Dr. Peter Sidor, a Cody pediatrician, is the new Park County Public Health Officer. 

Commissioners unanimously — fellow provider and commissioner Kelly Simone couldn’t attend but shared a statement expressing her strong support — approved Sidor at the Tuesday meeting. 

“He has excellent communication skills and the ability to develop creative solutions to challenging problems,” Simone wrote in her statement. “He listens thoughtfully to differing perspectives and makes decisions in the best interest of the organization. I'm confident he would bring the same qualities to the role of county health officer in Park County.”

Only one other provider, retired nurse practitioner Valerie Schauer, who had worked in a number of different places in other states, had applied for the position. 

By state statute, to be qualified to hold the office a candidate has to be a nurse practitioner, physician assistant or medical doctor. 

The position is a demanding one and it rose to a new level of public scrutiny under former Public Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin during the Covid pandemic. 

Billin retired from the position Sept. 30 and had retired from the Powell Valley Healthcare emergency department two years prior. 

His assumption of the role from Dr. Charles Jamieson actually broke a recent trend that Sidor brings back, that of a pediatrician being the public health officer. Commission Chair Scott Steward said three of the most recent four doctors in the position have been pediatricians. 

Sidor, who grew up in Hawaii, actually studied communicable diseases in college and medical school, after which he settled on pediatrics. He has practiced in Cody for 11 years, the first five at Cody Regional Health and the last six at Big Horn Basin Children's Clinic.  

Sidor is also a West Park Hospital District board member, where he formerly worked alongside Simone, a Powell Valley Healthcare PA and former Cody hospital provider who was on the hospital board prior to her time as a commissioner alongside Sidor. 

Sidor also talked with Billin often, especially during the pandemic, and said while he had some new ideas, he was “very pleased with the way Billin did what he did.”

Sidor sees his role as listening to federal and state guidance while ensuring it is tailored and appropriate for the local community.  

“It's a collaborative effort, you know, at the county level,” he said. “Public health has taken a hit after the pandemic. It's an erosion of trust between the community and physicians, something I have to deal with every day, and increasing vaccine hesitancy.”

Sidor added that while dealing with the state and federal level is important, it's also vital to make “sure we get everything aligned in our community, that our specific community needs are met too. It's a very different state from a lot of other states, as we all know, and a different city from other cities.”