San Juan Basin Health Department went within for a new director, deciding to hire its acting director of the last two months, Liane Jollon.
Jollon, 42, succeeds Joe Theine, who resigned in April after serving just a month shy of two years in the position.
Jollon said she plans to “be around for a while.”
“I have been with the organization for three years,” she said. “There is nothing I would rather be doing, and there’s no place I would rather live than Durango.”
Bob Ledger, the board chairman for the health department, said Jollon was chosen over two other “excellent finalists.”
“During her time as acting director, we’ve been impressed with her ability to seize the opportunity and by her performance,” Ledger said in a statement released Thursday by the health department, which serves La Plata and Archuleta counties.
San Juan Basin Health has 70 employees and an annual budget of $4.7 million, offering health programs and an array of services in areas as diverse as reproductive health, child health, immunizations, children’s dental, food safety, septic permits, emergency preparedness and programs to prevent substance abuse.
Jollon joined the department as a clinic nurse in 2010. She has served as a clinic manager and director of the Health Services division.
Overall, she has 14 years of experience working for local and statewide nonprofits.
A native New Yorker, Jollon has a bachelor’s degree in history and sociology from Columbia University. A resident of Durango since 1999, she earned an associate’s degree in nursing from Southwest Colorado Community College in 2010.
Jollon said she looks forward to working on local health priorities such as preventing obesity and providing more access to health care.
She thinks funding for the department should improve under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which sets aside funding for prevention programs.
“There should be new opportunities in public health in the near future,” Jollon said. “It’s going to be exciting.”
jhaug@durangorherald.com
