Collin County’s employee health clinic wants to buy Intoxilyzer

by Bill Baumbach of The Collin County Observer

Did you know that Collin County had a clinic just for employees?

They do. The clinic, on McDonald Street, offers basic heath care to employees as well as pre-employment physicals, check-ups and workman's comp care.

The clinic, run by the county's Department of Health Care Services, is asking the commissioners court to approve an unbudgeted $3,543 to purchase an Intoxilyzer. An Intoxilyzer is the device that the police use to perform breath tests on suspected drunk drivers.

According to paperwork sent to the commissioners by Candy Blair, "This piece of equipment would be used in our Employee Health Clinic to perform work-related alcohol screenings as required by law."

Ms. Blair's proposal includes two hours of training for one training instructor at the clinic.

Ms. Blair's request doesn't explain why the county can't make use of one of the several Intoxilyzers at the sheriff's department. It would seem to this writer that the use of experienced law enforcement officers to perform any work-related intoxication testing would be far superior to less well-trained health care technicians.

Using the sheriffs' personnel and equipment would also save the taxpayers $3,543.