The Clinton County Commissioners on Tuesday morning unanimously passed a resolution to accept state public health funding.
“First and foremost, it’s a huge win for the citizens of Clinton County,” said Commissioners President Jordan Brewer. “That department gets more out of their time as much as anyone. Now, we’re going to extend that by adding personnel to serve the citizens of Clinton County.”
Brewer also said they are not sure how much money that will be receiving.
“It’s still not 100 percent determined because it’s based on the number of counties that end up opting in at a minimum of $370,000 in increase to their budget for 2024 and double in 2025,” said Brewer.
This would be a major change for the state of Indiana which is ranked 49th in the country when it comes to public health funding. The state decided that had to change now.
Brewer was also asked when work might start on the new Annex Building.
“I’ve been on vacation since last week, so I haven’t gotten an update,” said Brewer. “I would think it would start this week or next week. I mean it was basically two weeks from the ground breaking which was on the ninth.”
Brewer added he should receive an update on Thursday.
When Community Howard Regional Health closed its Frankfort office earlier this year, it has caused a hardship on the people it served.
“Regretfully the move they made where they shut down their office here and then they moved their satellite office to Tipton is causing our people great difficulty to get to Tipton to see their doctor or get their prescriptions,” said Commissioner Bert Weaver. “The distance to travel for some people is very difficult.”
Weaver also said Howard Regional Health doesn’t seem to want to help.
“We can’t afford to have that happen,” said Weaver. “There’s been a disconnect, in my opinion, with them moving away.We just haven’t got the service that’s required. And, a lot of these people every 30 days have to have their prescriptions redone.”
Weaver was asked what can people do locally who find themselves in this predicament.
“They need to continue to fight this system and do the best they can in Kokomo or Tipton or whatever needs to be done,” said Weaver.