PRESIDIO AND BREWSTER COUNTIES — J.D. Newsom, who has served as the executive director of the Big Bend Regional Hospital District (BBRHD) for the past four years, is resigning on June 3 to take a position that’s been a life-long dream for him: a diplomat with the U.S. State Department’s foreign service.
“It goes as far back as in high school when people asked me what I want to do, what my career is going to be,” Newsom said. “I said I’m going to be a diplomat.” Newsom announced the move on Friday in an email to colleagues and friends.
Newsom said he got word of his acceptance on May 15 after applying two years ago, so the request that he be ready to go to training by July 1 was a bit of a shock. For a first post, diplomats have to take what’s offered to them from the 271 diplomatic missions located in one of a total of 173 countries, he said. “The first week in July, I’ll get a list of all the available posts, and then I can rank them low, medium, and high, where I would prefer to go. Then the State Department’s going to do their best to match those preferences. But if they need somebody to go to Beijing, China, somebody’s going to Beijing, China. I do speak fluent Spanish, so my guess is that my first post will be in a Spanish-speaking country.”
The BBRHD — with its services branded Big Bend Health — assists low-income residents of Presidio and Brewster Counties who do not qualify for other state or federal healthcare programs. The program works with a network of clinics, hospitals, physician offices, and other healthcare providers. The District — a taxing entity with an elected board — was created by the Texas Legislature in 1991 with a merger of the Brewster County Hospital District and the Presidio County Hospital District. The BBRHD Board will meet on May 30 to discuss the next steps in filling Newsom’s position.
Newsom said he’s proud of “a number of really incredible accomplishments” he and his team have produced in the past few years. “The biggest one is the implementation of the USDA grant, which is expanding health care in southern Brewster and Presidio Counties,” he said. “But I think looking back, the other thing that I was really able to accomplish was showing the communities that the hospital district can do a lot more and is a valuable resource. Before I started, there was a lot of skepticism about the value of the hospital district for Presidio County. I think that the work I’ve done over the past three and a half, four years has significantly changed that.”
Newsom said the realization that the district is helping people also had a profound impact on him. “We’re making a huge difference in people’s lives through our programs,” he said.
Newsom said his international experience started at an early age. “When I was 15, I went and worked in a chocolate factory in Mexico City. It was owned by some family friends, and to come to Mexico City as a 15-year-old was just amazing, and it really opened my eyes to living and working internationally. I’ve had a number of other international experiences — for a short while I was working with the American Red Cross in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
He also counts Alpine as one of those experiences. “Alpine is an amazing place. You’re on the border with Mexico…and then there’s Ojinaga. So it was pretty cool to be able to be here and look at some of our issues from an international perspective as well,” he said.
Still, the move and the unknown of where Newsom and his family — his wife and 4-year-old daughter — will end up will be a big change from Alpine. “My wife is excited and a little bit overwhelmed,” he said. “She’s going to have to stay behind a little bit while I’m in D.C. to get things packed up and all our personal affairs in order. We talked to my daughter last night and told her what’s going on and she said, ‘Well, I want to move to California.’ California? Where did that come from? So, I’m not sure if she understands, but I think she’ll be excited.”