Editorial

Robert Hudson, A loss that will be felt in ways we cannot imagine

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Robert Hudson was a man who could turn a wrong number telephone call from a stranger states away into not only a close friendship, but also the kind of partnership that makes our community stronger.

His loss this past week will be felt far beyond the Butler County Health Department, where he had been administrator since 1997.

It will ripple out in ways we cannot even imagine now because Hudson was such an integral part of building connections between so many agencies and disciplines.

He was never concerned with taking credit for what was accomplished. Hudson’s focus instead extended beyond the immunization and food inspection programs that were the core of his agency when he started.

When the county needed outdoor storm sirens many years ago, the health department stepped up to fund the project.

When Hudson volunteered with relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he saw how residents lost their lives because they couldn’t take pets to evacuation shelters. In the next Butler County emergency, there was a place for pets at the Black River Coliseum evacuation shelter.

When there were opportunities to provide education to local health workers on infectious disease in 2014, Hudson helped facilitate that not only for his department, but others in our region.

When the sheriff’s department needed equipment for a failing 911 and dispatch system last year, the health department found funding and a way to create a partnership that benefits both.

“A lot of the things we do dove-tail together,” Hudson said in December. “Routinely, we are working behind the scenes, and this is a way to solidify the relationship.”

In 2017, Hudson presented a proposal to the Butler County commissioners that made the county one of the first rural communities to join a voluntary prescription drug-monitoring program.

It was an effort to combat the opioid epidemic in the community, and Hudson would later work on efforts to get an opioid overdose treatment medication distributed in the community.

A retired police office said in 2017, when the drug-monitoring program was discussed, that there are few times in an official’s career where they can create policy that saves lives.

But for Hudson, those opportunities were many.

And by all accounts, he stepped up every time.

In truth, Hudson would probably hate this accounting of his contributions. He was never one to seek out or accept recognition easily.

But we have a duty to shine a light on those who help build a better world.

They don’t just change policy and procedure. They change us.

Robert Hudson, you will be missed.

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