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Recipient of the 2007 Ham
Stevens, MD Award
David Rice
Director
New Hanover County Health Department
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New Hanover County
Health Director Dave Rice has been named recipient of the annual Ham
Stevens Award from the North Carolina Association of Local Health
Directors. The North Carolina Association of Local Health Directors
bestows the award to individuals who exemplify the qualities of a
former health director and friend of public health, Dr. Ham Stevens,
MD
Dr. Stevens was
largely responsible for bringing administrative health directors and
medical health directors together to form the North Carolina Association
of Local Health Directors (NCALHD). He served as the Association's
first President and was a former Health Director for Buncombe and
Duplin Counties.
Mr. Rice holds
a Masters of Arts in Community Health Education from West Virginia
University as well as a Masters of Public Health from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has earned certificates from
his work with the Public Health Leadership Institute and the Management
Academy for Public Health. Rice has 28 years of experience in Public
Health having served as a local health director in West Virginia,
Nevada and now New Hanover County, North Carolina.
Among the accomplishments
that earned Mr. Rice the award was his work to reorganize the New
Hanover County Health Department. A UNC Chapel Hill assessment was
conducted and then implemented by Mr. Rice and his staff. The reorganization
decreased the number of management team members, broke down barriers
between programs and centralized registration and billing to improve
efficiency.
Under Rice’s
leadership clinic services that were separated for over 20 years were
consolidated, staff was cross-trained and registration and billing
for clinic services were combined. As a result the New Hanover County
Health Department offers every service every day. The number of patient
visits has doubled with the same amount of staff.
Recognizing a
gap in protecting the public’s health and cultural changes underway
in the community, Rice organized a group of stakeholders and developed
operating standards in 1999 for body piercing practitioners, which
were the first body piercing standards implemented in the state. Always
first in line to volunteer for causes to enhance public health, Rice
was the first NHCHD employee to receive his Smallpox vaccine during
phase I of the State Smallpox plan. He has been on site with Animal
Control Services to raid dog fighting rings and puppy mills with local
law enforcement.
Also recognizing
access to care as a major issue in New Hanover County, the NHCHD has
received grant funding to establish a health clinic at the local homeless
shelter, operated by Good Shepard Ministries. The clinic has been
so well received that additional funding sources have been identified
to continue the good work.
Rice believes
in working with local agencies to provide services. In 2006 with funding
from Kate B. Reynolds, Cape Fear Memorial Foundation and Cape Fear
Area United Way, the New Hanover and Brunswick County Health Departments
teamed up to provide a mobile dental program. This program has already
provided much needed dental care to children in both counties.
