Pinal County Public Health Director Tascha Spears is retiring and her last day with the county will be Feb. 13.
“(I)t’s been a privilege to live and to work in Pinal County,” she said at the Feb. 1 meeting of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. “Pinal County in particular — especially the board — has really provided so much guidance and concern for our constituents.”
Spears established family advocacy centers in San Tan Valley and Maricopa; and created a medical forensics program, getting nurses qualified and trained to work with children and adults, County Manager Leo Lew said.
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Pinal County Public Health Director Tascha Spears is retiring and her last day with the county will be Feb. 13.
“(I)t’s been a privilege to live and to work in Pinal County,” she said at the Feb. 1 meeting of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. “Pinal County in particular — especially the board — has really provided so much guidance and concern for our constituents.”
Spears established family advocacy centers in San Tan Valley and Maricopa; and created a medical forensics program, getting nurses qualified and trained to work with children and adults, County Manager Leo Lew said.
“And then naturally — as we had a need in public health and the pandemic — she took those reins and she led that department and that team through really challenging times and did a very successful job,” Lew said.
Spears was successful in getting grants for public health funding, he said.
“(E)very grant she’s ever applied for I think she’s gotten. And she’s applied for a lot and has really benefited this county through that,” he said. “Anything she gets involved with creates good things, quality services, things that are needed for our community that we didn’t have before.”
Board Chairman Jeff Serdy complimented county health officials for their role in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.
“A lot of it happened before I was seated on the board but I think Pinal County navigated the COVID nonsense way better than a lot of the other counties and we were noticed for that too,” he said.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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