In mid-December, the El Paso County Board of Health voted unanimously to appoint Kandi Buckland as public health director. Buckland was hired as division director of maternal child health in June 2000. She was promoted to deputy director in January 2006 and has served as acting department director since December 2007.”This past year has been extremely challenging for the Health Department, and some very difficult decisions had to be made in an effort to sustain local public health in this community,” said John Suits, BOH president. “Mrs. Buckland has demonstrated exemplary leadership and professionalism throughout these difficult times, and I believe will continue to do so.”Buckland has 23 years of public health experience, serving 15 of those 23 years in the Office of Community Health for the South Dakota Department of Public Health, where she was responsible for the statewide delivery of local public health throughout the state. She is a registered nurse with an associate degree in nursing. After 19 years in the nursing field, she returned to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in health services administration, followed by a master’s degree in public administration.Buckland recently received a 2008 Excellence in Health Care Leadership award from M.D. News, a business and lifestyle magazine for physicians. She is the current chair of the Community Health Partnership in Colorado Springs, whose mission is to foster a sustainable, collaborative network to address key health care issues for this community and to improve relationships and communication among agencies concerned with the delivery of health services in El Paso and Teller counties. Buckland has served on numerous boards, including the Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing, CityMatCH, Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials, Colorado Public Health Nursing Directors and the Governor’s Personnel Management Advisory Board through election by South Dakota state employees.
