Henry County health official announces staffing change, opioid-settlement application window and community health survey launch

A health-department official (speaker 5) told commissioners on April 22 that the department will see a leadership change and two major outreach efforts in the coming weeks. The director of health promotion, identified in the meeting as Shabex, will resign effective May 1 to take a position with the State Department of Health. The official said the county will hire a director of nursing while Shabex will continue as a contractor to oversee grant-funded programs including the Live Coalition and the TLC grant.

The official outlined plans for distributing opioid-settlement funds: the application window for community proposals will open May 1 and close June 30, after which an opioid-settlement review committee will evaluate applications in July and present recommended projects to the commissioners with the goal of making funding decisions by August. “We had a great conversation... think big, think collaboratively as a community,” the official said, describing outreach to community partners.

The health official also said the county will launch a community health assessment on May 1; staff and partner agencies prepared a roughly 80-question survey, and the department hopes to collect about 450–500 completed responses over the summer. The official said advertising dollars and outreach will support the survey launch and asked commissioners to expect periodic updates.