Dan Partridge

When Daniel Partridge listens to the news, all he hears are public health stories – even if that’s not the angle of the broadcast.

“There is a public health angle on every story I hear on the radio. Growth is a public health issue,” said Partridge, the new director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.

Partridge joined the department in January after 15 years as the environmental health supervisor and associate service supervisor for Reno County Health Department in Hutchinson.

His Reno County responsibilities ranged from maintaining high water quality to streamlining the budget database system. The department’s $2.4 million budget initially covered 40 spreadsheets.

“I was pleased with the outcome,” Partridge said. “We went from a 40-page budget to a one-page budget.”

During his years in Hutchinson, Partridge also served as chairman of the Reno County Fatherhood Project. It not only inspired Partridge to work in public service, it reminded him of his own family’s struggles.

Partridge’s father was born during the Great Depression and spent the first year of his life in a cardboard box. His 6-year-old sister cared for him while his mother cleaned houses.

Partridge’s father left home at age 14 after realizing that his mother couldn’t provide for him. Now 84, he has never earned more than minimum wage.

Partridge said after he learned about his father’s background, he realized that the things he resented about his own upbringing could be attributed to the hardships he had to overcome.

“That’s where the passion came in,” he said. “I transfer that to my passion for public health.”

At his new position, Partridge hopes to build leadership within the department and improve how it communicates about public health. He plans to improve its Web site so that it has more information available.

“I want to have a more visible presence in the community for the health department,” he said.

He also said he hopes to mobilize and empower the community by helping agencies collaborate on public health challenges.

Donna Bell, chairwoman of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Board, said when the board was searching for a new director, it looked for someone who could continue the reputation for stability and respectability the department has established.

“We want to maintain that excellence we’ve built over time,” Bell said. “He is, in his own quiet way, winning friends and gaining their respect.”

Partridge is currently working on a master’s degree in public health at Kansas University’s School of Medicine in Wichita. He earned his undergraduate degree from Kansas State University with a double major in fisheries biology and milling science and management.

Partridge and his wife, Rhonda, have two sons, Matthew, 22, who attends Hutchinson Community College, and Kurt, 19, who studies mechanical engineering at K-State.

Partridge said that when he accepted the Douglas County position, he expected to step out of his comfort zone. But as far as Lawrence goes, he and his wife have found that it is not as different from Hutchinson as they thought it would be.

“It’s about people,” he said of the Lawrence community.