Wos made a difference at DHHS
Published September 1, 2015
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DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos[/caption]
by Jim Melvin, President Joseph M.Bryan Foundation, published in Greensboro News-Record, September 1, 2015.
I have often heard people ask why can’t we get more talented people to volunteer for the administrative jobs in all levels of our government to help solve many of the problems facing our city, state and nation.
Well, in the last two-and-a-half years, we had such a person volunteer to serve, at no pay (a symbolic $1 a year), as the secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). That person is Greensboro’s Dr. Aldona Wos.
She felt deeply that she could make significant progress in a department that employs more than 16,000 people and serves millions of people with health care. During her tenure, she made huge progress in streamlining the bureaucracy in the department and focusing on service to the people, rather than making decisions based on political consequences.
Most recently, her department ended with a Medicaid surplus of more than $100 million when previously the department had run a deficit well into the hundreds of millions of dollars. She worked tirelessly to make the department more efficient.
Her reward for this very beneficial service was to be criticized by many state legislators, both Democrats and Republicans. She was also criticized by the editorial pages of the major newspapers in North Carolina, including the News & Record. Instead, they should be thanking her for her effective work and making the delivery system of our DHHS services much more efficient.
So, on behalf of all the people of North Carolina, I would like to say thank you very much, Aldona Wos, for giving our state three years of dedicated, efficient and effective service.
You made North Carolina a better place for all of us.
