PJ Brennan, MD, chief medical officer and SVP of Penn Medicine, has been chosen as one of the five members on the newly created Delaware County Board of Health.
Without a health department of its own, Delaware County, Pa. has relied on Chester County’s Health Department for help during COVID-19, but the pandemic “amplified the need for a health department at the local level,” Brennan said, adding that the Southeast part of the state, where Delaware County is located, was the hardest hit in the state in the first wave of the pandemic. Now, with this infrastructure in place, “there will be a voice on the county council as well as in the state government about what the needs are.”
Brennan believes it’s important that hospitals and health care systems be “major partners” in public health infrastructure at the local level. Indeed, it was the successful partnership between Delaware County and Penn Medicine that resulted in the opening of the COVID-19 vaccination clinic at Penn Medicine Radnor.
According to Tracey Commack, associate executive director of Penn Medicine Radnor, three days after Delaware County did a site visit to the facility for use as a vaccination center, “we gave our first vaccine.” Ultimately, thanks to the flow of vaccines — which came from the county — Radnor has given over 18,000 COVID vaccinations. “Our partnership has been amazing,” she said.
Brennan stressed that beyond COVID, there are many traditional and emerging public health issues — for example, life expectancy, health disparities, and water quality — that the county health department will need to address. “It’s a multiyear process,” he said, “but having a health department will get things moving faster.”