COLUMBIA, S.C. — Members of the City of Columbia's Administrative Policy Committee met on September 7, 2021, to discuss the creation of a new Chief Health Officer position within City government.
The position is one championed by Councilman Ed McDowell and would have the goals of helping to work toward eliminating health disparities in Columbia's neighborhoods and of guiding Columbia's City Council in times of health emergencies and public health crises.
The Administrative Policy Committee -- Councilmen Howard Duvall, Sam Davis and Edward McDowell, and City Manager Teresa Wilson -- listened to presenters Ashley Jenkins and Pam Benjamin's results of initial research on how to create the position within city government.
Jenkins cited two examples:
- a Health Department model that is used by cities such as Lubbock, TX, and Philadelphia, PA, that basically would duplicate the efforts of South Carolina's Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). This model was rejected as a duplication of effort on the City's part.
- and a Community Health Initiative model used in Baton Rouge, LA, and just initiated in Atlanta, GA. The Baton Rouge model has a committed board with a board of directors consisting of approximately 90 community representatives -- from area hospitals to Louisiana State University, the YMCA and other healthy lifestyle organizations -- who partner with the city of Baton Rouge to carry out community health initiatives.
The Community Health Initiative was more in line with McDowell's thinking of how the position in Columbia would operate. Duvall and McDowell proposed inviting a larger group of community representatives from the medical field to further discuss the matter.
The councilmen proposed this as a next step in the process. The next meeting of the Administrative Policy Committee has yet to be scheduled.
A City Chief Health Officer has been part of mayoral candidate Sam Johnson's campaign. McDowell and Davis have endorsed Johnson for Mayor.
Current Mayor Steve Benjamin -- who endorsed Johnson on September 8 --has worked to create health-based programs during his tenure. The Move with the Mayor program, part of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention program, had Benjamin leading a series of walks and bike rides through Columbia's neighborhoods. The City's Bike Pedestrian Advisory Committee, along with Palmetto Conservation Foundation and City staff have worked to increase biking in the city and to make biking safer.
