Stafford appointed director of health and human services

Leigh-Anne Stafford has been named director of the Oakland County Department of Health and Human Services.

David Coulter, county executive, made the announcement Thursday following Kathy Forzley’s retirement as director last week.

Forzley had served as department director since 2017, but had been with the health division for 20 years also serving as health officer and administrator of environmental services. Once Stafford’s appointment is approved by the board of commissioners Thursday night, the county will begin its search for a new health manager who the State will then designate health officer.

Stafford will remain the county’s health officer until the county fills that role. As director of health and human services, she will make $162,000 in base salary per year.

Coulter also announced more details about the county’s vaccination efforts, including a new vaccine provider partnership with Honor Community Health, a Pontiac-based Federally Qualified Community Health Center (FQHCs), that will administer health division-received vaccines to residents in county group homes and to its own clients in Pontiac.

Last week, the federal government announced that FQHCs will begin receiving direct shipments of the vaccine to vaccinate the most vulnerable populations in the hardest hit areas. There are more than 1,300 Community Health Centers serving almost 30 million people across the country. Two-thirds of the population that these centers serve are living at or below the federal poverty line and 60% are racial and/or ethnic minorities. There are 11 FHQCs in Oakland County including in Farmington Hills, Madison Heights, Pontiac, Waterford, Oak Park, and Southfield.

Dr. Nikhil Hemady, chief medical officer at Honor Community Health, said the organization received its first direct shipment of 200 doses this week from the federal government. He said another 200 doses are expected to be shipped next week. This is in addition to the 300 doses received from the health division.

The county is working to expand its vaccine provider base with an expectation its vaccine supply will substantially increase at some point. The county’s vaccine providers are required to administer at least 90 percent of the vaccine doses that the county distributes to them within 7 days. Right now, the county has the capacity, through the health division and its provider network, to administer 20,000 vaccine doses per week, but limited vaccine supply has only allowed for 6,000 to 7,000 vaccinations per week.

“Oakland County Health Division has the capacity to administer up to 20,000 doses of COVID vaccine a week on our own,” said Stafford. “Once adequate supply is available and we receive more than 20,000 doses a week, it will take this public-private partnership to ensure we can vaccinate residents quickly. We are establishing the provider relationships and infrastructure now, so we are ready when that moment comes.”

Prior to this week, Oakland County had received 41,350 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, of which 41,323 had been administered.

This week, the county received another 18,625 doses, of which 5,575 are first doses and 13,050 are second doses. This brings the county’s total to 59,975 doses received. Statewide, 2,294,775 million doses have been received of which 1,699,504 doses have been administered.

Coulter is continuing to urge residents to be patient as the county “anxiously” awaits a “substantial” increase in its vaccine supply to be able to meet the significant demand, adding there has been a gradual increase week-to-week.

Nearly 500,000 residents have registered on the county’s Save Your Spot list, which is where residents can register to be notified when a vaccine is available for them.