205 W 5th Ave Ellensburg, WA 98926-2887
Monday - Friday 8 AM - 5 PM
Kittitas (pronounced 'KITT-i-tass') County is located in central Washington State. It spans from the lush forested Cascade Mountains to the upper Yakima River Valley plains and the Columbia River.
The Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) is the local health jurisdiction (LHJ) for Kittitas County.
KCPHD works with many amazing public health partners. Some of our partnerships include transportation, law enforcement, healthcare, community associations, employers, schools, and more.
We often find that people are not quite sure about what public health means or what we do in our community.
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health describes public health as professionals working to “prevent disease and injury at the community and population level. We identify the causes of disease and disability, and we implement large-scale solutions.”
We became fully incorporated into the county governance structure in 1983.
We are considered a department instead of a district, which means that we are a department that is operated by Kittitas County and governed by the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners versus a district that stands alone. Health departments and health districts both have local boards of health and a health officer.
Kittitas County has been fortunate to call Dr. Mark Larson our Health Officer since 2006.
The Heath Officer, per state law, has broad powers and duties in protecting the health of the public. Powers and duties include enforcing local regulations and ordinances, controlling the spread of diseases, and taking such measures as necessary to promote public health.
In 2015, Dr. Larson was the recipient of awards including the Dr. John Anderson Memorial Award for Outstanding Rural Health Practitioner, and the State Family Physician of the Year.
