photograph by: Niamh Comey
Dr. William Mercer, surrounded by Venture HOPE volunteers, addresses the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Well being throughout its assembly Tuesday on the Metropolis-County Constructing.
WHEELING — After a full of life dialogue Tuesday, the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Well being will start investigating what a proposed separation of the native avenue drugs program Venture HOPE would entail.
Dr. William Mercer, who began Venture HOPE, has been advocating for the volunteer-based mission to be separated from the well being division for a number of years. The board unanimously authorised a movement to launch an investigation into the authorized, moral and monetary features of the steered measure to allow them to talk about it additional.
Mercer mentioned Venture HOPE has “exceeded” what the well being division can present and want to see it develop to higher serve the wants of Wheeling’s homeless neighborhood.
Mercer and the volunteers, a few of whom had been current at Tuesday's assembly, want to accomplice with Catholic Charities, a longtime social providers supplier throughout the state.
In the course of the assembly, Wheeling-Ohio County Well being Administrator Howard Gamble mentioned a number of occasions that the board doesn’t at the moment have a motive to separate Venture HOPE from well being division oversight.
The board is accountable for figuring out whether or not to dissolve the volunteer group, provide it to a non-public entity or proceed to run it as it’s now, Gamble mentioned.
“(Venture HOPE) funds are raised on behalf of the county well being division, as a result of Venture HOPE is a county well being division program,” Gamble mentioned. “So we have now to deal with it like we do some other program and attempt to be good stewards of these and this system itself.”
Mercer mentioned Venture HOPE calls for extra full-time workers to deal with administrative wants and provide major care, which he believes would work higher and pay extra beneath a unique non-public entity.
The well being division beforehand had somebody in a Venture HOPE supervisory place who’s now not within the place and has not been changed, Gamble mentioned.
This place was exempt from the civil service system, so there have been restrictions on the variety of hours the person might work, making it a part-time place. This additionally meant that the well being division was in a position to compensate them with out limitations, in contrast to different public staff.
Mercer has made it clear that, ought to the cut up happen, it want to keep a partnership with the well being division so Venture HOPE can proceed to supply its needle trade and vaccine program to sufferers.
Mercer mentioned he felt there was an excellent dialog at Tuesday's assembly and he’s hopeful that after discussing how a separation will be made, the board will resolve to maneuver ahead.
“It's a win-win scenario. “We’re all attempting to assist our neighborhood and there’s a sure inhabitants that has unmet medical wants that we are able to serve,” Mercer mentioned. “It's not like we are able to hold individuals or sufferers away from different suppliers. These are the troublesome ones to deal with and discover.”
Gamble mentioned the board's instant subsequent steps shall be to hunt enter from state ethics and auditing consultants, in addition to authorized counsel. Conversations about these findings will proceed at upcoming board conferences.