The Hastings Banner — Thursday, July 1, 2021 — Page 3Health department medical director steps down
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Dr. J Daniel Woodall notified the Barry-
Eaton District Health Department he will
resign from his part-time job as medical
director after nearly five years in the position.
Woodall, who has been an obstetrician and
gynecologist at Spectrum Health Pennock
since 2015, said his role there means he hasn’t
have enough time to dedicate to the health
department – especially since COVID-
came to Barry County.
“The pandemic just increased the amount
of time that everyone was working,” Woodall
said.
While he has been medical care and
overseeing communicable disease reporting,
in addition to consulting on COVID-
guidelines, Woodall has not been able to
participate in much of the day-to-day work of
the department.
“My time at the health department lately
has been ‘call me when you need me,’”
Woodall said. “... They would like someone to
be more present at the health department.”
Between his kids getting older and his work
at the hospital, where he specializes in robotic-
assisted surgery, Woodall said he hasn’t been
able to be as engaged with the health
department as he’d like to be.
“I just don’t have that much more time to
give to the health department,” he said. “If I
had more time, I wouldn’t be leaving.”
When that scarcity of time forced him to
choose between the health department and his
role as an OB-GYN, Woodall knew the
hospital is where he belongs.
“My primary goal with my career here has
always been to serve our community through
women’s health,” Woodall said. “I’ve invested
basically all of my adult life into medicine.
That will always be, as long as I’m able, my
No. 1 job.”
Woodall talked about what drives that
passion in a video on spectrumhealth.org.
“I believe women’s health is cornerstone
for family health,” he said. “Because you
can’t have healthy babies if you don’t have
healthy women. And, if you don’t have
healthy babies, you won’t healthy children
and healthy families. So the best way to
improve the health of a population is through
women’s health, and so that’s why I chose this
specialty.”
Woodall does not have an exit date as far as
his role with BEDHD, and will stay on in the
post until a replacement can be found. He said
it can be difficult to find qualified candidates
for the position because they need a master’s
degree in public health.
BEDHD Health Office Colette Scrimger
said they already have a qualified candidate
interested in the vacancy, but finding a
replacement for Woodall “will be a big
undertaking.”
“We have been thankful to have the support
of Dr. Woodall at our department over the last
several years,” Scrimger told The Banner.
“Public health has faced numerous challenges
during that time and he helped provide
guidance to our response efforts.
“We appreciate his flexibility as we work
toward finding a new medical director to
work with our agency.”
Woodall also spoke to the challenges facing
the department, and the medical community
at large, during the pandemic.
“It was definitely the most stressful in the
early part of the pandemic when people were
still trying to figure out what the virus was
going to do and what the true mortality rates
were,” Woodall said. “... This is a unique time
in clinical history where we are making
decisions in real time based on data.”
He commended the state and national
public health organizations for their work in
getting the data for health care providers.
“I think that they did the best that they
could, and I don’t know that any other public
organization could have done it better,”
Woodall said.
That praise also extended to the makers of
the COVID-19 vaccines, which Woodalldescribed as the turning point in the pandemic.
“As far as modern medicine goes, I don’t
think it could have been done any better or
faster,” Woodall said.
The vaccines also have shown to be
effective: Last week, Barry County reported
five active cases of COVID-19, down from
about 400 cases in the spring.
During a board of health meeting last
Thursday, Scrimger said many health
department staff have been able to pivot awayfrom COVID and back to their regular tasks
as the numbers have fallen.
While there have been challenging and
stressful moments, Woodall said he values the
time he’s been able to spend at the department.
“When I look back on my five years at the
health department, it was my greatest privilege
to serve the community,” he said. “It wasn’t
something I took for granted. It’s been
rewarding. It’s been humbling. It’s been a
learning experience.”Health department starts
transition to normalcy
Taylor Owens
Staff Writer
Three new cases of COVID-19 were
reported in Barry County in the last week,
according to the state of Michigan, continuing
a rapid decline in case numbers and signaling
a return to some normalcy for the Barry-
Eaton District Health Department, Health
Officer Colette Scrimger said.
