NCDHD Celebrates Accreditation With Ceremony

The staff at NCDHD takes a moment to pose with their accreditation recognition.

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Roger Wiese- NCDHD Director

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Mike Foley- Lt. Governor

The North Central District Health Department hosted a ceremony for their accreditation last Thursday, May 26 at the O'Neill Country Club. Attending were Lt. Gov. Mike Foley as well as many of the board members.

Roger Wiese, NCDHD Health Director, praised his staff for making the accreditation possible. Wiese thanked his board members for attending all the meetings and trainings that made it possible over the years that made the process of the accreditation possible. "As a Nationally Accredited Public Health Department, NCDHD can reassure the community, partner organizations and elected officials that the work and services provided are responsive to the needs of north central Nebraska,”said Wiese.

The national accreditation program, which receives support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, sets standards against which the nation's governmental public health departments can continuously improve the quality of their services and performance. Over 80 percent of the U.S. population now reap the benefits of being served by a health department that has undergone PHAB's rigorous, multi-faceted, peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure it meets a set of quality standards and measures.

Celine Mlady NCDHD, a Department Board Member of the Board of Health, also spoke on the occasion. "In the early 2000s, a grant came about from the Big Tobacco settlement to help build collation building and partnerships and groups of people came together from different backgrounds private and public health county agency's for the northern and eastern part of Nebraska. In the early 2000s, Nebraska formed Health Departments. We are nine counties from Knox County all the way to the western edge of Cherry County. Geographically we have a very large footprint. We are close to having the largest health department area in the lower 48 states. The only larger ones would be in Alaska. We are so different from east to west with ranchers on the westside to farmers on the east. Accreditation is quite a rigorous progress, as you have to adhere to certain standards. There were a lot of things we had to do to get this done and besides the obstacles of the last four years with the floods and Covid. Accreditation is a huge challenge considering the obstacles we have gone through," said Mlady. 

Pat Lopez, Health Director for Lancaster County, thanked the staff for their dedication and time that made the accreditation which makes them a stand above the rest and a puts them at a higher level than other Health Departments."The Health Departments in the state work together and made dealing with Covid easier. We now have 44 percent of the statewide departments accredited which shows our devotion to making things better in the state," said Mlady.

Lt. Gov. Mike Foley thanked the Health Department and staff for their devotion and commitment for making this accreditation undertaking possible. Foley commented on the importance of Health Departments as being a leader and gold star leader in getting the information out in a helpful and knowledgable way to help control the spread of Covid. The Governor and I want to thank you for all the work you have done.

Currently NCDHD serves the community through programs focused on preventing disease and injury, promoting healthy lifestyles and working on the population level to increase quality and quantity of life such as: disease surveillance, immunizations & vaccinations, work site wellness programs, Miles of Smiles school based oral health program, and emergency response and environmental health.

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