Franksville - Margaret Gesner, the Central Racine County Health Department (CRCHD) Health Officer since 2006, announced that her retirement will be at the end of 2021. She will step down as Health Officer as of September 1, 2021, but will remain with CRCHD through the end of the year to ensure support for the new Health Officer and a smooth transition to a Racine County Public Health Division in 2022.
Under Gesner’s leadership, the health department has grown significantly. When the Western Racine County Health Department disbanded at the end of 2014, CRCHD began serving the additional municipalities in that jurisdiction, and today covers 118,184 residents in 14 Racine County cities, villages, and towns. Much of the programmatic growth under Gesner has been to address salient community health issues, including substance use/abuse, suicide prevention, infant mortality, childhood injury prevention, adverse childhood experiences, prenatal and postpartum support for all mothers, food and well water safety, and health care access. In order to achieve this growth, Gesner and her team secured over $2,000,000 annually from local, state, and federal grant funding to supplement base funding.
During her tenure, Gesner served as President of the Southeast Wisconsin Association of Local Health Department and Boards as well as the Southeast Wisconsin Representative to the Wisconsin Public Health Association. In addition, Gesner represented CRCHD on many state and local committees. Most recently, the 30-employee CRCHD went through a rigorous accreditation process, receiving national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board in 2020, a credential earned by only 18 other local health departments in Wisconsin, and recognition often reserved for much larger departments.
“Because of Margaret’s expert leadership, advanced knowledge, and professional direction, CRCHD has served the Racine County population and the municipal bodies at an exceptional level of performance,” said Fran Petrick, Chair of Central Racine County Board of Health. “New programs have continued to be developed as a result of a community needs assessment and these new programs have almost always been accompanied by a grant to pay for said program.
Status quo are two words that have never been used to describe the accomplishments of CRCHD. Margaret and her team have been in a continuous state of evaluation, program development and implementation with the goal of improving the health of the population served. This was particularly evidenced during the response to COVID-19.”
Also in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, Gesner and the Central Racine County Board of Health proposed initiating conversations with Racine County Executive Jonathan Delagrave to possibly bring the CRCHD under Racine County, and this process is now underway to take effect in 2022. Most importantly, during the COVID-19 outbreak, Gesner and her staff provided sound guidance to Racine County, as well as the 14 municipalities that they serve. Over the past year, CRCHD saw their communicable disease caseloads increase 1479% due to COVID-19, stretching the capacity of all staff members.
“Margaret Gesner led her department through very difficult circumstances,” commented County Executive Jonathan Delagrave, “I relied on her input as we made decisions that affected the citizens of Racine County, as well as the many companies that do business here. During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Margaret was a steady hand who provided sound, practical advice. Through her leadership, she has built a program which will have a lasting impact for years to come.”
“It’s been an honor to work with extraordinary staff and committed community leaders, and I am sincerely grateful to have served the citizens of Racine County for the past 14 years,” Gesner said. “I have been devoted to strengthening public health services and initiatives throughout my career because I believe it’s a critically important component of making communities safe, healthy, sustainable, and vibrant. While public health is now more in the limelight because of COVID-19, the truth is that it’s an area that has long been an essential piece of our society’s infrastructure.” Gesner, whose career has included leadership roles in the Arlington, Boston, New York City, and Kenosha Health Departments, earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Goshen College and her master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Gesner expressed her strong support for CRCHD’s transition to Racine County, and for Jeff Langlieb, who will become the CRCHD Health Officer starting September 1, 2021. Langlieb has been with CRCHD for over 10 years, with the majority of his work in management positions. He comes to the job with a Master in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
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