Measles, Mental Health and Marijuana: an Interview with John Manning

— by Margie Doyle —

John Manning

Retiring County Health Department Director John Manning recently spoke to Orcas Issues  on the work he’s done and changes he’s seen in the two decades he has served in that position.

Manning came to the Pacific Northwest nearly 40 years ago, following a childhood in Ohio, university education in Massachusetts and North Carolina with degrees in Political Science and Public Health, and service in the United States Peace Corps in El Salvador. He worked with American Indian tribes and corporations in Washington and Alaska, and was also employed with a non-profit Health Planning Agency and Washington State Department of Health.

This Friday, April 25, he will retire after 20 years — and three weeks — as San Juan County Director of Public Health.

When he first came to San Juan Island he opened a small photography business  that became Island Studios. But it was not a money-making proposition,  Manning says, so when a new county position as Director of Health and Community Services was created in 1994, he sought and was hired for the position. At that time, it covered:

• Human services
• Senior services
• Public health

Today, some of the programs and offices he oversees in that position are:

• Food Safety
• Transportation
• Early Childhood Education
• Septic systems
• Developmental Disabilities
• Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program
• Drinking water
• Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
• Immunizations
• Senior Services
• Water Resources Management
• Substance Abuse

“The department as a whole has good people — dedicated, hard working —  who want to help people live healthy, and who maintain a high level of service over the years,” Manning says. “They are really dedicated to making the islands a better place. It’s been an honor to work with them.”

In 20 the years Manning has directed Health Services, he says there may have been only two years where the department’s budget did not sustain cuts. “Maintaining a core level of service is what I feel best about,” he says upon his retirement.

He weathered the storm resulting from the purchase, about 10 years ago, of  the building in Friday Harbor where Compass and the County Prevention Coalition are located. After selling “two decrepit buildings” and arranging a loan for the balance of the cost of the building, it cost the county about $30,000, Manning says. “For that amount of money, it was a pretty good thing… I’m proud of that.”

People may be surprised to learn that housing and early childhood education also fall under the Health Department’s charge. But it has added services and programs, providing down payment and rental assistance to seniors and the disabled, funded by recording fees collected through the County Auditor’s office.

Manning says, “Most health departments don’t have housing programs but certainly basics — home and shelter — it doesn’t get more basic than that.” The Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is another program that people don’t consider falling under the Health Department, he said.

During Manning’s tenure, county voters approved the allocation of one-tenth of one percent sales tax for mental health funding, a significant advance in serving public health needs, Manning says. Those funds are distributed county-wide through two programs: the Community Wellness Program, administered on Orcas through Orcas Family Connections; and the School-based Mental Health Services Program, administered through the Orcas Island School District. Access to mental health counselors who are reimbursed by the county is provided through these programs.

In the last month, the Health Department has been vigilant about a case of measles and limiting its contagion. “That’s been pretty intense,” said Manning.

Measles is of grave concern to pregnant women or immuno-compromised. The Health Department has posted updates almost daily since early April, advising the public of where they may have been exposed to measles, the availability of immunizations, the symptoms and timeline of the disease, and the number of confirmed cases. They advise that the period for developing contagion from the reported case ends on April 29.

“We tend to have a NARAL virus outbreak every few years. That’s dramatic for the folks affected, with vomiting and diarrhea, but it’s not that dangerous and passes in a couple of days.

“The pertussis [whooping cough] outbreak of a couple of years ago was intense. When we’re talking about small children becoming gravely  ill,  that’s pretty serious.

Manning comments on two contemporary factors affecting community health:

1. the changes that come with the 2012 Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare” and expansion of Medicare;
2. the ramifications of the passage of legalization of marijuana.

Regarding Obamacare, he says, “There’s lots of change with people’s insurance going on. You have to keep looking at the priority, given the circumstances.”

He says that while he supported decriminalization of marijuana use, he’d have preferred that I-520, the citizen’s initiative that approved recreational use of marijuana “puts up a market to sell, with all its ramifications.

“There’s no question in my mind that the more drugs are easily accessed, the more they are easily abused. That goes for alcohol and prescription drugs as well as marijuana. Evidence shows that it’s not safe around kids, and does harm.

“We have a huge task on our hands educating children. And since they mature past the age of 21, it’s not a good thing for young adults.”

Manning’s post-retirement plans are recreational sailing on his 31-ft sailboat, with maybe an occasional race, and working on his house. And when the weather outdoors is inclement, he says “Winters are fine to curl up with a book.”