05/19/2026
𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐉𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫
Victor Jackson, an administrative health care professional with experience all over the world and in varied health care fields, on May 18 joined Lincoln County as Director of Health and Human Services.
Jackson was born and raised in New Jersey, spending much of his time in Philadelphia. His first introduction to health care was his family – his mother is a retired registered nurse, and his father was a behavioralist at a state facility for the developmentally disabled.
“They really taught me to treat people like family,” he said. “They’re still alive and well on the East Coast. I’ve got a number of siblings that are there. Advocacy starts at home – my real passion for health care started with wanting to advocate for the needs of family members that had severe chronic conditions. My passion for advocacy in the health care space was born in my home.”
He earned his undergraduate degree in public health from Richard Stockton College and his master’s in public administration-health care from Kean University, both in New Jersey. He began his health care career at a Federally Qualified Health Center in Philadelphia.
“It was a very, very diverse patient population – 90% did not speak English,” Jackson said. “That’s where I cut my teeth, so to speak, understanding the needs of marginalized communities and how to get the best care possible to them.”
From there, Jackson moved on to working in international health care, moving to the West Indies for five years, working in acute care settings in Trinidad and Antigua/Barbuda.
“Some of the great successes there were bringing cancer treatment services and, of course, managing some of the chronic conditions that we typically had to send out of the country for care,” Jackson said.
Following his time in the Caribbean, Jackson moved to Egypt, working in academic acute care settings in Cairo for a couple of years before moving to Mumbai, India, to work for a private charity hospital.
“It was a phenomenal facility. Its goal was to provide care irrespective of the caste that a person was born in,” Jackson said. “One of the things consistent throughout my career was providing exceptional care irrespective of someone’s background or their ability to pay. I’ve very much enjoyed that public health perspective.”
Jackson then returned stateside and made his first move to the West Coast, landing in Portland. There he managed a long-term, acute care facility with critical patients that would be in the ICU in a typical short-term hospital.
“During the pandemic, I had the wonderful opportunity to serve as CEO for a non-profit whose primary business was behavioral health and substance use disorder,” he said. “We were the largest in southwest Washington and stood up programs like mobile outreach and a very large substance use disorder facility.”
Jackson now brings that varied, global perspective on health to Lincoln County.
“I went into public health wanting to touch every aspect of care, and it’s allowed me to focus on the whole person,” he said.
“I saw the opportunity to join Lincoln County, and the first thing is, I really understand rural health care and the challenges that come with it. I also understand being in sort of a tourist market, having served in the islands, and I think people have this misconception that you work in a tourist place, it certainly must be easy to recruit, but that’s not always the case,” Jackson said. “I understand the nuances of working in that space, but I also appreciate the environment, and how that supports your ability to show up every day and be the best version of yourself. I do better in environments that are more rural, where I can go hiking and go to the beach, as opposed to urban environments with a very different dynamic.
“I count it as a high honor to be able to be front facing in public health, and I see no reason why people can’t come to expect excellent care, good customer service, and really a standard of care that is quite exceptional. It doesn’t have to be the last choice, it can be the first choice, and by extension the employees can feel proud to work in a place that provides exceptional care,” he said.
Among Jackson’s key focuses will be what he calls one of the biggest drivers of health decline – housing insecurity – and finding ways to partner with other agencies around affordable housing. He also plans to work on managing chronic conditions “in a way that meets people in the place and time of their need, expanding mobile outreach.” He also plans to partner more fully with other health care organizations.
Human Resources Director David Collier welcomed Jackson to the county, describing him as a friendly individual “with good ideas and great energy.”
Traci Sackett, HHS finance manager and previous acting co-director of the department, also noted Jackson’s high energy level and his readiness to start on day one.
Valerie Davis, HHS deputy director of Quality and Risk Management and acting co-director with Sackett, said, “Victor's personality is warm and inviting. He is a good listener and had thoughtful responses to questions and in his general interactions with others in the various panel sessions.”
Jackson now lives in the Depoe Bay area with his seven-year-old English bulldog. He has an adult son.
