Princeton Health Department hits ‘rock bottom’

Work on vital statistics suffers following loss of staff

By: Marjorie Censer
   Amid rising concerns about staffing levels at the Princeton Health Department, the Princeton Health Commission appointed Health Officer David Henry local registrar of vital statistics Tuesday.
   The three vital statistics employees — the full-time registrar, the part-time deputy registrar and the part-time alternate deputy registrar — all have resigned over the past four months, leaving the Health Department struggling to keep up with the workload, which includes documentation of births, marriages, domestic partnerships and deaths.
   At the Health Commission meeting Tuesday, Mr. Henry said the department is now facing an eight-week backlog. The remaining staff — which includes Mr. Henry, two health inspectors and a part-time high school student — has been working on the vital statistics operation. They received some help when members of the borough administrative staff came over to enter data.
   "I think we’ve hit rock bottom at the moment," Mr. Henry told the commission Tuesday.
   The department has now hired two full-time employees to staff the vital statistics operation — but Mr. Henry remains unsure whether those two, who have not begun work, will be enough. The full-time registrar won’t begin until Nov. 28, so Mr. Henry has to fill those shoes for the time being.
   The vital statistics responsibilities have grown significantly over the past several years — but the staff has not, Mr. Henry has said. In 2003, the full-time registrar and two part-time employees produced 7,700 documents. In 2004, the same number of employees produced 12,000 documents.
   Mr. Henry has estimated that the revenue from vital statistics will top $100,000 this year. Additionally, at Tuesday’s meeting, the commission introduced an ordinance that would increase the fees for vital statistics documents.
   Mr. Henry’s appointment as registrar comes as he prepares a 2006 budget request that includes funding for several additional employees — full-time or on a contractual basis.
   He said the department sorely needs a secretary. As it stands, he explained, members of the department act as their own secretaries, and hiring a secretary would boost the staff’s productivity.
   "We need a little more coordinated effort," he said. "It would be ideal if a full-time secretary were bilingual."
   Mr. Henry’s budget request also includes a part-time public health liaison and contracts for a medical reserve coordinator, medical consultant and a public health nurse. The increased cost of those positions would total nearly $50,000.