The Cook County Department of Public Health Article 2022

Surname 1
Name:
Tutor:
Course:
Date:
Management
The Cook County Department of Public Health
Purpose and function of the agency
The Cook County of Illinois, Chicago was established in January of 1831.it was
formed by an act of the state legislation of Illinois. It was the 54th county that was established
in Illinois and on May 7th of the same year the Cook County elected its first representatives
and officials. As an urban county, Cook County contains more than 800 local government
units that are within the county’s boundaries. It is also established that the county is the 19th
largest local government in America according to the 2005 population census. The Cook
County health department is among the busiest in the country.
Legislative
Its function and purpose are legislative and administrative in nature. According to
Article 7, Section 6 of the Illinois state constitution, it is a home rule county. It is governed by
a 17-board member commission and the commissioners are the elected members of each
single district. The county member board which includes the Board president and the
commissioners are elected on a four year term limit by the Illinois people (Baum, 67). As an
area of function, the county has 128 municipalities within the region with Chicago being the
most known and populous. The total square miles of the county is 946 square miles. The

Surname 2
unincorporated 15% jurisdiction are under the Board of Commissioners of Cook County. The
principal responsibility of the county government as mandated by the state law is to offer
protection of property and persons, provision of public health care and the county highway
and roads maintenance. They are also responsible for the prudent financial management of
the resources allocated to the county.
Department Programs
The current programs of the county ranges from public health to fixing of the public
highways. The current program ongoing is the redevelopment of the Old Cook County
Hospital redevelopment project which is a collaborative program between the developers,
preservationists, local government leaders and designers. The program began on 1st October
2019.
Cook county opioid grants and story map for daily awareness with partnership from
the Cook County Bureau of Technology is another program.
Other programs include the public health awareness of behavioral health such as mental
illness, chronic diseases, communicable diseases and emergency preparedness. Other
programs include the data & report computations on diseases and injury data on suburban
people of Cook County. Environmental health programs enforcement of Cook County of
Illinois and the health issues relating to the Suburban Cook County.
Organization and Administration
The Cook County Department of Public Health (CCDPH) is a nationally accredited
and state certified health department which serves more than 2.5 million residents and more
than 127 municipalities that surround the city of Chicago. It is headed by a Chief operating
officer who has a Board of commissioners.

Surname 3
Executive Personnel
The organization and the administrative structure of CCDPH are headed by: the executive
Personnel
1. Terry Mason, MD and Chief Operating Officer CCDPH
2. John Jay Shannon, MD and Chief Executive Officer of Cook County Health (CCH).
CCH is among the biggest and the largest public health systems in the country. In addition
to CCPDH, there are also other facilities such as the John H Stroger Provident and Jr.
Hospital, Correctional health centers at the cook county juvenile and temporary detention
centers, the Ruth Rothstein Center and a Medicaid managed care health plan.
3. Tony Preckwinkle- President Cook County Board of Commissioners.
The Cook County Board of Commissioners is the regulatory authority of the CCDPH. It is
presided over by the president of the board.
Decision making structure
The Manager or the CEO administers all the administrative decision making processes.
Mayoral Control
How does the Mayor or top official of the local government control the department?
The government of Chicago Illinois has the legislative and executive branches. The Mayor of
the City is the CEO elected on a four year term. The mayor is the appointing authority and
appoint commissioners and other officials who oversee the department such as CCDPH. The
mayor is also able to fire or dissolve the commission of board members depending on their
ability to deliver and performance.
Number of Budgeted Employees