In fewer than 12 working days, San Juan Basin Public Health will quietly shutter as Archuleta and La Plata counties assume responsibility for public health services.
As the Jan. 1 dissolution date nears, La Plata County officials are furiously preparing to welcome employees into La Plata County’s soon-to-be-minted public health department.
Despite the work on the back end – getting new employees signed up for benefits, signing program contracts with the state and preparing the SJBPH office for county takeover – leaders at the new department say the transition is expected to be seamless from a client’s perspective.
“The public is going to experience very little difference in the services they receive,” said Tracy Anselmo, the contracted interim director of the new department. “ … Almost all of the program staff (are) people who are currently providing services. Our programs are not changing or diminishing in any way.”
The two counties voted to dissolve the shared public health district, a 75-year-old entity, in November 2022, citing philosophical differences.
At a welcome fair last week, La Plata County Manager Chuck Stevens said that with the transition imminent, the gathering felt like “a holiday.”
“This is truly a celebration of a lot of work, of a lot of dedication and commitment, (and) a lot of effort that has gone into building a health department from the ground up,” he said.
The county has hired (or committed to hire) 45 of an anticipated 47 staff members at the new department, of which 39 hail from the legacy department.
“We didn’t inherit any of these staff,” said Claire Macpherson, deputy director of the new department. “We chose, on purpose, every single one of them because they are the most qualified people and they have the most expertise in their field.”
After months of anxiety about which jobs would exist at the county, and who would get them, those making the transition say they look forward to a new endeavor.
LPCPH spokeswoman Megan Graham said most of the jobs that were eliminated were duplicates of administrative service jobs, such as human resources, that the county already has. Archuleta County has hired many of the SJBPH employees working out of the Pagosa Springs office.
“It’s been stressful and there’s been uncertainty,” said Jenn Heath, a nurse with SJBPH’s Nurse-Family Partnership program who will hold the same title at the county. “But it’s going to be smooth. Our clients know what’s going to happen.”
LPCPH staff members will spend the first week onboarding at various county sites, Stevens told the room of more than 40 people last week. Even as employees prepare to join a new organization, some will still have to tend to public health duties.
Graham said mandatory water testing will continue throughout the first week of January, although other clients will be asked to wait another couple of weeks.
In the event of an infectious disease outbreak or some other public health event that will require the attention of officials, Macpherson – who has worked for the county since May – and a blend of public health and other county employees will be on-call to respond.
Anselmo and Graham say the biggest challenge now facing the department will be to communicate that little has changed from the public’s perspective. Public health services will continue to be offered out of 281 Sawyer Drive in Durango, patient records will be transferred into the counties’ new departments and the new departments will use the recently completed Community Health Assessment to set future goals.
Interim Executive Director of SJBPH Brian Devine said the department will start to move toward winding down beginning Monday. Its last day of operations will be Dec. 28, and county employees will formally move in to the building beginning Jan. 2.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
