Health department staff changing

Wahkiakum County health officials discussed personnel changes and a variety of health issues when the county commissioners met as the board of health on Tuesday.

Dr. Mimi Fields, county health officer, announced she will be leaving the position, which is shared with Cowlitz County, in January. A member of the Washington National Guard medical corps, she will serve her third four-month deployment in US Army medical services in Iraq.

Fields and Judy Bright, health department administrator, said they are working on arrangements to share a replacement health officer with other counties.

Fields commented that recent media reports across the state about deaths of two young people from an antibiotic resistant bacteria, known as MRSA, seem overdone.

The bacteria and its skin infections are present all the time, she said. Although the bacteria has developed resistance to some drugs, it is treatable with others.

It becomes dangerous when it invades the body, she said.

Health officers across the state conducted discussions about appropriate responses, and Governor Chris Gregoire ordered the state Department of Health to convene an expert panel to make further recommendations, for all labs to report instances when the bacteria becomes invasive, and for the department to furnish accurate information to the media.

In another staff move, Bright announced that Sandi Benbrook-Rieder will not renew her contract to provide emergency response planning for the department.

Benbrook-Rieder, who worked in state emergency planning, said she would continue in a volunteer role.