Mission Statement

The Mission of the Will County Health Department is to prevent disease and promote a healthier environment for all. To that end, agency professionals assure the maintenance of flexible program initiatives and develop sound public health policies, based on a thorough assessment of community needs.

Will County Public Health History

The genesis of Will County Public Health dates to 1942, when $50,000 was allocated for local Environmental Health, Maternal-Child Health, and Infectious Disease Control initiatives.

Unforeseen population growth evidenced the necessity for developing a local public health agenda. County population growth stagnated at 3.2 percent during the 1930's, but World War II stimulated settlement and hastened the formation of a public health jurisdiction. Census figures increased by 17.65 percent during the war years principally due to defense work performed by the Joliet Army Ammunition Plant.

Makeshift residential communities developed around the arsenal, which occupied 23,500 acres and employed 16,000 workers at the height of war production. By the Fall of 1942, Will County's first public health officer was innovating strategies to address continuing population growth spurred by the arsenal.

State dollars funded 80 percent of the county's burgeoning public health need through the war years, but public referendum mandated a tax assessment to be used exclusively for public health maintenance on November 5, 1946. More than 28,000 votes were cast in favor of the referendum which established the Health Department in its current form.

The county population has increased by more than 400 percent since 1945 and the public health assessment has increased from $55 thousand in 1946 to $7.53 million in 2005. Staffing requirements have increased from 22 in 1946 to nearly 350 in 2005. Projections for the year 2110 estimate Will County's population at greater than 800,000.

Agency growth accelerated in 1950, when a social worker was hired to provide intake and screening services for emotionally disturbed children. Mental Health services were dramatically expanded in 1958, when Will County Mental Health became one of the first programs in Illinois to receive state dollars earmarked for the adult mentally ill population.

Further meaningful physical expansion was impractical until November, 1971, when the Health Department was relocated from tiny quarters on the second floor of the Will County Court House to its current Main Office location. Shortly after the relocation, an environmental microbiology laboratory used to support agency initiatives was added. A companion environmental chemistry lab became operable six months later. Major clinical laboratory components were added in 1975 and 1978.

Further expansions and programmatic changes are anticipated to keep pace with continued county growth. Projections for the year 2000 fix Will County's population at greater than 450,000.