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Director's message
Gary Weeks
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January 7, 2005
To: DHS Employees
From: Gary Weeks, Director
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Public health touches all of our lives
You may not realize it, but the work being done in public health in the Department of Human Services touches your life everyday. Consider the following examples:
- You head to the shower, then to the sink and on to your first cup of coffee, relying on the water flowing from your tap to be clean and safe. Public health systems survey, certify and review all public water systems to assure safe drinking water.
- Later in the day, you join a couple of colleagues at a restaurant for lunch. From fast food to fine dining, Oregon's public health systems assure food safety in all types of dining establishments.
- Your dentist's office calls to remind you of your check-up tomorrow. Public health systems assure all x-ray machines are safe, maintained, and operated by trained professionals.
- Heading home, you pass a serious traffic accident as an ambulance approaches to help. Public health systems certify EMTs and paramedics, license ambulances, and assure a statewide trauma system.
Other areas in which public health impacts Oregonians' lives include monitoring the incidence of disease; identifying and containing the spread of epidemics; assuring in-home health care, hospitals and acute care facilities are safe and meet federal and state standards; enforcing health standards at all hotels, motels, and other places of public accommodation; and training and certifying professionals to assure drug labs are cleaned up.
Public health also provides assistance through the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program, promotes smoking cessation, provides immunization information, and monitors beach water, issuing advisories when bacterial contamination exceeds standards, among many other tasks.
Experienced new public health administrator
This past week, we named an experienced public health administrator to head public health services in the department. Dr. Susan Allan -- a physician, attorney, and 20-year public health administrator -- will begin work with us in March.
A native of Washington state, Dr. Allan currently directs public health services for the Arlington County, Va., Department of Human Services where she is responsible for 220 employees and an annual budget of $15.5 million. She is also known nationally for her work on public health issues.
Her extensive experience with a county is a real advantage to the department because providing leadership to communities all over the state is key to our public health efforts. The work done in this part of the department is critical to the health, safety and well-being of all Oregonians.
Recognizing excellence
Some outstanding work has been done by our employees in the 4th quarter of 2004 and is being recognized through our Director's Excellence Awards. The following employees are being recognized:
Vicki Skryha, Housing Development Coordinator, Office of Mental Health and Addiction Services -- for effective leadership in developing housing opportunities and maintaining residential resources for persons with serious mental illness and addiction disorders.
Una Swanson, Child Protective Services Manager, and Deborah Carnaghi, Child Protective Services Program Coordinator, Children, Adults and Families -- for exceptional work in developing protocols for the Governor's Critical Incident Response Team and the criminal history check process for child protective services.
FACIS 24/7 Project Group, Office of Information Systems and other DHS employees (including: Bruce Farmer, John Richmond, Margret Armantrout, Mike Zeazeas, Leo Ott, Ann Christy, Judy Clyburn, Ken Evans, Mary Jo Stoutenburg, Paul Kilgore, Wasi Khan, Don Wall, Esther Preston, and Glenn Snyder, and Department of Justice staff Bill Frey and Mike Ritson) -- for expanding access to the Family and Child Information System (FACIS) application for central office management and staff.
The Director's Office recognizes outstanding work, excellent examples of leadership, and collaboration that will increase client safety and reduce risk to our department every quarter through these awards.
MLK Day celebration
The department has a special Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration planned Jan. 14 from 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., in the HSB, 1st Floor Conference Rooms 137 A & B. Please attend this event if you can to honor and support the legacy of Dr. King.
Speakers include Peggy Ross, Governor's Office Affirmative Action Director, Dr. James Mason, Executive Administrator of the Office of Multi-Cultural Health, and Everett Rice, Project Coordinator for the Office of Multi-Cultural Health.
On the tsunami tragedy
The tsunami devastation in Southeastern Africa and Asia is a terrible tragedy and has impacted hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. We are learning more about stories of Oregonians who were in harm's way or have family or friends still missing.
The Governor recently noted a few organizations that are providing relief aid if you would like to help. Here are a few mentioned by the Governor -- there are many more to choose from as well:
Mercy Corps, Portland, OR. http://www.mercycorps.org
World Vision, Federal Way, WA. http://www.worldvision.org
International Federation of Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.ifrc.org/
We all need each other, especially in times of crisis. The needs of those in this devastated area are especially acute at this time.
Food for Thought
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed -- we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
from Address at March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (Aug 1963)
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This message is intended for all Department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.
If you have a disability and need a document on this Web site to be provided to you in another format, please send an email to dhs.forms@state.or.us or call (503) 945-7021, fax (503) 373-7690 or TTY (503) 947-5080. If you know of others who need this accommodation, please let them know it is available.
Oregon Department of Human Services
Director's Office
500 Summer St. NE E15, Salem, OR 97301-1097
Phone: (503) 945-5944
Fax: (503) 378-2897
TTY: (503) 947-6214
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