OTTAWA COUNTY — One of the crucial recognizable faces within the battle between the Ottawa Influence majority on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners and the Division of Public Well being is retiring on the finish of Might.
Deputy Well being Officer Marcia Mansaray submitted her discover to Well being Officer Adeline Hambley on Friday, April 12, capping off a profession that spanned the higher a part of twenty years. Mansaray mentioned her retirement can be efficient Might 31.
One cause, she mentioned, is burnout after 4 years of COVID-19 and near-constant stress with the county board.
“Whereas the county is at present not a wholesome place to work, there was a shocking silver lining for me,” Mansaray wrote to Hambley. “It pushed me to study, to develop, to face taller, and to dream of higher issues for our group.”
Mansaray mentioned OI posed a brand new and beforehand unknown drawback for a division simply getting again to regular operations.
“When COVID-19 form of wound right down to a extra affordable degree that may very well be dealt with, most people — not less than (former well being officer) Lisa Stefanovsky and I — had been fairly exhausted and burned out,” Mansaray mentioned.
“I used to be wanting towards a traditional yr in 2022. And perhaps another folks had regular years, however the well being division did not — as a result of the Ottawa Influence group used the well being division and its varied applications and twisted good and correct issues into evil.
“By the point the hospitals weren’t overwhelmed anymore with Omicron, we had been determining a technique to answer a hostility that was totally different (than) we had ever handled earlier than,” she instructed The Sentinel, referring to OI’s marketing campaign.
That modified Mansaray’s ideas about retirement.
“After the August major, I knew that I wanted to remain right here,” she mentioned. “And I knew that it was essential that I not be the well being officer, regardless that that may be sort of a subsequent regular step.”
The earlier board appointed Hambley, then the environmental public well being director, in December 2022. Mansaray stayed on as deputy.
“It was a strategic transfer on my half, as a result of that may solely carry extra consideration,” Mansaray mentioned. “I simply thought, perhaps now we have an opportunity. I instructed the hiring panel that I can be right here, I’ll stand with them, they are going to have me to assist them.”
Then got here 2023 and “a direct authorized battle,” she mentioned.
Throughout their first assembly in January 2023, OI commissioners tried to demote Hambley in favor of a candidate who aligned with their political opinions, significantly over how native and state well being officers dealt with the pandemic.
Hambley sued in February 2023 and prevailed simply over a yr later in a settlement settlement. She stays in her position, as does Mansaray, however the litigation dragged on for over a yr and the fee to the well being division was extreme — the price range permitted by commissioners for the present fiscal yr slashed thousands and thousands in funding.
Mansaray gave Hambley excessive reward for poise throughout a yr that introduced nice challenges.
“Over these previous 4 years, now we have walked by uncommon occasions — a world pandemic from a novel virus, adopted by a brand new (board) with a majority of members who’re suspicious of our work to advertise the well being of our county’s residents and guests,” Mansaray wrote.
“These occasions examined you, me, and our devoted and professional workers. Regardless of that, each member of this division understood our statutory responsibility to the general public, and with tireless function and hearts for service, we prevented morbidity and mortality, we promoted wholesome communities, and we faithfully served those that bore a disproportionate load of the social and environmental situations that may result in poor well being in Ottawa County.”
However there was irony in her expertise, as a result of Mansaray was impressed to run for public workplace — to forestall what occurred in Ottawa from taking place once more.
“The egocentric, arbitrary, power-seeking conduct of the brand new Ottawa Influence commissioners has led to ignore for the legislation, a demoralizing surroundings for county workers, misuse of taxpayer {dollars}, and calculated makes an attempt to dehumanize a number of the county’s residents,” she instructed The Sentinel.
Extra:‘This isn’t my occasion’: Deputy Well being Director Marcia Mansaray will problem Slagh
Mansaray launched a bid for the eighty fifth District within the Michigan Home of Representatives. She’s working as a Democrat. The one Republican who has filed to run is incumbent Brad Slagh, who’s in search of a 3rd time period.
“If Ottawa Influence hadn’t been right here, I would not have been impressed to be a candidate. I might by no means even have thought-about it in my wildest desires,” she mentioned. “I imagine now could be the time for me to be one other brave voice for the general public’s well being and for public well being employees on the entrance traces, for clear state and native authorities, and for Ottawa County to be a welcoming place for all folks to stay, to lift a household, and to thrive.”
Mansaray began with the division as a well being promotion specialist, chairing the Smoke-Free Ottawa Activity Power, which efficiently spearheaded a countywide ban on smoking in workplaces and most public locations in 2008.
Mansaray went on to be a group well being analyst and OCDPH’s senior epidemiologist, utilizing her experience in biology and biostatistics to establish and analyze illness and different well being tendencies and outbreaks, and main Ottawa County’s two massive well being assessments — the Youth Evaluation Survey and the Neighborhood Well being Wants Evaluation.
Previous to changing into deputy well being officer, Mansaray was well being planning and promotion director, the place she oversaw the division’s prevention applications, together with well being training, vitamin and wellness, oral well being (together with the Miles of Smiles program), and Ottawa Pathways to Higher Well being.
She mentioned she knowledgeable the division’s management group on Monday, April 15.
“They are not comfortable about it,” she mentioned. “I do not need to equate what we have gone by with something that troopers undergo, however the bonding is comparable. And to lose folks that you’ve got trusted and you could rely upon if you’re in a scenario when there is no one to belief …
“So I am involved somewhat bit about them, however I believe they’ve gotten this far. They’re actually robust. We’re actually robust as a group. And now we have three or 4 eminently certified folks proper right here at our division. And my view is to interview them and choose one in every of them as a result of we all know they already perceive what they’re entering into.”
“Marcia has served her group with a singular mix of knowledge, empathy and charm that I’ve particularly appreciated over the previous yr. I’ll miss her partnership and counsel,” Well being Officer Adeline Hambley mentioned.
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Mansaray plans to spend extra time along with her household in her retirement. She’s been married to her husband, Alpha, for 10 years. The couple share six youngsters and two grandchildren.
She’ll even be on the marketing campaign path.
“I’ve been impressed by our group. They definitely stunned me and inspired me to see how a lot I care and are prepared to care when issues go actually dangerous,” she mentioned. “It is fairly stunning.”
On Friday, April 26, the well being division introduced that Lisa Uganski, the division’s present Well being Planning and Promotion supervisor, will succeed Mansaray as the subsequent deputy well being officer starting June 3.
Uganski joined the division in 2000 as a registered dietitian and well being educator, a place she has held for 21 years the place she helped develop and implement prevention and training programming. She additionally performed group well being wants assessments to establish well being points in Ottawa County.
Uganski acquired her bachelor’s diploma in dietetics from Wayne State College and her grasp’s diploma in public well being from Des Moines College. She serves as a board member and officer for Hand 2 Hand and is a volunteer with the Neighborhood Meals Membership, based on a information launch.
“I’m enthusiastic about this new alternative,” Uganski mentioned. “I strongly imagine within the worth of public well being to enhance the standard of life for our residents and sit up for serving to lead the division’s efforts in Ottawa County.”
Hambley mentioned she expects the transition to go easily, welcoming Uganski to the position.
“I’m excited for Lisa to step into this position,” Hambley mentioned. “Her information, experience and fervour for serving the group will serve OCDPH effectively transferring ahead.”
— Sarah Leach is government editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at [email protected]. Observe her on Twitter @SentinelLeach.