Lubbock City Council Approves 90-Day Holdoff on Closing Health Department Vaccination and STD Clinic

At Thursday's Lubbock City Council meeting, the council chambers were nearly full of people wanting to make their voices heard or at least be among the first to know about the fate of the City of Lubbock Health Department.

District 3 Councilman Todd Klein agreed with the Board of Health’s recommendation that there be a 90-day moratorium on stopping vaccination and STD services at the health department, as opposed to the services stopping completely on Wednesday.

Quite a few citizens and physicians spoke out on keeping the health department open, and some were unhappy with the amount of time between the initial story breaking that the department would close and when the original close date was.

“You should have let us know a long time ago to let us make a contingency plan,” said Dr. Roger Walcott.

Dr. Jack Dubose said “I stand for further study prior to action from the council.”

Board of Health member and Psychologist Dr. Brian Carr also supported more time to look into the issue, saying “out of this slowing, I believe a better, more efficient health service can be provided.”

Lubbock City Manager Lee Ann Dumbauld gave a presentation to the Council showing the numbers that led to the decision to close the Health Department.

A total of $1.8 million in federal and state grants have been cut from the City. Over the past 11 months, 7,134 people were immunized at the Health Department, down 44 percent from 2000-01. STD rates have also declined 31 percent from 2000 to the present year. Surveillance over STD rates is handled by the state, but Dumbauld supports keeping illness surveillance local, possibly through a health coordinator. Birth, death, and other records will also be moved to City Hall.

Under Dumbauld’s original plan to shutter the department completely, $835,000 would be saved annually, plus additional savings from getting rid of the building at 19^th Street and Texas Avenue.

Some City councilmembers were unhappy with the timeframe of the entire ordeal as well.

District 1 Councilman Victor Hernandez chided Dumbauld, saying “I sure as heck wished we would have gotten this in July…We have a budget process every year, and this is not how it should be done. It seems like it’s out of our control.”

Hernandez suggested cutting other areas of the City budget to make room for the Health Department.

“We need to close down the museums.” Hernandez said. “Silent Wings, and yes, I am a veteran, and the Buddy Holly Center, and yes, I am a patron of the arts, but they don’t rank up there with public health,” he continued.

District 5 Councilwoman Karen Gibson offered her opinion on a tone toward Dumbauld which she felt was becoming too common on the dais.

“The numbers are her job, and I don’t want to throw her under the bus,” Gibson said.

District 6 Councilman Jim Gilbreath moved to accept the Board of Health’s recommendation which put a 90-day moratorium on closing the immunization and STD services within the Health Department.

The Board of Health did approve of moving some of the services originally offered by the Health Department, such as pool inspection to Codes Enforcement and the bioterrorism lab to Reese Center.

The Council unanimously approved the moratorium.

The extra 90 days will give City and health leaders time to explore other options for the vaccination and STD clinics. City staff will attempt to get new state grants, as the current grants expire at the end of this month.