by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

(NOTE: Commentaries by Fred Swift are published on this news blog as a result of a partnership between the Hamilton County Reporter & LarryInFishers.com)

It’s not often that a person serves for 50 years as a member of a governmental body. But, Noblesville’s Garrick Mallery holds that honor, possibly a record in the state if not the nation. Not only that, but Mallery has been president of the Hamilton County Health Board almost the entire time.

The health department is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. An open house for the public is planned from 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 27 at the health office. There will be a display of historic vital records going back 135 years. Cake and coffee will be served. The department was actually organized in 1966, but the following year was its first full year in business. Operating out of a room in the basement of the old Courthouse, there were initially three employees: a nurse, a sanitarian and a secretary.

The first board, appointed by county commissioners, was composed of Dr. John Haywood, Dr. Haldon Kraft, Max Hunter, James Morris, Gerald Johnson and Garrick Mallery, who said recently, “It’s been interesting. I’ve done a lot of things, but this was one of the highlights of my life seeing it [the department] come along” to where it is today.

The health department has expanded dramatically as the county has grown. Health inspectors now check hundreds of restaurants and other food handlers to protect the public from unsanitary conditions, provide immunizations for the county’s children, maintain all county birth and death records, seek to eliminate dangerous mosquito breeding grounds and provide public education on best health practices among other services.

Mallery believes the health department does more good for Hamilton County than perhaps the public sometimes gets from the news. Thursday the doors will be open to show the public what all they have in the field of public health.