After almost six years as director of the Cumberland County Department of Public Health, Jennifer Green is stepping down from the position at the end of this year, the county announced Wednesday.
“It has been a pleasure to work for a county and alongside a public health team that is invested in improving the health of our community in innovative ways,” Green said in the announcement. “I am committed to supporting the department during this transition.”
Green leaves the department to follow her spouse on his upcoming permanent change of station with the Army. The county’s Board of Health, with help from County Manager Clarence Grier and the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, is developing a transition plan to ease the department through Green’s departure, according to the press release.
Green became the public health department’s director in November 2019, three months before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 case in the United States. Tamra Morris, deputy director of the public health department, previously told CityView that Green has a hands-on leadership style. Morris recalled Green directing traffic in the parking lot with the rest of the department’s staff as residents pulled in for Covid tests and vaccines during the pandemic.
“She is one of the ones who talks the talk and walks the walk,” Morris said. “She consistently participates in things, not just as our leader coming for situational awareness, but to actually contribute to conversations that help guide practices and to support us.”
Besides guiding the county through the pandemic, Green helped launch collaborative programs like the Connected Care Program, which helps residents access local, state and federal social services, and the permanent Women, Infants and Children clinic on Fort Bragg with the Cumberland County Department of Social Services.
Green’s support for the Cumberland-Fayetteville Opioid Response Team (C-FORT)’s outside-the-box, community-based solutions has directly contributed to the county’s success in decreasing opioid hospitalization rates, Greg Berry, coordinator of C-FORT, previously told CityView. Those solutions include the Recovery Resource Center, the county’s substance use disorder resource hub, and the day program for youth at risk of substance use disorders at Rockfish Camp and Retreat Center, which is set to start its first session in two weeks.
Green also helped address maternal health disparities by expanding access to doula services, providing uninsured and underinsured pregnant residents with non-clinical, physical and emotional support throughout their pregnancy and labor.
Kirk deViere, chair of the county commissioners, also included the Healthy Conversations program among Green’s long list of contributions to the county as public health director. The program trains barbers to talk to their clients about health topics like prostate cancer.
“Dr. Green’s visionary leadership has profoundly impacted Cumberland County’s public health landscape,” deViere said in the press release.
These efforts earned Green a national Outstanding Government Service Award in February from the American Medical Association. She and the public health department were also cited by former Gov. Roy Cooper “as a shining example of high-quality local government.”
“Green has been an exceptional leader, guiding the Department of Public Health with integrity and foresight,” Grier said in the press release. “Her commitment to community engagement and innovative solutions has set a high standard for public service. We are immensely thankful for her contributions and wish her all the best in her next chapter.”
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.
