As individual organizational units, not necessarily being
viewed specifically within any of the four common models
described in Table 1, the most common local public health
organization responsible for providing public health services
at the local level, is the county health department. In
this form, local county health departments function as
agents of the state granting them this authority and bear the
responsibilities delegated to them in assuring the health of
their respective population. Four out of five LHDs,
nationally, are organized at the county level, though this is
not the most common local public health unit found in the
New England states