Many staff members have been able to
move back to their regular tasks, a mass vac-
cination clinic at the Lansing Mall is closing
and the department is no longer releasing
daily updates on the number of COVID-
cases in the region.
“We still have COVID happening. I don’t
want to minimize that. There is a lot of work
being done in that arena,” Scrimger told the
Board of Health during a virtual meeting last
Thursday.
But the abatement of the pandemic means
the department will be able to step back and
reassess its position.
A major part of that will be hiring and
training.
The department is looking to hire a new
medical director since Dr. J. Daniel Woodall
announced his resignation, as well as a super-
visor and a specialist for the environmental
health division – and more.
The hiring process for some pandemic sup-
port staff, including a nurse and two disease
investigators, has been put on hold due to
declining COVID numbers.
The department also hired more than 20new staff members during the pandemic,
most of whom will need to be retrained to
regular duties after providing COVID sup-
port.
“That’s a third of our staff that has over-
turned in a year or so, and that’s significant,”
Scrimger said.
The department also is planning to cele-
brate its accomplishments in administering
COVID-19 vaccinations.
As vaccine clinics have been closed,
Scrimger said a number of volunteers
expressed interest in having a picnic to see
each other one more time and say goodbye.
Many volunteers formed friendships during
their time working together, Scrimger said.
BEDHD Specialist Anne Barna said a total
of 233 non-medical and 59 medical volun-
teers worked at the clinics, and the depart-
ment is still receiving help from some of
them.
The time that these volunteers donated is
valued at around $250,000, Barna said.
Vaccination clinics will continue in a small-
er form.
“You’ll be seeing us at more community
events, at the fair and different community
days around the district,” Barna said.
“If you’re aware of anyone who has been
hesitating to get vaccinated,” Scrimger added.
During public comment at the health
department meeting, several people asked the
department to not require masks in schools
when they reconvene this fall.frankly, because we don’t know what’s in that
laundry.’
Powers said that, prior to the construction
of the Bay Pointe Woods cottages in 2019, the
resort had adequate laundry facilities. The
popularity of the cottages with guests resulted
in the accumulation of laundry that has neces-
sitated the need for a second laundry building.
Because of the backlog of laundry bring
processed, new guests to the resort often find
themselves having to wait for their rooms to
be prepared before they can check in for their
stays, Powers said.
Powers proposed a smaller laundry facility
on Monday that would be 35 feet, 9 inches
wide, a reduction of more than 2 feet from the
proposed facility that had been presented to
the planning commission in April. It also
would be built 8 feet away from the property
line, 2 feet farther away than in the site plan
that was presented in April and within the
county’s setback standards, Powers said.
Bay Pointe employs between 125 and 150
workers and has an annual payroll of more
than $2 million, Powers said.
In addition to the site plan for the laundry
facility at Bay Pointe Woods, Powers also
asked for approval of rezoning two parcels,
totaling about 3.7 acres, on Oarie Drive, a
private drive that serves the resort, from rural
residential to mixed use. Approval of the
rezoning would allow Bay Pointe to add more
cottages to the resort.
Both comments made during Monday’s
public hearing and in writing were largely
split into two camps – with local businesses
and business groups supporting Bay Pointe’s
proposal and neighboring property owners
opposed to it.
“[Bay Pointe] is a pivotal part of our com-
munity, and it is so important that it continue
to grow,” said Julie Fox, owner of the Curley
Cone ice cream shop and restaurant on M-179.
“We are, sincerely, the only restaurant that has
stayed open consistently in the Gun Lake
area. And it’s not because people don’t want
to, it’s because it’s tough to for other business-
es in a destination location.
“Mike’s business is a destination location.
It brings people there who wouldn’t be there
normally – people that will eat in our restau-
rant that wouldn’t normally be there. He’s
here during the winter. There’s a lot more
business [for us] because of Bay Pointe
during the winter. That helps us so much.
There’s a trickle-down effect to restaurants
and other small businesses like ours.”
“I could not more strongly support this.
They’re just great for the community,” Fox
added.
Kimberly Bedford, president of the Gun
Lake Business Association, wrote a letter of
support, saying the project would draw addi-
tional tourism and business activity to the
Gun Lake area.
