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April 24, 2013
of wabash county inc.
www.thepaperofwabash.com
Proudly Serving Wabash County Since 1977
Vol. 36, No. 6
PO Box 603, Wabash, IN 46992 (260) 563-8326
Dr. David Roe named new Wabash County Health Officer
by Brent Swan Dr. David Roe, a long-time Marion physician, became the Wabash County Health Officer March 1, replacing Dr. James Rudolph. After retiring from practice in 2010, Dr. Roe and his wife began contemplating construction of a home outside of Lagro when he learned of the position. “We had decided we were going to build on the property we had owned for the past 28 years,” Dr. Roe recalled. “We called the County Health Office to speak with Jennifer Scott about a septic system and she said they were going to be without a County Health Officer. I thought it over for a bit and talked to some of our friends, Dean and Kae Gifford, and decided to give it a try.” Born in Alabama, Dr. Roe spent the majority of his childhood in Illinois before attending the University of Illinois where he received his undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in chemistry. Dr. Roe then went to the University of Illinois-Chicago where he graduated from medical school in 1972. “I did my surgical residency at the University of Illinois and spent a year as chief resident there before coming here in 1977 to Marion. I practiced general surgery in Marion until 2010 when I retired.” According to Dr. Roe, the County Health Officer is primarily responsible for overseeing the County Health Department’s staff, as well as overseeing the administration of immunizations and maintaining a medical license to legally sign and validate birth and death certificates. “Within this office, we have Jennifer Scott, who does the Environmental Health certifications for septic systems, to detect contamination of streams, and for CAFO operations, making sure they don’t have any effluent contaminating waterways,” Dr. Roe said. “And she also tests and gives permits for septic systems. They use four or five soil specialists that test the ground – all of that is necessary to ensure you do not get fecal contamination getting back into the water supply.” In addition to Scott’s office, the County Health Department is also responsible for conducting restaurant inspections and certifying food preparation throughout Wabash County, and making sure food is prepared in a sanitary manner. “Lynn Dannacher does the restaurant inspections and has a list of all of the restaurants and food preparation places in the county,” Dr. Roe said. “We oversee any facility that prepares food and have the power to demand something be changed, if needed. Ultimately, we can shut someone down or fine preparers for flagrant violations.” In addition to the Environmental Health and Food side, the County Health Department is most easily recognized as the center for vital records and immunizations. Kathy Carter-Lower and Lynn Ellis are the office administrators in charge of the health office functions as well as vital records. “Anyone that wants a birth certificate or death certificate must come through this office,” Dr. Roe said. “If someone dies, the attending physician would
make the statement that they had died and complete the appropriate paperwork and forms. Records are monitored by the state, and everything is online now. We get a lot of people that come in doing genealogy research, for example someone may want to know birth and death dates or burial locations for their grandparents – we are able to pull up that information for those interested.” The Wabash County Health Department also employs two public health nurses on staff, Taisha Moore and Lori Foust, who take care of the immunizations and conduct various health fairs at the area schools. “They do more than just give immunizations against measles, chickenpox, and mumps,” Dr. Roe explained of the nurses. “They also go out and talk to kids about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), healthy lifestyles, about how to choose your diet and activities to lead a healthier lifestyle. “I was just talking to the nurses about the county health rankings that come out every year and about 70 percent of the factors that determine the rankings are based on lifestyle choices,” Dr. Roe said. “That’s what we are trying to do with encouraging healthier lifestyles. We can’t dictate to someone how they are going to live, but we can try to educate them so they make healthy choices. There’s smoking, alcoholism, obesity, drug use, and then you get into the economic factors of unemployment and criminal activity. All of those have a neg-
DR. DAVID ROE became the Wabash County Health Officer on March 1. As the County Health Officer, Dr. Roe will now oversee vital records, the County Health Nurses, and the Environmental Health and Food Departments. Dr. Roe practiced general surgery, in Marion, from 1977 until his retirement in 2010. (photo by Brent Swan)
ative health impact. We would like to be able to stamp it all out, but of course we can’t.” A very important part of public health is the immunization against communicable diseases, and that is readily available at our County Health Department. But
according to Dr. Roe, many people still wrongly believe immunizations pose an unnecessary health risk “We’re trying really hard to ensure all the school kids are immunized,” Dr. Roe said. “One of the big problems we still (continued on page 5)
Wabash County native named 4-H Youth Educator by Brent Swan After spending much of her first week on the job in the office, new Wabash County 4-H Youth Educator Angela Christopher is already looking forward to the 2013 Wabash County 4-H Fair. Christopher, a Wabash County resident and Southwood High School graduate, took over the position vacated by Pandora Woodward. “I have lived here all my life,” Christopher said. “My husband David and I have two children, Jade, who is five and Clay who is three.” Christopher, a former 10year 4-H member, went on to graduate from Manchester College before completing her master’s degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. She then taught English for nine years at White’s and was in her second year of teaching sixth grade language at LaFontaine when she decided to apply for the job. “I applied for the position in
the fall, and I had to apply through Purdue,” Christopher said of the process. “You then had to go through a phone interview with a few people from the university. Eventually I met here with the extension board, which was the local group that helped make the decision.” Christopher said at times, the process was intimidating. “I’d never been through a phone interview before, but it probably made me more nervous when I came before the local board because it’s people you know,” Christopher said. “There were 17 people in this room, looking on and listening at once.” After formally accepting the position, Christopher had help in getting acquainted with what the position entails. “I came into a group here at the office that had done a lot of work before I even started,” Christopher said. “The judges (continued on page 5)
ANGELA CHRISTOPHER, a Wabash County resident and Southwood High School graduate, was recently named the new Wabash County 4-H Educator. Christopher will now oversee the Wabash County 4-H Fair, which begins the week of July 4 with pre-fair judging. (photo by Brent Swan)