Political
action key to getting health department 15 years ago.
By
Caroline Porter
By
all standards the Knox County Health Department is efficient and successful and
Knox County citizens should be celebrating its fifteen years of operation this month.
The referendum establishing the department and a tax levy to fund it was
finally passed in 1992. The new board was formed quickly, consisting of
physicians Carl Strauch and Lynn Greeley; Jay Sandercock, dentist; Betty
Nelson, chairman, and director of Social Services at Cottage Hospital; Gayle
Keiser, county board; Jim Hankes, representing restaurant and food service;
Roger Meyers, city government, and Leon Campbell, citizen at large.
One
of their first and best actions was to hire Greg Chance as administrator of the
Health Department. He, along with his boards and staff, has directed the
expansion of health department services and the building of new facilities on
Fremont Street, without raising the levy. Building expansion for additional
dental services is in the works. Serving in the department from the beginning,
Chance has also garnered $9.6 million dollars in federal and state grants. A
fine promotional piece about the health department was included in the Sunday Register-Mail and details the many programs available to a county
community where the number of citizens receiving Medicaid in 2007 reached
10,046, or 19.1 percent of the population. Programs of environmental health,
chronic disease and clinical services, family health and health education, and
promotion are based on three countywide community health assessments and plan
development projects by the department administration. The brochure includes
the facts the department has administered over 28,570 childhood immunizations,
dental health to over 17,200 low-income patients, and 40,500 flu shots.
The
health department also plays a key role in the development and implementation
of plans for massive health emergencies caused by terrorism or other
communicable diseases.
But
the health department didnÕt just rise up out of a vacuum. Many citizens of
Knox County worked hard to get the issue on the ballot and achieve a positive
vote two times in the 35 years before 1992. The Knox County Board, which could
have placed the issue on the ballot so citizens could express their wishes,
refused to do so. So citizens groups had to organize petition drives to put the
question on the ballot, then work to pass the referendum. In 1972 and 1976,
citizens supporting a health department were sadly disappointed in the results
of their work and the negative and strong reactions to establishing a health
department.
In
1972, members of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA), led by Genevieve
Hagerty, brought up the issue of establishing a county health department. According
to library records, in January of 1972, Dr. Henry Hauser, a Sociology professor
at Knox College, reported on a meeting to form a steering committee that
included representatives from the Knox County Medical Society, St. MaryÕs
Hospital, the League of Women Voters, Tri-County Mental health Association,
several churches, VNA, Department of Children and Family Services, the
Salvation Army and representatives from Oneida, Abingdon and Knoxville. The
committee established four subcommittees and named itself the County Health
Improvement Committee (CHIC). Mrs. Ralph Vinson, of Oneida, was chairman. Mrs.
Sidney Lewis, of Abingdon was petition chair and Dr. Hauser was publicity
chair. One county board candidate, Caroline Goltermann, publicly took a stand
on the issue and attended meetings. (Now Porter).
The
petition drive was successful, but the issue was defeated by 861 votes, winning
in the City of Galesburg, but losing in the rest of the county. When asked if
the group would try again in two years, Mrs. Vinson responded, ÒOur little
group is done, and itÕs sad. But weÕre ready for a break.Ó
1976
Referendum
The
next effort was made in 1976. This time well-known Galesburg resident Felix
Bengston was chairman, Mrs. Harold Liston of Knoxville was head of public
relations and steering committee members included George Onion, manager of the
local Illinois Department of Public Aid, Dr. Henry Hauser and Phyllis Riess,
president of the Galesburg League of Women Voters. Public meetings included
presentations by James Masters, head of the long –established Fulton
County Health Department.
Phyllis
Riess, still a resident of Galesburg, remembers her feelings when the
referendum lost badly, 10,045 no votes, 6,656, yes votes.
