Adams County leaders have named five members to the county’s first board of health, nearly a year after it broke away from Tri-County Health Department.

The county’s commissioners appointed four health providers and a substance-use awareness advocate to its inaugural board. The five members will serve two- to three-year terms; future members will serve five-year terms. 

Adams County, like its neighbors Douglas and Arapahoe, must stand up its own health department before the end of the year. Come Jan. 1, 2023, Tri-County Health — once the state’s largest, county-level health department — will cease to exist, after leaders in first Douglas, then Adams and Arapahoe all voted last year to pull out of the agency. The nearly 12 months since have been a scramble by the counties to hire staff and stand up infrastructure.

According to a county news release, the first five members to Adams County’s board are Dee Gilliam, a public health nurse who will serve a three-year term; Brett Keiling, a registered nurse at North Suburban Medical Center who will serve a two-year term; Jeremiah Lindemann, “a strong advocate for awareness and bringing change for the opioid epidemic,” who will serve a two-year term; Sheela Mahnke, a pediatrician with a passion for environmental health, who will serve a three-year term; and Lisa Winkler, a primary care physician who will serve for two years.

“With this morning’s action approving these resolutions, we have completed a critical step in setting up the new health department,” Lynn Baca, the chair of the county’s commissioners, said in a statement. “While we had many qualified applicants, we believe this five-member board brings the varied expertise and perspective that is representative of our diverse county.”

Adams County has named a transitional director, Kelly Weidenbach, but has yet to name an executive or deputy director to lead its new health department.