Freeze seeks four more years on Cape County health board

This is the second in a series of articles featuring candidates for the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center Board of Trustees in the April 6 municipal election. The trustees are unpaid and hold regular meetings monthly. Kara Clark Summers, county clerk since 2007, told the Southeast Missourian never in her tenure have so many people filed at one time to serve as PHC trustees.

John Freeze, a retired dentist, is an incumbent who has served five years on the trustee board and seeks a four-year term in April. He is a 1971 Cape Girardeau Central High graduate, a 1975 alumnus of Southeast Missouri State University and received his dental education from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Why do you want to serve?

I’ve lived virtually my entire life in Cape Girardeau County and I love it here. I have a sense of duty and a desire to give back to my community.

How do you feel personally about the still-in-effect July 9 mask order?

I’m completely supportive of the order. As a board, we were mindful of wanting to keep our hospitals from being inundated with COVID patients and we’ve been successful, I think. If we let our guard down, we risk what has happened in other places in our country. In Los Angeles, for example, the health care system is overwhelmed.

What are your qualifications/background?

I’ve been in health care my entire adult life and retired from the dental profession in 2017. I had a scare 25 years ago after contracting testicular cancer. The drug therapy I received we’ve discovered can cause lung damage. Fortunately, I’ve remained well, I exercise all the time and haven’t felt any ill effects. I haven’t had COVID.

What role should the trustees play in public health in Cape Girardeau County?

We set the policies and we give guidance to the health department. We have a great staff and we rely on their expertise. We have several people who hold a master’s degree in public health, including our director, Jane Wernsman. We have an outstanding medical director in John Russell. We have a full-time epidemiologist on staff and a part-time infectious disease physician. We are fortunate to have such a great team.

What are your goals as a county health board trustee?

Continue to support one of the best county health departments in Missouri. We lead the state in percentage of first-dose COVID vaccinations. As of Wednesday morning, the state overall was at 7% while Cape County led all 114 counties at 12.8%. Our clinics run very smoothly.