Health Department Director Patrick McNulty Retiring in May

Patrick McNulty

Patrick McNulty

Patrick J. McNulty, Administrator of the McHenry County Public Health Department, is retiring in May.

He started with the Health Department in the Environmental Health Division in 1979 and was promoted to the Environmental Health Division Director in 1985 and was then appointed the Public Health Administrator in 2001. He also Interim Public Health Administrator in 1999 and 2001

McNulty is the department’s fifth Administrator.   He took over 1979, coming originally from Indiana.  His degree is in Environmental Health.

He was promoted from within.

Ward Duel started the department in 1966.  He was followed by Richard Wissel, Mike Bacon and Robert Murray.

“The Department has accomplished many things,” McNulty said, but he refused to take credit.

“Out staff does incredible things every day.

“I just happen to be in the position where I can facilitate the great things they do.

“Good things that have happened.

“We’ve come from a very small department to where we’re offering services in four locations (Woodstock, Harvard, McHenry and Crystal Lake).

“All of our programs have been expanded over time and have grown along with the growth of the county.”

Asked to pick one aspect of his department, McNulty pointed to the Public Health Emergency Response, which was established after 9-11.

“We used that planning with H1, N1 flu,” he said.

“We’re ready to do it again when the next emergency comes around.”

Will he escape the winter weather when he retires?

“I have no plans to move from this area,” he said.


Comments

Health Department Director Patrick McNulty Retiring in May — 9 Comments

  1. Maybe we can get Dr. Dam to move to McHenry County to take the job or do you even have to live in the County to work for the County?

  2. The health dept kept us safe even if some hated them.

    I’ve know him and many of the employees there, all great people.

    If anything they were too lenient.

  3. I personally know 33 families from the McCullom Lake area who would very much disagree with that assessment.

  4. Kevin you can add to your number the small businesses which have relocated or closed due to the “soup nazi” tactics of the McNulty / McHenry County Board when it comes to Health Dept. inspections.

    He and his employees possess the same common sense as the school district that suspended a student because he bit off pieces of a pop tart and it ended up looking a ‘little bit’ like a gun.

  5. One is left to wonder why soup kept at 169 degrees instead of 170 is more of a public health hazard than an 8-acre unlined waste pit filled with volatile organic compounds.

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