Dover, Ohio (WJER) - The Tuscarawas County Health Department is marking a century of serving the valley. 

The health department was formed in 1919, during a time when there were more than 2,100 health districts around Ohio with little oversight from the state board of health. Angie Frantz with the Environmental Health Department says the county health department has grown with the community and its needs ever since.

“We’ve added programs, WIC, [the] Alcohol and Addiction program, most recently Project Dawn, and obviously, we’ve changed locations, grown as a building, as an employer for the county, so many, many things have changed over the hundred years. It’s amazing,” she says.

Frantz says the health department will be acknowledging its 100th birthday throughout 2019…(through involvement at parades, the county fair and other events still in the works)

“We are going to be involved in several parades throughout the year, so watch for us in those. We’ll be celebrating a hundred years at the Tuscarawas County Fair this year, and we are going to have several events throughout the year for community members and community partners,” she says.  

She says they will also be showing off how the health department has evolved over the last 100 years. (with old photos and history displays)

“We found just old photos, really, really neat old photos. We already have some displayed at the heath department, and when we do events, we are planning on having a display at that time, too, just to see the progress of the community and the health department over the years,” she says.

Ohio Department of Health Medical Director Dr. Clint Koenig recently visited the county health department to congratulate the staff on the 100th anniversary and applaud them for work in program planning and quality improvement.                             

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