New Delaware County Health Department director visits vaccine clinic in Chester

CHESTER — One week into her new job as the first health director for Delaware County, Melissa Lyon compared  the  education she is getting to  that of a fire hose of information – an overwhelming amount of learning, listening and meeting people as she tours health care facilities and meets the community.

On Wednesday Lyon made one of her first public appearances at Keystone First Wellness Center in Chester, where officials gave her a tour of the facility which opened in March 2020 before closing due to the pandemic and then reopening in March 2021 to offer a testing and vaccine location for the county.  Since that time more than 11,000 vaccines  have been given to area residents.

On Wednesday the facility was a hub of activity as Lyon was given her tour. Members of Delaware County Reserve Medical Corps assisted by Keystone staff  dispensed  vaccines as a mobile testing trailer offered  COVID-19 tests in the parking lot.

“This is such an exciting and rare opportunity to be the first  public health director for Delaware County.  I’m just so excited for the work and it is difficult to decide, where do you begin to start doing tours,” said Lyon to the gathered media. “We wanted to be here because of the testing and vaccine site today.”

Keystone First’s Meg Grant welcomed Lyon to the center, saying  communities such as Chester are often under-served and marginalized when it comes to health care.

Lyon expects to tour other medical facilities across the county in the coming weeks.

Asked about the county health care needs, Lyon said she was still getting her feet wet but in her few short days she has seen people showing a desire for the department as well as health care officials wanting to demonstrate the resources that are available and an enthusiasm towards partnerships.

She said one thing she has learned  in her first week is she will have to manage the high expectations of the community.

“I know they are so excited to have a health department and what we are going to be able to offer, but there are some real fundamental things we have to put into place first. I have to manage those expectations, where can we deliver, what can we deliver,” she said. “ I’m going to under promise and over deliver for the community.”

Lyon said Delaware County is much like other places in America, with health equity issues in communities that are under-resourced.  She said a priority of the department will be  tracking disease prevalence, be they chronic illnesses or infectious diseases.

Lyon said if the pandemic has taught officials anything it is that good health is good a economy and she said facilities like the Keystone site is a good example of that, offering comprehensive services, senior services and activities.

Lyon addressed the concern from some municipalities that the new county health department will mean the loss of control of their local municipality health departments. In the past few weeks seven townships filed a motion seeking a court injunction to prevent the Delaware County Health Department from taking over municipal health inspections.

“The state Health Department actually drives the work that has to be accomplished in a local health department,” Lyon said. She added that the new health department is in communication with local communities. “Overall I think there is a desire to have a standardized approach, We’ll get there. I understand it will be one of the challenges we face but it is the responsibility the local health department has to take on.”

Before taking the job in Delaware County Lyon was the public health director in Erie for eight years and served as the COVID-19 Response Incident Commander for the Erie County Health Department.  Lyon noted that Delaware County has many of the same challenges she faced in her former role in Erie.

“There are quite a few similarities,” she said. “City centers or urban areas that are resource limited as well as areas that are fairly resource robust and how do we bring all those resources together to serve everyone equitability.”

She added the only thing Delco is missing are the Great Lakes and Presque Isle , a popular recreational area in Erie.

Rosemary Halt COVID task Force Director for Delaware County and chair of the Board of Health said the start of the health department is a system of building health department infrastructure.

“We’re building staff, getting them trained and building quality improvements into our clinics which will serve the health department well going forward,” Halt said.

Halt said vaccine hesitancy has been a challenge throughout the county. In Chester they have reached a 75 percent vaccination rate, she said.

Pennsylvania Department of Health data shows that 342,773 county residents have been fully vaccinated while another 83,214 residents have received at least one shot and  140,576 residents have had a booster shot. The census numbers place the county population at just under 570,000 residents.

Halt said the challenge is to get the remaining 25 percent of residents vaccinated.

“Omicron did cause a huge number to be vaccinated in the last few weeks. We’ve done thousands of vaccines here, and lots of testing,” Halt said.  “I think people understand the vaccine is safe, that it’s good to get and to continue to get tested to protect yourself and your community.”

Halt said hospitalizations from COVID-19 are still high but visits to the Emergency Room for testing have fallen. She credited the opening of a number of testing facilities in the county, the large federal site at Mercy Fitzgerald and  increased testing through the county and from private providers. She said officials anticipate lower positive COVID numbers in the coming month.

Deaths have increased in the last three weeks, Halt said.