“It is well known that recreational accom-
modations in the Gun Lake area are much
needed, and we feel that this project will not
only benefit BayPointe Woods but many other
businesses in the area as well, both in the busy
summer months, but also in the winter months
when business is slow and difficult for many
of our members,” Bedford wrote.
Richard Johnson, manager of the Town and
Country Supermarket, said that the additional
accommodations would increase business for
his store and other businesses.
“Anything that increases tourism to the
Gun Lake area is beneficial to all the Gun
Lake businesses,” Johnson wrote in a letter to
the planning commission.
But some neighbors of Bay Pointe point to
problems with noise and traffic in the area of
the resort and that impacts the quality of their
lives, they said.
“His ideas create problems. Now he needs
a solution,” said Joel Kapteyn, who lives on
Winchester Drive near the resort. “I can’t
believe he didn’t see the laundry problem in
the very beginning. If you put [the laundry
facility] on the other side of the property, all
our noise issues go away.
“We pay taxes, too. We don’t pay as much
as he does. All these people giving their testi-
mony don’t have to live with [the impact],” he
added.
Orangeville Township Trustee Linda Ribble
agreed, saying the property surrounding the
resort is almost entirely rural residential.
“Bay Pointe hasn’t demonstrated a need forexpanding rooms – other than for profit,”
Ribble said.
Ribble also pointed out that the recent addi-
tion of a Holiday Inn Express in Wayland and
the upcoming $300 million expansion of Gun
Lake Casino, which includes 250 hotel rooms,
addresses the need for lodging in the area.
In addition, she mentioned reports of fights
that occurred each of the first two Wednesdays
in June, when the resort’s Gun Lake Live
music series took place.
Elizabeth Bronson, whose property adjoins
one of the two parcels being sought for the
rezoning, called the request “absolutely
absurd.”
“If this gets changed to mixed use, it will
add five more cottages, parking spaces that
are directly on Oarie Drive, that will back out
into the road on Oarie Drive, a picnic area
near the pond ... how many more cottages can
we really have in this area?” Bronson said.
“Five more cottages means more drunks at
weddings wandering around on people’s
property, more disputes on [Gun Lake] Live
and a slew of noise issues that, yet again,
never seem to be addressed.”
Powers did make reference to the June 9
incident where an individual sustained broken
bones in a fight, but denied that noise and
drunkenness were problems at the resort.
“In 18 years [of ownership], we have had
very few incidents like that,” he said.
Powers added that he received information
from the Barry County Sheriff’s Department
through a Freedom of Information Act request
that said the sheriff’s department had not
received any recent noise complaints concern-
ing Bay Pointe.
Commissioners who opposed the site plan
suggested Powers build the new laundry facil-
ity near an existing storage shed that is close
to the water. But Powers said there are no
available utilities at that location.
“It would make the job cost-prohibitive,”
he said. “It would about double the cost of the
building.”
On the initial motion to approve the laun-
dry facility, Commission Chairman Clyde
Morgan and Commissioner John LaForge
voted yes. Commissioners Vivian Conner,Jack Miner, Bob Vanderboegh and Joyce
Snow voted against it.
But on the later motion to deny the request,
Snow joined Morgan and LaForge in oppos-
ing its denial. Commissioner Jack Nadwornik
was absent. After the 3-3 deadlock, commis-
sioners voted to table the laundry facility until
the July meeting, when they hope to have a
full seven-member board present.
In a phone interview with The Hastings
Banner Wednesday morning, Snow said she
wished the board would have tabled the laun-
dry facility proposal before a vote was taken
on approval or denial because of the possibil-
ity of a tie vote resulting from Nadwornik’s
absence.
“I wanted more information in order to
make the right decision for the [planned unitdevelopment] and for the residents,” Snow
said.
Commissioners then voted 6-0 against the
rezoning, with several commissioners sug-
gesting the group wait until a new county
master plan is developed before making future
zoning changes.
“I think it would be prudent if we waited
until that’s done,” Snow said prior to the vote.
“We’ll have a lot of public input in it.”
The recommendation on the rezoning still
goes to the county board for final action.
