To the Editor:

More and more local/district health department Health Officers are facing censure and demotion or dismissal over allegations of harassment. This is a disturbing trend that has damaged irreparably the careers and lives of otherwise good men.

In Saginaw County, our late Health Officer, was similarly dismissed from a 30-year career in public health, only to die a few years later in disgrace. Talented replacement health officers must try to do good work under the cloud that hangs, like truth, above their heads and beyond reach.

Laurie Garrett’s book “Betrayal of Trust,” details the undermining of public health in the USA and, now the Institute of Medicine is recommending the joining of private medicine with public health, a paradigm perhaps too late in coming.

Local Medical Director Michael Collins’ work is more challenging than ever and the soon-to-be acting/replacement Health Officers for Grand Traverse and Leelanau-Benzie counties will desperately need his help and guidance.

Neill D. Varner

E. Twin Oaks Drive, Traverse City