The Interview: Dr. Bert Eichold

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Economic conditions have increased Mobile County's underserved population to roughly 134,000 people.

The Mobile County Health Department is there to provide competitively priced health care for them and anyone in need of health services.  Dr. Bert Eichold is the county's health officer and has served the community since 1990. 

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

He's a second generation Mobile physician with a well known name.

"I have to say my father, Dr. Samuel Eichold, had a very profound influence on me. He maintained a good name. He encouraged me to have a good reputation and afforded me the opportunity and encouraged me to have a good education. He set the bar high. He was one who put service above self," Dr. Bernard Eichold said, remembering his late dad.

Dr. Eichold's interest in public health goes back to his days before medical school.   

"It was something I really had developed a passion for. I started working on my master's in Public Health before being accepted to medical school. When you're in private practice, you take care of one patient at a time. Public health is more preventive health services, trying to encourage people to be healthier and have better outcomes with their daily life. As the health officer, I have the honor and privilege of taking care of everyone in the county," said Dr. Eichold.

DAILY CHALLENGES

He said multiple challenges come with the job.

"The challenge in our nation is having access to care but also educating the population of how to take better care of themselves. We are an 'over nourished' community here in Mobile County. People who smoke cigarettes, they do nothing to improve the health and well being of themselves, their families and the people they expose second hand smoke to," he said. 

Dr. Eichold said smoking and overeating are two of Mobile County's most pressing public health challenges.  He said unfortunately, neither he nor the county health department can change the community's condition. 

He said health care needs to be a personal responsibility, and it’s not an issue for the federal government.

”Most people do a better job taking care of their car than they do about their personal health. We have a large number of persons who have high blood pressure, hypertension, and we have a large number of persons who have diabetes. Those are all kind of interrelated around eating. We, unfortunately, have people super sizing their meals, and they're consuming more calories than they need,” he said.

Mobile County's Health Department has provided services since 1816, before Alabama became a state.  

Currently, it's unique among Alabama's 67 counties. It's the only county public health department with a federally qualified health center. Its five locations in Semmes, Citronelle, Mount Vernon, Eight Mile, and the primary care facility in downtown Mobile, are open to anyone including the underserved and needy.  

Fifteen percent of Mobile County's population is uninsured and more than 20-percent use Medicaid. Dr. Eichold said that's nearly a third of the people in the county.

"It's extremely important to have good public health and access to health care is a large component. We have expanded services since 1990 in order to take care of that need, and we provide high quality services at very competitive prices," he adds.  

MAKING CHANGES

The Mobile County Health Department also works with employers.

"They want to have a healthy workforce. They realize the number of days an individual is away from the workplace costs them money and impacts productivity.  If they can help their employees not smoke and have healthier lifestyles, it's one way that they can decrease the consumption of insurance. In my opinion, employers are actually becoming more sensitive to some of the preventative health services," Dr. Eichold says.

Ever the optimist Dr. Eichold believes Mobile County can improve its quality of life.

"You need to have a significant change in your lifestyle. It's interesting, the cities that have healthier people have more parks, sidewalks, bike lanes. They have safe places for people to go and exercise. The human body is a wonderful machine. These very quick fix things that we Americans like, things to happen now, actually we prefer them to happen yesterday and quick fixes usually don't work. If you put on 30 pounds over 10-15 years, then anticipate it's going to probably take you 10 or 15 years to lose the weight. Exercise has a cumulative effect. It gives you something good to do and can contribute to your better health and well being," he said.    

Dr. Eichold said preventive health checkups are key to good health. He said walking and using the stairs are great ways to get some exercise into your daily routine.

As he mentioned, don't fall victim to those quick and easy diets to lose weight that you may have put on over several years.