County Planning Director Jim McManus is
expected to present the recommendation to
the board at its July 20 committee of the
whole meeting, with a possible vote of the
county board at its 9 a.m. meeting the follow-
ing Tuesday, July 27.A layout of the Bay Pointe Woods cottages in the Bay Pointe Inn resort shows the
proposed location of a laundry facility and the two parcels that would be rezoned to
allow more cottages to be built.“We have been thankful to
have the support of Dr. Woodall
at our department over the last
several years. Public health
has faced numerous challenges
during that time and he
helped provide guidance to our
response efforts.”- Barry-Eaton District Health
Department Health Officer
Colette Scrimger
Barry-Eaton District Health Department
Medical Director Dr. J. Daniel Woodall
and Health Officer Colette Scrimger
speak to the Barry County Board of
Commissioners at the start of the COVID-
19 pandemic in March 2020. (File photo)NEWS BRIEFS
Scouts will provide
camping tips
The weekly No Family Left Indoors is
intended to get families – and individuals
and couples, too – outdoors exploring natu-
ral and man-made local treasures.
Last week’s program at Historic Charlton
Park and McKeown Bridge will continue
through July 2, with Uncle Irving’s Treasure
Hunt at Charlton Park and goofy photos and
drawings at McKeown Bridge.
Local scouts will provide camping tips
next week. Troop 105 from Middleville and
the Village of Middleville are collaborating
to present a video that will premiere at 6
p.m. July 5 and be available for viewing
through July 9.
Viewers will learn how to set up a camp-
site, pick a good location for a tent, start a
fire and make a quick meal (http://bit.ly/
NFLIcampingTroop105).
Passports are available this year. Anyone
who completes six or more events for the
passport can earn prizes. Passports may be
picked up at Hastings Public Library or
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute or downloaded
at http:/ /bit.ly/NFLI2021.
More information is available at cedar-
creekinstitute.org.Seniors may call July
7 for legal advice
The Legal Services of South Central
Michigan-Battle Creek office will conduct
interviews for legal advice and possible
representation, without charge, over the
telephone to interested seniors who reside
in Barry County.
Seniors who wish to speak with an attor-
ney may call 269-224-5040 Wednesday,
July 7, between 10:30 a.m. and noon.
Legal Services of South Central
Michigan-Battle Creek office is a nonprofit
organization that provides legal assistance,
representation and education to seniors in
Barry, Branch, Calhoun and St. Joseph
counties.Botanical art on
display at Pierce
Cedar Creek
Institute
Travis Waldron is a self-taught artist who
was born and raised in mid-Michigan.
She currently splits her time between
Michigan, North Carolina and Tuscany,
Italy. Her artwork can be found in collec-
tions in the U.S., United Kingdom and
throughout Europe.
Waldron is a botanical textile designer
whose goal is to capture the beauty, vibran-
cy and magic found in nature through a
process called leaf and flower pounding.
This process involves gently hammering
leaves and flowers onto a canvas of
pre-treated cotton fabric, which absorbs the
pigments from the plant material.
“The pounding technique, itself, is a sim-
ple one,” she said, “but the entire process is
complex and labor-intensive.”
She uses fabric from cotton plants grown
in the United States as her canvas. The fab-
ric is boiled in a process known as mordant-
ing, which allows it to readily absorb botan-
ical pigments. Plant material is selected,
arranged, secured to the line-dried fabric,
and gently hammered until the color, shape
and pattern bleed into the cotton.
The piece rests for 24 hours before being
post-mordanted, washed and ironed. The
outlines of the image are carefully enhanced
with the use of a technical pen, and the
background is quilted before being profes-
sionally mounted and framed.
“The magic I experienced in childhood
from playing in the woods continues today
with every pounded piece,” Waldron said.
“Each leaf and flower will yield only a sin-
gle pounded image, making [each of] these
creations a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork.”
“It’s Only Natural – Poundings, not
Paintings” by Travis Waldron will be on
display weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. through
Sept. 30. Pieces also will be available for
purchase.
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute is 10 miles
south of Hastings at 701 W. Cloverdale
Road near Dowling. More information can
be found at cedarcreekinstitute.org.REZONING, continued from page 1