ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PROTECTION ADVENTURES By Larry J. Gordon, Visiting Professor School of Public Administration University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico With Contributions by Environmental Officials Thomas E. Baca Russell F. Rhoades Cubia L. Clayton Sarah B. Kotchian ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PROTECTION ADVENTURES 2 FOREWORD by Cubia L. Clayton Former Deputy Director, New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division This is a story of one man's experiences while managing and improving the environment of New Mexico during one of the most interesting, exciting and tumultuous periods in our state's history. It may be read with benefit and pleasure as a history at the local and state levels of our nation's attempt to deal with the effects of industrial revolution and unbridled western expansion. Larry Gordon was deeply involved with the development of national environmental control programs as both advocate and consultant from the earliest days of an emerging national awareness of the need for them. In a multitude of situations, his programs and ideas implemented at the local level served as a national laboratory. It is difficult to estimate how many of the environmental health programs across the country owe at least part of their structure and implementation to his ideas, but I suspect that a thoughtful and perceptive reader anywhere in the country may see some of the ideas at work locally. This is also a story which could and should be read by students preparing for a career in the environmental health field. Although he may not have intended this as a text for emerging environmental program directors, all who have aspirations toward a profession in the field would benefit from a study of the principles and program elements which are so carefully enunciated. They are as valid today as when Larry first brought them together in a cohesive whole. There is a perspective, however, which seems to me to be lacking in the story, and that is the more deeply personal and human side of Larry Gordon. It is an aspect which Larry, who is usually a very private person does not often show, but it is as much a part of him and his story as any other. Since I was a member of Larry's staff beginning in October, 1961 in Albuquerque, it may be appropriate for me to fill in some of the gaps. Larry notes that his first job out of college was teaching. One might get the impression that was but a short detour on the way to his true career field, but nothing could be further from the truth. A new employee in the Albuquerque Environmental Health Department spent the first six weeks reading and studying with occasional trips to the field in the company of one of the more senior people to observe the solution to problems he had been studying. Larry was constantly busy, one of the busiest persons I've ever known, but he always had time during the day to discuss the things I was studying and answer the questions that inevitably arose. At such times, he never gave the impression that my questions were in any way an imposition. He was always careful and thorough in his answers and seemingly willing to devote whatever time I wanted to discussing and explaining. In short, Larry was a private tutor for his new employees, and one of the finest teachers I've ever known. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PROTECTION ADVENTURES 3 Nor did his teaching stop when people progressed to full-time field work. He required people to set aside at least one hour a day for reading various professional journals in order to remain current with progress in our area. I can remember many long and fruitful discussions in the office which arose as a result of something I had read. Again, Larry always seemed to have whatever time one wanted to participate, explain and teach. I must confess that it was many years later that I came to a full appreciation of the lessons I had learned over my years of association with Larry. One day in the late seventies, I was reviewing some of the letters of resignation I had gotten from various employees and was suddenly struck by the fact that almost without exception they thanked me for the things I had taught them while I was serving as their supervisor. I realized with one of those rare flashes of insight one sometimes gets that I was only emulating Larry, my own teacher. Although teaching is only mentioned in passing in his book, I will always think of Larry personally as my first and most important teacher in the field of environmental health. Larry also possesses the rare ability to match program needs with personnel aptitudes and interest. Many times over the years I have seen him promote people into jobs which required a specialized knowledge they didn't have fully developed at the time of promotion. In almost every case, with Larry's help and guidance and a lot of extra hours in hard study, those same people became in fact what Larry pronounced them to be, the department's experts. Early in my career, Larry designated me the department's expert in swimming pool sanitation and safety, and later expanded the task later to include water supply and sewage disposal systems. If a question concerning these areas came up, Larry always deferred to me as "the department's expert." I was not yet experienced enough or mature enough to appreciate that his knowledge and experience in the field was far ahead of mine and that the true expert was himself. When he developed a local swimming pool ordinance based on a U.S. Public Health Service recommend code, he involved me at every step and incorporated many of my suggestions. I was immensely flattered and secure that I was the expert he proclaimed me to be. That lasted until the first City Commission meeting to consider the ordinance. Although Larry was to make the formal presentation of to the Commission, he asked that I attend as his backup and resource person. While discussing the proposal, one of the Commissioners asked Larry what pH was? Larry explained that it was an indication of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. But sensing the Commissioner wanted something more, he said that technically it was defined as the log of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration. This came from the man who always professed to have no great knowledge about the science of swimming pools! The Commissioner was satisfied and I was suddenly enlightened. Never again would I make the mistake of underestimating Larry's knowledge in any area, and never again would I make the mistake of ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PROTECTION ADVENTURES 4 thinking I was necessarily the most knowledgeable person in the office in all areas of any program. I hope the reader will see from these examples that Larry is far more than a bureaucrat who understood the needs of his state and nation for programs to address and correct the problems of environmental deterioration. He has the ability to manage people and surmount the almost overwhelming obstacles confronting one who tries to change things for the better, and he possesses both in about equal proportions. I shall always cherish the years I had the privilege and opportunity of working with and learning from Larry Gordon. He was and is my leader, teacher and friend. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND PROTECTION ADVENTURES 5 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Larry Gordon is Visiting Professor, School of Public Administration, University of New Mexico. In l988, he retired as New Mexico Cabinet Secretary for Health and Environment, after serving in various environmental health and protection, and public health positions for 38 years. Mr. Gordon started his career as a County Sanitarian in 1950 in Silver City, New Mexico after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and receiving his B.S. in biology and chemistry from the University of New Mexico. He received his M.S. in biology with a major emphasis in ecology from UNM in l951, and earned his Master of Public Health from the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health in 1954. Mr. Gordon envisioned and designed, gained statutory authorization to create, and was the first Director of the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Environmental Health Department, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Agency, and the New Mexico Scientific Laboratory System. He also recommended creation of the New Mexico Public Health Division (initially termed the State Health Agency), and was instrumental in the planning and design of the New Mexico Health and Environment Department, which he headed as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Environment prior to his retirement from state government in 1988. Larry Gordon served as President of the 55,000 member American Public Health Association, the world's largest association of public health professionals, in 1980-81. As a Navy Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service Reserve, he also fulfilled federal environmental health and protection responsibilities. Mr. Gordon and his wife, Nedra Gordon, live in Albuquerque. Their daughter, Debra Dunlap, Executive Director of the Albuquerque Subcontractors Association, is married to businessman Rick Dunlap; they have two daughters, Dana and Kim. Nedra and Larry's older son Kent Gordon owns and manages a marketing research organization, and lives in California with his wife Elli and daughter Bianca. Larry and Nedra's youngest son, Gary Gordon, is a partner in an Albuquerque law firm. Gary and his wife, Terri and daughter Celine, live in Placitas. Larry Gordon is the recipient of numerous state and national professional honors and awards.