CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There’s a new health officer at the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department and he wants to make sure they address a number of health issues in the Kanawha Valley.
“One of which is to take on the problem that we’re seeing in our community with obesity and nutrition,” said Michael Brumage, who began the new job Aug. 3. “We’re one of the most obese states in the United States.”
Brumage replaced former officer Dr. Rahul Gupta, who now serves as the head of the state Bureau for Public Health. He said Gupta really raised the bar at KCHD, as well as the staff, so he wants to make sure that level of excellence continues in his new role.
“I would like to continue to take that baton of what he started and work through the accreditation process that was started under his tenure and to begin to address other issues,” said Brumage.
There are less than 100 accredited health departments across the United States and Brumage said his goal is to put his department on that list.
Bruamge said he wants to address problems the state is facing including drug abuse, primarily with heroin. The needle exchange program that will launch in Huntington soon is something he said he is interested in bringing to Kanawha County.
Brumage retired from the military this year after 25 years of service. He served as the deputy commander of the Brigadier General Crawford F. Sams U.S. Army Health Clinic at Camp Zama in Japan. He said he’s looking forward to using his time serving overseas to better the KCHD.
“I hope I can bring those experiences as well as post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health problems to the table and address those here in Kanawha County and the city of Charleston,” he said.
Brumage grew up in Fairmont, graduated from the West Virginia University School of Medicine in 1986 and earned his masters in public health from the University of Washington in 2003.
“It’s always great to come home,” Brumage said after living out-of-state for almost 29 years. “The people here are absolutely wonderful. There’s no body like West Virginians anywhere you go in the United States or the world, for that matter.”