Lake County Health Department officials presented the Lake County Council with an update on how the department is moving forward with the Health First Indiana initiative passed last year.
Lake County received $4.87 million in state funding for the health department as part of the Health First Indiana initiative, which was created in 2023 by the Indiana legislature. The goal is to improve the overall health of Hoosiers, a metric where the state consistently ranks among the worst in the nation.
“This positions the health department to work and collaborate with local community partners and organizations so that we can improve the health and safety of the community,” said Michelle Arnold, program manager for the Lake County Health Department.
The goal is to make sure that Hoosiers have access to core health care services throughout the state, Arnold said, divided into preventative and regulatory services. Of the funds received, 60% should go toward preventative services, like communicable disease prevention, and 40% should go toward regulatory services, like food protection.
“No matter what county you go to, you should be able to access the same core public services,” Arnold said.
Arnold presented the council with a scorecard that showed that as of June 4 the state rate of children under 3 years old receiving the recommended vaccine series is 59.1% and the Lake County rate is 43%, which means the county rates 89 out of 92 counties in that category.
The state infant mortality rate is 6.8% the county rate is 7.26%, and the state adult obesity rate is 43.6% while the county rate is 44.7%, according to the scorecard.
The county has lower percentages than the state average for smoking, smoking during pregnancy and suicide rates, according to the scorecard.
The state smoking rate during pregnancy is 6.6% while the county rate is 3.8%, and the state rate for smoking is 21% and the county rate is 18.6%. The state suicide rate is 15.77% while the county rate is 12.3%, according to the scorecard.
The department has created an immunization coalition partnership to go into communities to offer vaccines to those interested, Arnold said. The coalition offered vaccines in February, March, May, July and August, and in total, 73 people were vaccinated.
The department also has been working to improve its infectious disease prevention, Arnold said, which includes two staff members being trained to provide rapid HIV, hepatitis C and STI testing and consultation.
The department will hire three school liaisons, a public health nurse, a TB case manager, a lead risk assessor, a medical billing specialist, two additional food inspectors and a vital record clerk.
Lake County Health Officer Chandana Vavilala said the department has been advertising the positions on its website and that strong applicants have submitted their resumes.
Through the initiative, the department is finalizing its plans for a mobile health clinic, which will include one exam room and a blood draw station, Arnold said.
The mobile clinic will offer the same clinical services that the health department clinic does, which includes immunizations, lead testing and STI testing, Arnold said.
Once the mobile clinic is ready, Vavilala said health department officials will post on social media and the department website the locations where the mobile clinic will be headed.
People will also be able to request the mobile clinic to come to them, Vavilala said, similar to the way schools request the department to come during school enrollment days to help families make sure their students have their required immunizations.
The department has partnered with Vital Check, Arnold said, which will allow patients to access their vital records online once it is active.
The department has also partnered with Propio, a language service, that will allow clinic workers to use over 300 languages to communicate with non-English speaking patients, she said. Clinicians can use Propio with video or telephone options to help them communicate with patients.
Also on the technology side, Arnold said the department is digitizing old records, like environmental and food safety records.
The department’s website has also been updated, she said, to allow a user to schedule an appointment for a vaccine or blood draw and to submit complaints, like against food inspection or tattoo, piercing, microblading and eyelash parlors.
akukulka@post-trib.com
