Health officer hopes to expand ‘safety net’

Working in the Reid Health emergency department, Dr. Jennifer Bales often treats patients when it’s too late to make a difference.

By serving as Wayne County’s new health officer, Bales wants to impact residents’ health so she won’t see them at her day job.

“If there’s an opportunity to help somebody before they need me in that capacity, I think that’s worth my time,” said Bales, who began her tenure as health officer Nov. 18 and attended her first Wayne County Board of Health meeting Nov. 19.

Bales thinks of the emergency department where she’s worked nearly 20 years as a community safety net, and she sees the Wayne County Health Department in the same way. In her new role, she oversees the department, and director Dan Burk runs the day-to-day operations.

“It’s expanding that safety net and providing more services to people,” said Bales, a Lexington, Kentucky, native who found Richmond after completing her residency at Indiana University. “Some of it’s about just getting that information out there: How can we help you? How can we help you live your healthiest life, be your best, whatever that is? That sounds like fun, that sounds like an exciting opportunity.”

Bales replaces Dr. David Jetmore, who became health officer early in 2020 as the health department and health clinic split. Soon after he began, the county experienced a syphilis outbreak, then COVID-19 struck. Jetmore provided leadership through that time, then through the April 2023 plastics fire in Richmond.

“He had quite an eventful term and did very well and did an outstanding job,” said Dr. Paul Rider, chair of the health board. “I’d really like to thank him for his service during some really difficult times.”

Bales and Burk attended “boot camp” training in October. She said that gave her some initial footing, but there’s much to learn about a health department that provides wide-ranging public-health services.

During that training, Bales learned that Wayne County again has a poor rate of congenital syphilis, a rate she said should be zero. That provides one area where she’d like to focus, and another is vaping among teenagers.

“That is just so, so bad for you,” Bales said. “I don’t think they have a good understanding of the health risks related to that.”

Tobacco and vaping prevention and cessation are one of the Health First Indiana core services.

Another priority will be coordination among service providers within the county.

“There are a lot of different organizations providing different services, and it’s about getting them to work together, coordinate and then make the community aware of what’s available,” Bales said. “I think that’s really a big opportunity.”

Health First Indiana has led to more changes within the health department to address core services and key performance indicators. During 2025, it will provide the county about $1.5 million.

“There is so much to do, there are so many different problems to address, and each one of them has its own unique challenges,” Bales said, “and how you divvy up the funds for that is really the challenge.”

Compared to Bales, Beth Newton had a lengthy health department tenure before attending her first health board meeting. Newton had been the deputy director of clinical services for 3 1/2 weeks.

“I’m excited to be on board,” Newton said.

Newton, who previously led Main Street Richmond, has a background in business and education, rather than medicine. She said areas such as policies, procedures, internal controls, grants and project management are in her wheelhouse.

“I got to see how we could fix things structurally,” Newton said about her first weeks. “We’re working on some additional procedures, policies, just making sure that we’ve got everything in line.”

Newton said the staff is developing versatility and is strong enough to fill all the clinical needs with proper support. 

Burk said Newton is a quick learner and is establishing contacts with the state and the community.

“She’s doing a tremendous job so far,” he said.