History

Overview

The Stanly County Health Department’s mission is to protect, promote and preserve the health of citizens and communities in Stanly County. This is a mission that officially began in 1937 and is still continuing today.

The early years public health concerns included measles, infantile paralysis(polio), tuberculosis, typhoid fever, influenza, diphtheria, rabies, syphilis, well babies care, sanitary food establishments and trashy lots. Churches closed to prevent the spread of infantile paralysis. Schools closed to prevent the spread of influenza.

Some of these past health concerns are still being addressed by the health department while others no longer present a danger to the public. Some new public health concerns include Zika infection, Ebola, HIV infection/AIDS, emergency preparedness, chlamydia and water pollution.

Past and present public health initiatives have this in common – our goal has always been to create a healthy community, so all our citizens can maximize their potential.

The Stanly County Health Department became fully operational July 1937. Dr. W. Nash McKenzie served as the first health officer (health director). Along with Dr. McKenzie, four others were hired to staff the health department. Staff was: nurses – Miss Frances Barnett and Miss Jenice Ross, sanitary officer – Mr. Dwight Stokes and office assistant – Miss Margaret Cochran.

Essential Services of the Stanly County Health Department in 1937

School health supervision, including physical examination of school children for defects;
Immunization service will be offered….for the control of smallpox, diphtheria, and typhoid fever;
The perfection of an organization for the correction of physical defects, such physical defects to be corrected by competent physicians of the county;
….and conduct an organized program to reduce maternal and infant deaths;
An adequate venereal disease and tuberculosis program will be carried out, with the cooperation of the local medical profession;
….will conduct an educational and supervisory program which will go far toward correcting environmental sanitation, with particular emphasis on safe excreta disposal, malaria control, providing a pure and wholesome water supply, a pure milk supply, and pure food within the county;
….will conduct epidemiological investigations and institute adequate, intelligent, and effective measures for the prevention of communicable diseases;
The public health nurses will visit homes of school children who are absent because of communicable diseases and in whom physical defects defects may be found, and take such steps as may be necessary to prevent the spread of diseases and encourage the correct of the physical defect. The nurses will also visit the homes in the interest of expectant mothers in prenatal care, encouraging physical examinations, and securing the service of regular licensed physicians for the period of confinement;
….will supervise midwives, instructing them in elementary hygiene, and enjoin them for engaging in such practices they are not qualified qualified, and which, in turn,are dangerous procedures, often resulting in the death of the mother or infant;
The personnel of the health department, including the county health officer, shall devote their entire time to their official duties, and they shall conform to the state board of health’s policies set forth in the contract agreement with reference to honesty, sobriety, and moral conduct….;”

The Stanly News and Press, August 6, 1937

Partial First Quarterly Report by Dr. McKenzie

Immunizations

visits to communicable/contagious cases -73
threatened diphtheria epidemics – 2
consultations with physicians – 23
threatened diphtheria epidemics – 2
threatened scarlet fever epidemic – 1
immunization again typhoid – 12,105
immunization against smallpox – 172
immunization against diphtheria* – 153

(*Schools in adjoining counties closed due to diphtheria epidemic, but not Stanly County.)

Venereal Disease Control

syphilis treatments – 158
gonorrhea treatments – 10
blood tests – 113 (90 negative & 23 positive)
domestic servants tested – 40 (10 had syphilis)
tuberculosis cases in need of hospitalization – 4

Maternity Aid

visits – 132

School Hygiene

all schools in county inspected
students received dental exams – 1,578
students received dental work – 55

Food Handlers

adult food handlers and domestic servants examined (18 found with contagious disease) -19

General Sanitation

approved installations of water supplies – 6
new privies and septic tanks supervised – 139
visits to private premises – 292
mosquito control study with the U.S. Public Health Service – 1

Food and Milk

visits to food and handling establishments – 153
(county grade average 68; two weeks later county grade average 82; several food establishments closed.)

Stanly News and Press, October 31, 1937

Partial Listing of Stanly County Health Department Health Officers/Health Directors/Health and Human Services Director (02/05/2018)

- Dr. W. Nash McKenzie – July 1, 1937 – February 16, 1945
- Dr. M.B. Bethel (part-time) – February 17, 1945 – ?
- Dr. Frank Wilson – ? – July 1947
- Dr. R.E. “Eugene” Fox – July 1, 1948 – August 31, 1962
- Dr. Edward C. Humphrey – 1963 – ?
- Dr. George M. Leiby – August 1, 1966 – July 1974
- Mr. Beecher R. “Gus” Gray – June 1, 1975 – August 15, 1980
- Mr. Lawrence “Larry” Pakowski – November 17, 1980 – October 6, 1983
- Mr. Joseph Baird “Barry” Bass – March 2, 1984 – June 30, 1998
- Mr. James “Jim” A. Jones – October 12, 1998 – April 29, 2005
- Mr. Dennis R. Joyner – June 13, 2005 – November 30, 2017
- Mr. G. David Jenkins – February 5, 2018

Partial timeline of important events at the Stanly County Health Department

- July 1, 1937 – Stanly County Health Department fully organized

- December 1, 1959 – Set-up dog pound & hired first Dog Warden, Edgar E. Funderburk

- November 15, 1962 – Prenatal & Well Baby clinics offered

- May 1977 – Held first Stanly County Food Sanitation School

- March 1, 1978 – Began first Health Screening Outreach Clinic, a free health screening for adults 60 and older

- July 1, 1981 – Offered Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Program

- Fall 1982 – Moved to Fifth Street site

- September 1, 1991 – Offered HIV antibody testing

- April 20-21, 1995 – Moved to Stanly Commons

- April 15, 2002 – Established Dental Clinic (for those through 18 years of age)

- December 19, 2008 – Stanly County Health Department accredited

- May 13, 2013 – Initiated Farmers Market at Stanly Commons

- October 2013 – Initiated Stanly County Employee Health Clinic

- December 20, 2013 – Stanly County Health Department re-accredited

- September 5, 2017 – County Commissioners voted to consolidate Stanly County Health Department and the Department of Social Services

- November 6, 2017 – County Commissioners appointed members to the Consolidated Human Services Board
- November 16, 2017 – First meeting of the Stanly County Consolidated Human Services Board. Mr. Andy Lucas, County Manager, elected interim Human Services Director. Jann Lowder, County Commissioner, elected Board Chairperson. Gene McIntyre, County Commissioner, elected Board Vice Chairperson.
- December 19, 2017 – Stanly County Health Department re-accredited