By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent New
Benjamin Robison has some experience dealing with public health emergencies – which is good since he will be taking over as Wood County health commissioner at a time steeped in crises.
On Tuesday evening, the Wood County Board of Health voted to hire Robison as the new health commissioner, taking the place of Ben Batey who is now chief health officer at BGSU. Robison’s employment will be official once background checks are completed.
Robison, who graduated from Bowling Green High School in 1997, said Tuesday that he looks forward to returning to his hometown to continue his career in public health emergency preparedness.
He will be coming back during a time of daily increases in COVID-19 cases.
On Tuesday, Wood County saw 51 more COVID cases and three more deaths in one day.
Acting health commissioner Amy Jones said the health department is working hard to keep up with contact tracing.
“Our team is doing our best,” Jones said.
While a few of the new COVID cases are from long-term care facilities, the majority involve people in their 20s to mid-50s, she said. There is no “hotspot” of cases in the county.
“They are kind of all over the place,” Jones told the board Tuesday.
Wood County dropped back into Level Orange last week, but that may be short-lived, with the county possibly headed back up to Level Red this week based on the numbers.
“I cannot say enough about our team,” Jones said. “We’re here for the community’s health and safety.”
The health board also voted Tuesday evening to hire an additional epidemiologist to help keep up with the COVID workload.
After the meeting, Robison credited Batey with great leadership through the pandemic. He plans to continue that, and use his experience working in public health and emergencies.
“Public health at large is being strained right now,” he said. “We’re facing challenges we haven’t faced in 100 years.”
Robison is a believer in public health.
“Public health touches every life. There isn’t anyone not affected by it,” he said. “It’s an investment today and an investment in our future.”
Robison will be earning $107,899 a year as county health commissioner.
Robison grew up in Bowling Green, and graduated from BGSU with a bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in public health. He then earned his master’s in public health administration from the Northwest Ohio Consortium for Public Health.
Robison currently serves as emergency response unit supervisor with the Ohio Department of Health. Prior to that, he worked as Franklin County Public Health emergency preparedness supervisor.
“We’re thrilled to hire someone with Ben’s experience leading the state’s emergency response unit to be our next health commissioner,” said Cathleen Nelson, president of the board of health. “We’re confident in Ben’s abilities to continue leading our team’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that his ties to our community help make him an excellent choice for Wood County.”
