As longtime Marshall County Public Health Director Pat Thompson prepares to retire from her position with a target date of next January, the county’s board of health is exploring a few potential options including hiring a full-time replacement or working in tandem with a neighboring county — Poweshiek was mentioned several times — to contract for services going forward.

During a meeting on Tuesday morning that included Supervisors Jarret Heil and Carol Hibbs, Emergency Management Coordinator Kim Elder and County Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson, the board discussed the pros and cons of both courses of action. Thompson has held her position for the last 16 years, and she recently added Kelly Illum as a part-time administrative assistant.

Although nothing is set in stone yet, one looming development at the state level is the possibility of regionalization of public health services, which could change plans almost immediately if it does come to fruition.

“I think my concern here is trying to come up with a solution while we wait for the state to decide what regionalization looks like,” Hibbs said. “So I think whatever decision you’re considering, we’re probably looking at an interim solution until we figure out where the state is going.”

Heather Bombei, a regional director with the Iowa Department of Public Health, attended the meeting and said initial contact had been made with Poweshiek County Public Health Director Shauna Callaway and UnityPoint Health Grinnell President/CEO Jennifer Havens to explore options for the future.

“We’ve been doing work statewide on succession planning, and so it’s kind of been at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Let’s not wait until the last minute,” Bombei said.

In response to a follow-up question, Bombei said she did not believe an agreement with Poweshiek County would involve one person serving both counties, but rather a staff member hired by UnityPoint who is focused on Marshall County. She later added that she felt only having one public health person on staff in a county this size amounts to “pretty limited coverage.”

The board did not take any official action on the matter but plans to continue to discuss it in the coming months while also examining what makes the most sense from a financial perspective.

Dr. Ken Lyons, a retired physician who serves as chairman of the board, said the conversations are still at an early stage, but he hopes they will find out more in the coming months.

“We need to get some more information from the Grinnell UnityPoint folks and get some basic questions answered there,” Lyons said. “There are advantages of being autonomous, but there are advantages of working with others as well.”

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.