work in February has centered around heart health: A women’s heart health presentation and AED demonstration for the Women’s Club of Steubenville, doing blood pressure checks and providing heart health education at the Urban Mission pantry and distributing heart health information through the Jefferson County Diaper Bank.

• WIC Director Stephanie Chester said her division will offer free healthy dips for clients to sample throughout March, which is National Nutrition Month.

• The board approved hiring Courtney Griffith as a full-time registered nurse, effective Wednesday, at a starting wage of $28.34 per hour. Griffith will fill the health department’s community health worker role and administer opioid prevention education through the PreVenture program at all Jefferson County schools. The position is primarily funded through grant funds, and Griffith’s employment will last at least until December 2026 — the PreVenture program’s duration.