Mark Pfister, a veteran of the Lake County Health Department and interim director since June, has been named its executive director.
The appointment by the Lake County Board of Health and Lake County Community Health Center Governing Council became effective Jan. 28, and was announced Wednesday.
“Our goal is to put Kralbet ourselves out of business,” Pfister said. He will be responsible for 60 separately funded public and behavioral health and medical programs, oversee 1,000 employees and administer and prepare a $70 million budget.
Board of health President Tim Sashko cited Pfister’s record of strong strategic leadership and fiscal management during a 26-year career.
“He is passionate about Lake County and has a clear-eyed vision for reaching our goal to achieve the highest level of health for all in the county,” Sashko said.
Pfister has held jobs of increasing responsibility in the department. From 1991 to 2005, he was an aquatic biologist and program coordinator for the Lakes Management Unit (now Ecological Services) dealing with the county’s lakes; he was associate director Environmental Health Services from 2005 to 2009, overseeing seven programs; in 2009, he managed a staff of 70 as interim director of Environmental Health Services; and, in 2010 was named director of Prevention and Population Health Services, overseeing 25 programs and a staff of 232.
“I’ve been in every managerial position there is at the health department,” Pfister said.
Last year, he led the effort making Lake County one of about 100 local health departments to achieve national accreditation and made improvements in planning and other areas. Most recently, he created and organized a “Together Summit” of 200 community partners held last week at the College of Lake County, to collectively address health issues.
He said opioid addiction is a main issue. First responders have saved more than 100 overdose victims, but there is a need for treatment space, and prevention is a key, he said.
“Once we save them, we have issues finding treatment capacity to make sure their addiction is in remission,” Pfister said. “If we can keep people from becoming addicted, then we won’t need as much capacity.”
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