New Fulton County health director outlines strategic plan priorities and accreditation push

Dr. Marcus Plesha, the district health director, gave his first quarterly report to the Fulton County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 5 and laid out a strategic plan that centers on financial stability, workforce recruitment and retention, community health planning, and service delivery.

Plesha said the department is moving away from facility-centered services toward more community-based prevention and outreach, and identified chronic diseases (heart disease, stroke, cancer), mental and behavioral health, and infectious disease (including HIV) as top priorities. “Heart disease, stroke, and cancer, those are the conditions that kill people in Fulton County, and those are areas that we can prevent,” he said.

He highlighted operational steps already under way: opening a new North Fulton clinical site that now provides vital records access and vaccinations, expanding environmental health staffing with roughly 14–16 hires, and reinstating staff for HIV prevention and Ryan White services. He also said the county is pursuing national public-health accreditation to strengthen quality assurance and improvement.

Commissioners asked about data dashboards, coordination with health systems such as Grady, inspection capacity, and how the community health assessment will translate into work plans. Vice Chair Khadija Abdul Rahman, who praised Plesha’s CDC background, urged continued outreach to communities of color: “In communities of color, we know that chronic diseases hit us much harder,” she said.

Plesha said the health department will publish a community health assessment and a state-of-public-health report and plans to post improved data dashboards on the Board of Health website. He and staff committed to return to the commissioners with updates on accreditation progress and the community health improvement plan.