The Lorain County General Health District is responsible for preventing disease and promoting health in Lorain County except for the cities of Elyria, Lorain, Avon Lake, and Vermilion.  It has five basic responsibilities:

1.    Regulatory, Licensing and Inspection Functions – The health district sanitarians may enter and inspect food service operations and other public institutions as part of the licensing requirements.  The district is responsible for issuing licenses for restaurants, vending machines, solid waste disposal sites, campgrounds, marinas, private water systems, manufactured home parks, public pools, spas and beaches.  It also has the responsibility to enforce Ohio’s Smoke Free Public Places Law. The district must enforce all State of Ohio and local health regulations.

2.    Immunizations, Wellness Tests, and Public Health Nursing Services - The district administers immunizations and wellness related tests to fight against the spread of communicable and vaccine preventable diseases.  The Health District also provides Well Child Clinics, Senior Adult Wellness Clinics, Services to Children with Medical Disabilities (BCMH), Public Health Nursing Visits, Womens, Infants and Childrens Supplemental Nurtrition Services (WIC), and supplies the School Nursing and Coordinated School Health services to Oberlin Schools through a cooperative agreement.

3.    Disease Investigation and Public Health Emergency Response - The district reports the existence of contagious and infectious disease to the State Department of Health and investigates disease outbreaks.  Disease and public health emergency planning, investigation and response are primary responsibilities of the health district.

4.    Health Education and Promotion – The health district provides information to the public related to current issues and major public health problems and conducts services to reduce behavior related practices that lead to chronic and infectious diseases.

5.   Vital Statistics - The Department maintains a record of births and deaths which occur in its district.

The Lorain County General Health District is a separate political subdivision of the State of Ohio and the Board of Health is the governing body of the district.  The district operates under the direction of Health Commissioner Ken Pearce and the Board of Health under the laws of the State of Ohio.  Members of the Board of Health are appointed by either cities served by the General Health District or the District Advisory Council that is made up of representatives of the townships and villages.  To establish these relationships, under the authority of the Ohio Revised Code, a General Health District can unite with two or more cities to create a combined board of health.  Oberlin has participated in this way for many years.  In 2002, this relationship was updated and affirmed by the Oberlin City Council with its approval of Ordinance 02-43.  That contract for the union of the combined Board of Health provides that the cities of Oberlin and Amherst appoint one representative to the Board of Health “by joint action” of the Oberlin City Manager and the Mayor of Amherst, with approval by respective legislative authorities.

For more information, please refer to the Lorain County General Health District website.

Current Members

Important Documents