OLYMPIA - Dennis Worsham says that a program he was involved with while a student at Othello High School launched his career as a public health administrator. As the newly appointed deputy secretary for the Public Health Operations, Worsham has 1,500 employees that answer to him.

He said that the Health Occupations program at OHS, "opened his eyes" to a world outside of farming, which was the typical career path in Othello when he was a student in the early 1980s. He learned about different jobs in health care, he said, like nursing, physical therapy, and what Worsham fell in love with, public health.

"Only about 10 percent of what determines one's health occurs in a clinic. The other 90 percent is the air we breathe, the food we eat, how much physical activity we have," he said. "That is what public health is all about."

Worsham has devoted his life to public health, which he sees as helping to prevent disease and infection.

His mom said that the well being of others was always at the forefront of his mind.

"He was a wonderful boy, but he kept bringing home these scruffy people that he met at the park," Trudy Worsham said. She said that travelers, who were biking across the country, would stay and camp at Lions Park in Othello. When Dennis saw them, he invited them to his parents house where they received a clean bed and often bike repairs.

"He was just one of those types of boys, that people kind of flocked to," said his father Gene. His parents said that he played football, basketball, Little League baseball and volunteered at Avalon Healthcare, a senior care facility in Othello.

After OHS, he studied health administration at Eastern Washington University, where he implemented the school's student health services as student body president.

He has since worked in King and Snohomish Counties implementing public health policies.

He said that being from a small rural community like Othello, and spending the first part of his life in eastern Washington has helped him to understand the health needs of all Washingtonians.

In his new role, Worsham will be responsible for leading teams that address potential infectious disease outbreaks, natural disaster responses, and air and food quality monitoring in Washington. He said that his passion has always been prevention, and that it just makes sense to fix long-term health problems before they get to be problems.

He said that reducing or eliminating tobacco use, increasing physical activity and healthy food options are key public health components.

Not everyone in Washington has the fresh food and fresh air that he had while growing up in Othello, he said.