GOVERNOR NAMES DHS CHIEF; SOUTHLANDER INHERITS AGENCY UNDER SCRUTINY.Byline: Terri Hardy Sacramento Bureau Gov. Gray Davis announced Thursday that he is appointing Long Beach's director of Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS as the new head of the state's embattled Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
Diana M. Bonta, a Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. resident, is taking the top job in a department that is the focus of two probes into whether agency officials suppressed a health study of Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory and plotted with company officials to get rid of a citizens oversight panel. The governor tapped Bonta for the job just days after Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl, D-Encino, called upon him to fill the vacant post with someone who can take charge of the troubled agency. ``I know I'm not walking into an easy job,'' Bonta said. ``There are going to be some longstanding issues and concerns I'm going to have to look into.'' The state's Joint Legislative Audit Committee, chaired by Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Glendale, has launched a broad investigation into the department, saying there appear to be massive problems. Kuehl said she has known Bonta for 10 years, since they opened the California Women's Law Center at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX together, and recommended her for the position. ``This is a new day for the Department of Health Services,'' Kuehl said. ``She will help to restore credibility, integrity and good science to that department.'' Bonta's appointment must be approved by the state Senate. The Daily News reported Monday that internal records from department files show the agency worked with Rocketdyne officials in an effort to get rid of the independent oversight panel and hand-pick a group of replacements to control a community health survey. It was also discovered that the DHS DHS Department of Homeland Security (USA) DHS Department of Human Services DHS Department of Health Services DHS Demographic and Health Surveys DHS Dirhams (Morocco national currency) kept under wraps a 1997 cancer survey of residents around the Santa Susana Field Laboratory that showed higher-than-normal rates of lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. . The DHS was also accused of suppressing a poll taken on California's smoking ban that showed bar owners and employees did not support the measure. An audit to be released in June will probe how tens of thousands of people lost their Medi-Cal when DHS blocked attempts at outreach. Wildman's committee released a report earlier this year that showed how the agency failed to identify and track children exposed to lead poisoning lead poisoning or plumbism (plŭm`bĭz'əm), intoxication of the system by organic compounds containing lead. . |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion