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About Us  
The Dallas County Health Department is a political subdivision.  In November 1953, by vote of the people the Health Department was established with a 10 cent mill tax.  
The doors soon opened in January 1954.  The first Board Members were appointed by the County Commission. 
In 1956, the five member board was elected by a vote of the people.  These five were Dr. Evelyn Griffin, Dorothy Steelman, Kenneth Nyberg, Margaret Blodgett and Ralph Stanton.  
The expenses for services in 1956 are reported to be $7,337.27 or about 71 cents per person in the county
The expenses for services in 2008 were $556,773 or about 33.35 per person in the county
 
Services remain much the same today.  Communicable Disease including sexually transmitted disease, TB Control, Maternal and Child Health, dental and immunizations are still high priority items.  
In 1956, 396 persons received services from the Dallas County Health Department  
In 2008, 15,335 persons had contact with the staff of the Dallas County Health Department  
In 2009 Dallas County Health Department partnered with Hickory County Health Department and applied for Dual Accreditation.  Missouri has a voluntary accreditation process.  We were the FIRST local public health departments to ever apply for Dual Accreditation.  Accreditation is done through the Missouri Institute for Community Health  
As our county has grown our services have had to adapt to meet the demand.  Same with newly discovered disease agents and the complications from chronic diseases.