ÒI
was devastated,Ó she recalls. ÒI didnÕt understand it. It was a good campaign
run by excellent people. But I was so na•ve. The opposition seemed to be run by
county board member Harold Wilson, who seemed to be bringing in people from
Fulton County to talk against it. By the time our speakers would get in front
of a small group, we would be greeted by accusations and negative questions.
The theory being promoted was that a new department would represent
uncontrolled growth of government and once it was established, we could never
get rid of it.Ó The Register-Mail reported that county board member Caroline Goltermann
made a motion for the county board to support the referendum and Harold Wilson
successfully moved to table the issue.
ÒIt
was such a shock, but it was a time when a lot of young women coalesced around
a need, were galvanized by the issue, which probably carried over to 1992
(referendum). There were a lot of kids at the meetings. I really admired and
respected those young women.Ó
Riess
tried to recall some of the women of the community who worked on both
referendums and suggested the names of Marie Haven, Kathy Smith, Gerry
Cantwell, Gloria Meyer, Maggie Smith, Julie Young and Lillian Michelson. She
remembers George Onion as being an informative and steady force on the steering
committee. She holds a profound respect for chairman Felix Bengston.
She
noted the Register-Mail reporter
covering the health department referendum was Andrea Ferretti, who later, then
Andrea Vitale, was president of the League of Women Voters and played a key
role in the successful 1992 referendum.
1992
Referendum
The
successful 1992 referendum for a health department was not without its
controversies. According to news reports, county board member Chris Winick
raised the issue early in the year. Betty Nelson and Andrea Vitale of the
League of Women Voters approached leaders of the Knox County Board, who agreed
to place the referendum on the ballot. A citizenÕs task force was organized by
Nelson and Vitale to work with the board. Task force members included Dr. Ajita
Kale, executive director of Family Planning Services of Illinois, Jane
Robertson, executive director of VNA and Dr. Carl Strauch. County board leaders
Dick Allen and Don Anderson and the task force recommended the referendum not
be held during the 1992 general presidential election but at the 1993 April
Township and municipal election. County board member Gayle Keiser and others
felt the referendum being on the ballot at a time when few people vote was a
recipe for disaster.
Keiser
proceeded to organize a petition drive to get the issue on the ballot for the
November general election, not only establishing a health department, but also
providing a tax levy to support it. When task force members realized the county
board had no intentions of funding the department, they disbanded as a county
board entity and supported the November referendum. Even though task force and
League members asked that the issue not be partisan, it was mainly Democratic
Party activists and county board candidates who garnered 4,000 signatures,
almost 2,000 more than needed, on petitions asking for the general election
referendum. At this point, League members, party activists and other supporters
worked together to pass the referendum. In the midst of the campaign, Jane
Robertson of the VNA announced they could not keep up with increasing
immunization needs in the county. At an informational meeting about the health
department, she told the audience that services for communicable diseases and
maternal and child health needs should be provided by an official health
department.
Supporters
of the new agency built their campaign around immunizations for children,
restaurant inspections, ground water inspections, communicable disease control
and other health-related services needed in the county.
The
referendum passed by a margin of 1,767 votes. What would make such a difference
in the 16-year interim since the last referendum? It was an unflattering fact
that Knox County was one of only 14 counties out of 102 in the State of
Illinois without a health department. The year of 1992 was called ÒThe Year of
the Woman,Ó when there were more women candidates and women won more elections
than any time before. Political scientists chalk up womenÕs sharpened attitudes
to their reaction to the Senate Judiciary hearings of Supreme Court nominee
Clarence Thomas, wherein his former intern and then law professor, Anita Hill,
testified about sexual harassment. The arrogance and blatant bias of the male
Senate committee members infuriated American women. They showed it at the
polls. ItÕs no surprise that women are traditionally more concerned about
social and family issues. They saw the need for a health department in Knox
County and they voted.
Congratulations
to administrator Greg Chance, the board members for the past 15 years, and the
staff for a job well done.
11/22/2007