By John Estridge
It seemed perfunctory, which is strange after all the drama.
In about 13 minutes, the Franklin County Health Board and the Franklin County Commissioners unanimously approved Dr. David Welsh as the county’s new health officer.
The action occurred Tuesday afternoon, August 31, in a special joint meeting with the health board and the commissioners in the commissioners’ room at the Government Center. Welsh, who is also the Ripley County Health Officer, did not attend the meeting.
There has been a succession of health officers this summer. Dr. Scott Marsteller resigned in July because he did not support state COVID-19 guidelines to vaccinate children and teens. By Indiana Code, public health officers have to support state health department guidelines and mandates.
Dr. David Jetmore was appointed as the county’s new health officer during a special commissioners’ meeting on August 17. Less than four hours later, he resigned that position, stating he tried to fire a part-time health department employee who stated that person believed COVID was a Chinese bio-weapon that country used to reduce the world population, according to an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Apparently, that firing did not occur.
When asked at the August 31 meeting about Welsh’s control over the health department, commissioners said it was Welsh’s to control.
“He will have full capacity,” commission president Tom Linkel said.
Commissioners were also asked how Welsh came down on the administrator issue. This is currently a hot-button issue. The former health board voted to add an administrator to the department instead of a second nurse. This came after the nurse supervisor left the department in July, leaving only one nurse. But that was before Marsteller left. Marsteller apparently accidentally took the contract with him.
Commissioners deferred the question to the remaining nurse in the department, Debbie Tibbetts. Later in the August 31 meeting, Tibbetts was named as the supervising nurse and will receive back pay for all the overtime she worked as the only remaining nurse in the department. The back pay is contingent on it being approved by county council.
Tibbetts said Welsh did not say anything about an administrator, but he suggested instead of hiring another RN, the health department could hire an LPN.
Welsh is a surgeon who works out of Margaret Mary Health and also Decatur County Memorial Hospital in Greensburg.
According to an article on the Indiana State Medical Association (ISMA) website dated June 9, 2020, after graduating cum laude from the University of Notre Dame, Welsh earned his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and completed his residency program at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati.
In June 2020, the ISMA announced Welsh, a past president of the ISMA, was re-elected to the American Medical Association (AMA) Council on Science and Public Health. In addition, Welsh has been named to the council’s executive committee.
The AMA Council on Science and Public Health consists of 12 physicians who advise on policies through scientific evidence that can improve patient care, promote medical progress and enhance public health.
According to the June 2020 article, Welsh serves as chair of the AMA Organized Medical Staff Section Governing Council and is a past chair of the Joint Commission Hospital Professional and Technical Advisory Committee. In 2014, Welsh represented the AMA at the World Medical Association Leadership and Advocacy meeting in Singapore.
Welsh has served as a governor of the American College of Surgeons, which honored his service with the Arthur Ellenberger Advocacy Award for Excellence in State Advocacy. He was elected president of the Indiana State Medical Association in 2008 and has also served on the ISMA Commission on Legislation and as chair of the Board of Trustees.
The article went on to say: “His nearly 40 years of medical training have been critical to his work serving the community as Ripley County health officer. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Welsh has been a leading voice in southern Indiana’s fight against the coronavirus.”
Welsh is a black belt and filmed videos for the Ripley County Health Department in 2020 concerning combating COVID using his black belt as a theme.
Near the end of the August 31 meeting, commissioners Tom Wilson and Linkel thanked the health department employees for all of their work in the last few months when the department was shorthanded.
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