An investigation into unsanitary sewage conditions in a Lake Township area will be started by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
At last week’s meeting, the Wood County Health Department Board approved initiating a complaint to the Ohio EPA for the Wagoner Place area.
Lana Glore, said the area includes 30 houses, an apartment building and commercial building in the Wagoner development, which is in the U.S. 20 and Tracy Road area.
“Really, the best solution for that area is to get a sanitary sewer line,” Glore said after the meeting.
“The benefit of doing this for the people that live is that the map would allow Northwestern Water and Sewer (District) to potentially get more money,” she said.
A recent inspection by the Wood County Engineer’s Office found sewage in the storm sewers, Glore said.
In other business, the board heard Dr. Steven Dood, medical director, will retire Aug. 26.
“He’s been talking about this for awhile,” said Ben Robison, Wood County health commissioner. “He’s given us plenty of time to find a replacement medical director. We’ll begin that process.”
Also at the meeting, board member Bob Midden commented on a chronic disease report, specifically on youth obesity, which was provided to the board.
“I am just dismayed by some of the numbers in this report,” he said, calling them “very concerning.”
The board and health department must mount some sort of effort to address this desperate need, Midden said.
After the meeting, Robison said the epidemiology team at the health department is providing more detailed data reports to the board.
The latest report was on obesity, showing that 18% of Wood County youth are obese. In 2018, the number was 16% and in 2017 it was 17%. In 2012 it was 13%.
Other statistics: 24% of obese youth locally were bullied at school, 32% of obese youth carried a weapon to school, 60% of obese youth are depressed and 14% of obese youth are considering suicide.
Robison added that there are tangents to the numbers that the health department monitors.
For example, about 2% of youth reported that they were current smokers. Youth who smoke are much more likely to have experienced three or more adverse childhood events; 83% of youth who have experienced three or more ACEs are smokers.
An adverse effect could be abuse, divorce, neglect, suicide in the family or substance use.
“The point is that when you encounter a kid who is smoking, five out of six times, there’s something else going on, too,” Robison said. “This should lead us to think about how we address the whole person and not just the behavior itself.”
The administrative team is working on rolling out an action plan, he said.
“Our intention is to come to this in June with not only a good sense of what our goals and strategies will be, but also next steps,” he said.
Robison added that it will take many county agencies’ cooperation.
The board also officially approved a $6,000 increase to the NETPlus transportation program that runs in the county.
In June, the board will move back to the health department for monthly meetings. The board had been meeting the last few months in the Wood County Courthouse atrium.
