Office of Local Public Health

• Local Health Officers
• Local Public Health Districts
• Statewide Coordinating Council (SCC)
• Rural health and Primary Care
• About Us
  • Staff
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About Us

The Office of Local Public Health (OLPH) was created in 2008 in order to strengthen and improve public health services and infrastructure at the local and district levels. Organizationally, the office is located within Maine CDC Administration.

OLPH staff collaborate and partner with other Maine CDC and DHHS Programs and divisions, local service providers, municipal governments, and community partners to effectively and efficiently coordinate and integrate local and district-wide public health activities.

OLPH employs a number of District Public Health Liaisons who are placed throughout the state at District DHHS Offices. Liaisons provide public health leadership at the district level and work in close collaboration with other Maine CDC field staff, including District Field Epidemiologists, Public Health Nurses and Health Inspectors.

Vision: Our vision is a comprehensive, well-coordinated public health system that supports improved health for all Maine people.

Mission: Our mission is to promote, improve and sustain delivery of the Ten Essential Public Health Services at the local level.

We strive to:

• Collaborate, coordinate and communicate with public health partners at the local and state levels;
• Build capacity of the public health system and workforce;
• Engage district partners in public health planning, assessment and quality improvement.

Priorities:

• Strengthen local public health infrastructure through activities that promote coordination, integration and efficiency;
• Assure accountability to local communities for fairness and transparency;
• Provide technical assistance and secure both technical and financial resources;
• Encourage continued development of public health expertise at the local and district level;
• Enable and promote consistent delivery of Essential Public Health services throughout Maine.

Program Activities:

• Provide training and ongoing technical assistance to Local Health Officers. Work to link LHOs to other local and district public health activities and state and county emergency management agencies.
• Coordinate and facilitate formation of functioning Maine CDC public health field staff units in all eight DHHS Districts.
• Work with Healthy Maine Partnerships to form District Coordinating Councils (DCCs) in all DHHS Districts. DCCs will provide district-level public health planning and coordination.
• During public health emergencies, be present in county emergency operation centers to provide communication linkages between county emergency management agencies and Maine CDC.
• Assist with public health assessments, such as the MAPP process being conducted by Healthy Maine Partnerships.
• Provide a linkage between district partners and state public health entities for resource and information sharing.