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LANSING — More than a third of Michigan’s top county health officers have resigned over the past year amid the pandemic.
Norm Hess, executive director of the Michigan Environmental Public Health Association, said that as information on COVID-19 changes daily, public health officials face a lot of confusion and burnout.
“No matter what decision they made, there were times when half of their community would support them and the other half would be ready to break bottles on themselves,” Hess said.
He said 15 of Michigan’s 42 local public health officers have left in the past year.
Public health officers assess community needs and implement policies based on those assessments.
Burnout and stress have created a need to fill public health positions.
Mary Cushion, coordinator of the master’s program in public health accreditation at Central Michigan University, said many people in local public health are changing career paths or retiring for political reasons, and those positions need to be filled quickly.
“We’ve had several local health department directors resign because their county commissioners or board of health didn’t support their decisions regarding Covid,” she said.
Still, some of the state’s universities report an increase in student interest in the field.
Before the outbreak, there were 79 students in Michigan State University’s fall semester 2019 public health program, according to MSU enrollment trends. In the summer semester of 2021, 98 students are enrolled.
“I think a lot of people were interested in what was going on in their community,” said Wayne McCullough, director of that school’s master’s in public health program. “They saw that some individuals were dying at a proportional rate and because of race and gender.”
Working in public health isn’t always the first choice of students in graduate programs, Hess said.
“A lot of people with a master’s degree in public health dream of going to Eli Lilly or MediMune where they can make a lot of money, but no one thinks they want to grow up and work in local public health,” Hess said.
The Nursing Process website provides education and career information, such as the national hourly wage of $53.56 an hour and $111,410 a year for people with a master’s degree in public health.
But Michigan lags behind: Those with a master’s in public health earn $47.24 an hour and $98,250 a year. The nursing process ranks Michigan 43 out of 50 for average salary in the state.
“I’m really hoping to get into the policy arena at the local level as well as the state and federal level,” said Caitlin Massaria, a master’s student in Michigan State’s public health program. Her goal is to advise Congress on public health policy.
12 universities in Michigan offer master’s degrees in public health: Michigan State, University of Michigan, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Western Michigan University, Wayne State University, Saginaw Valley State University, Andrews University, Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University , Madonna University and Auckland University.
Central Michigan’s public health master’s program has seen an increase in enrollment, Cushion said.
“Our former health officer retired at the time of the outbreak,” said Andrew Cox, health officer for the Macomb County Health Department. Cox has been in this position since January 2021.
While the agency’s workforce has not seen significant reductions, it has had challenges recruiting new graduates.
It is working with the University of Auckland to provide more career opportunities.
Competition for quality applicants is fierce, Cox said.
“Many health systems are increasing salaries, which means we have to be more creative with our discounts and how we treat those individuals,” he said.
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