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A healthy today for a brighter tomorrow.
The Lake Cumberland District Health Department focuses on public and preventative health. We do so by offering on-site clinics, off-site programs and by engaging our communities to adopt health-focused policies and initiatives. Our mission is to, “…prevent illness and injury, promote good health practices and assure a safe environment.”
While pursuing our mission, we aspire toward excellence by endeavoring to practice according to the most contemporary and cutting edge public health practice models and standards.
The Lake Cumberland District Health Department is proud to announce that we received reaccreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board for a period of five years on August 21, 2023. LCDHD received our initial five year accreditation on March 14, 2017. This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our entire organization, including our esteemed board members and committed staff. As we continue to strive for excellence in our work, we are honored by this recognition of our efforts to provide outstanding public health services to the communities we serve. We remain committed to upholding the highest standards of performance and look forward to continuing to provide exemplary services that meet the ever-changing needs of our communities.
On June 18, 1971 William P. McElwain, M.D., Commissioner of Health, sent out a memorandum: We are pleased to announce the establishment of the first District Health Department in the State of Kentucky namely, the Lake Cumberland District Health Department. The creation of this new legal entity will join Clinton, Cumberland, McCreary, Pulaski and Wayne counties into a District on July 1, 1971 (read the full original letter at: Establishment of Lake Cumberland District Health Department; read the minutes from the first board meeting at: Lake Cumberland District Board of Health Archived Minutes).
In 1982 the counties of Adair, Casey, Green, Russell and Taylor joined the district bringing the total member counties to 10. The area covered by the LCDHD is around 3,613 square miles with a population of approximately 200,000. Somerset is the largest city in the 10 county area with a population of approximately 11,400 (2000 Census).
The LCDHD is governed by a 30-member board of directors with representation from each county’s local board of health. The board is comprised of county judge executives, physicians, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, engineers, optometrists and citizen members. The board employs an executive director and medical director to manage the day-to-day operations of the department. At our peak, we had approximately 300 staff members employed in the 10 county health centers and administrative offices located in Somerset. With the challenges of the down-turned economy, we now operate at about 200 employees.
Looking to the future, we keep our eyes on emerging public health strategies. Click the following links to learn how we are engaging with some emerging key public health initiatives.
Historically, as we have worked with our community partners to improve health via policy development and partnerships, our Community Health Improvement Plans reflect that we have looked to the Healthy People 2030 and Surgeon General’s Priorities to set health targets and to identify nationally recommended strategies.
