October 15, 1970

Mr. Aubrey P. Johnson, Jr.,

City Manager

Portsmouth, Virginia

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I take pleasure in forwarding to you the annual report of the Health Department for the fiscal year 1969-70.

Initially, I shall provide an administrative review of activities, to be followed by sectional activities and a statistical review at the end for those interested.

The areas providing the main problems during he year were those of administration of the Medicaid program, expansion of activities with inclusion of new procedures in all areas, determination of increased needs provided by ongoing surveys and environmental problems, especially those of the individual household.  The major accornplishments of the department during the year have been:

(1)         The awarding of contracts for a new clinical and nursing service center for the Health Department, adjacent to the Portsmouth General Hospital.  This allows expansion of clinical facilities

        while maintaining the close relationship that exists between the health department, the hospital and the physicians.

(2)         The provision of clinical facilities in the Neighborhood Facility on Elm Avenue, which was dedicated at the end of the fiscal year.

(3)        The change of our tuberculosis program from a demonstration program to a full-fledged operation with marked expansion of services and follow-up.

(4)     The award at the end of the fiscal year of a grant for development of neighborhood medical case aides. This resulted from a year of planning, accomplished by the nursing staff with the assistance of advisors from the public sector in Southside, especially from the Wright Methodist Church.

Increased Data Processing activities are helping keep departmental paperwork within tolerable levels.  The staff of Financial, Data Processing and Planning Departments of the city have helped in development of a grant proposal, for a health information system based on computerized techniques of information storage and retrieval, which will allow better data availability for health planning, disease prevention and follow-up.

The program will allow proper development of programmed budgets and fiscal responsibility. It awarded, the grant will be the first of its kind to provide total public health information retrieval, it being coordinated with the Area Health Planning Council and with the State Health Department’s research advisory committee with assistance from the Public Health advisors of the Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta. The grant has been finalized and is being for warded through channels for further consideration.

Supervisory staff, of the Health Department, have been involved in upgrading their work by attending managerial courses at State and City levels to improve understanding of fiscal responsibility and personnel management. staff personnel have had additional training in public relations at the city level and the State continues to provide advanced in-service training for technical specialists in nursing, environmental health, laboratory sciences and epidemiological investigation.

Problems that continue to face the Health Department, mainly due to lack of personnel, are in the area of environmental health, especially in solid waste disposal and housing hygiene. The problems stem from lack of funds.  Spot housing replacement funds are not available from HUD, only funds on an area basis.  This causes a real problem where there are individual housing problems in relatively good quality environments and owners, especially aged owners, who do not have funds to replace, relocate, or renovate.

Emphasis on housing hygiene in the coming year will be one of education of the inhabitants of sub-standard housing.  In our development of educational health aides there will be training in the personal environment with emphasis on teaching families the importance of hygiene in their living surroundings, to enhance their mental and physical health.  They will be instructed in the minimum code, and its application when applying for rental property; also the value of maintaining property when occupying or owning it.

Removal of rubbish and debris is a problem due to the increasing population and the increasing use of disposable items.  Twenty five years ago each person produced about 2 1/2 lbs. of trash daily. The average is now up to 4 lbs. per person per day and increasing.

Abandonment of automobiles continues to be an eyesore and blight in the community. It can develop into a health problem, a refuge for animals and insects. 

In view of the increasing number of swimming pools being built throughout the Tidewater area, there is a need for enactment of swimming pool ordinances.