Thurston welcomes new Board of Health members

Thurston County’s newly expanded Board of Health (BOH) held its inaugural meeting on Tuesday, October 11.

BOH chairperson Tye Menser, Vice Chair Gary Edwards, Commissioner Carolina Mejia, and board member Robin Vazquez attended the meeting in person, while new board members Dr. Beth Harvey, Maria Williams, and Lynn Nelson were present virtually via Zoom.

Local pediatrician Harvey will represent of public health, health care facilities, and providers; community-based health provider and psychologist Williams will stand for public health consumers; while Nelson, a registered nurse, will represent other community stakeholders.

“This is a new experience for all of us,” said Menser as he welcomed the new appointees.

Interim Director of Public Health and Social Services Kurt Hardin provided a brief orientation on the public health framework in the county.

“Public health efforts are population-based efforts to support individual medical care and treatment,” said Hardin, emphasizing that public health differs from health care.

Legislation this year (RCW 70.05.030 and WAC 246-90) obligated the county to grow the board to eight members, including the three elected county commissioners, a city-elected official, three citizen seats, and one tribal representative.

The American Indian Health Commission of Washington State has yet to name a tribal representative for the board. 

The post for the city elected official will rotate every two years from Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Yelm. Councilmember Vazquez of Lacey is the first elected official to hold the city seat.