Ottawa County Health Commissioner Jerry Bingham, left, and Director of Health Education and Accreditation, Josh Niese, poured countless hours into earning PHAB national accreditation. (Photo by Sheri Trusty)

BY SHERI TRUSTY

This month, the Ottawa County Health Department reached a milestone that will impact the health and safety of every county resident. On May 22, the Ottawa County Health Department received news that it is now nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). Health department staff poured years of work into achieving accreditation, setting new, higher standards within the department that will have a ripple effect across the county.

“Accreditation is one of the biggest milestones for the Ottawa County Health Department,” said Health Commissioner Jerry Bingham. “It wasn’t easy.”

The process was difficult, but the return in improved public health is invaluable.

“It made us more transparent, and raised the standards of our service,” Bingham said.

The goal of PHAB accreditation is to improve public health. In practicality, that meant the health department had to complete a comprehensive review of its policies and services and provide documentation of it all to PHAB. Well over 300 documents, encompassing thousands of pages of information, had to be created and submitted.

“We had to physically create those documents,” said Director of Health Education and Accreditation,

Josh Niese. “Sometimes a document was just a certificate, and sometimes it was hundreds and hundreds of pages.”

After the first accreditation application submission, PHAB reviewed the documents and requested revisions where needed.

“They picked it apart, and then we had to revise it,” Bingham said. “It took all that work and tireless effort to make this happen.”

The process to earn accreditation is so strenuous that Bingham created Niese’s position and hired him to lead the project.

“I became health commissioner in July, 2020, and I created Josh’s position in August, 2020, to achieve this. I needed someone to spearhead it,” Bingham said.

In the end, the health department was raised to a new level of standards.

“Going through the process, as vigorous as it was, made us a better health department,” Bingham said. “We have better relationships with our community partners, and it has strengthened Ottawa County as a whole. The county commissioners and different agencies can see what we do.”

Bingham believes that establishing those high standards is vital for public safety.

“The backbone of the public health system is the local health department,” he said. “We’re on the frontlines of public health.”

In 2013, Ohio passed a law requiring all health departments to earn accreditation by 2020, but the pandemic placed a pause on that deadline, and it was never reestablished. Nevertheless, about 94 of the state’s 113 county and city health departments have earned accreditation, making Ohio the state with the most accredited health departments in the nation.

“It was quite an effort to get Ohio to this point,” Bingham said. “Ohio is a leader in public health and accountability, which is pretty cool.”