SAN ANTONIO – The former director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District, and current assistant city manager, has agreed to indefinitely take on her old duties following previous Metro Health Director Dawn Emerick’s resignation.

Colleen Bridger, who had planned to resign from the city on July 17 to start her own consulting business, will stay on and act as the interim director of Metro Health until a permanent director is appointed. Bridger had previously served as Metro Health director between March 2017 and July 2019, when she was appointed as an assistant city manager.

Bridger will continue as assistant city manager, too, overseeing her current departments: Parks and Recreation, Human Services, and the Office of Equity.

“I have full confidence in Dr. Bridger and the Metro Health team in its ongoing management of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said City Manager Erik Walsh.

Emerick’s resignation was announced Friday morning by city officials and came just five months after she started the job. Her last day will be July 3.

In her resignation letter, Emerick said she hoped her position would be filled with a person of color. She said the Black Lives Matter movement has led her to reflect on equity.

“The residents of this community and the Metro Health workforce deserve a leader who can effectively relate to their personal experiences and who can be trusted to deconstruct systemic racism experienced by so many people of color every day,” Emerick said in her resignation letter.

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