Recognizing the contributions of public health

This year’s public health theme is “Public Health is Where You Are.” Together, we can make our communities healthier, stronger and safer. This is a time to recognize the contributions of public health and highlight the work of public health in its mission. Jasper County Health Department’s mission is “protecting and improving the health of Jasper County.” The governing board is the Jasper County Board of Health. The board of health is made up of five volunteer members, which includes a medical director. The current Jasper County Board of Health members are Margot Voshell, chair; Dr. Andrew Cope, medical director; Mike Balmer, Donna Akins and Julie Smith. Jasper County Health Department collaborates with community and clinical partners to prevent gaps in services and provides coordination referrals. JCHD is actively involved with numerous community coalitions that serve its mission.

The public health team has three full-time staff members. Becky Pryor is the board of health administrator. She is a registered nurse with degrees in nursing and organizational leadership. She has worked in public health for the last 26 years. Pryor oversees the day-to-day operations of the Jasper County Health Department including the lead for public health emergency preparedness, the community health needs assessment, grant management, along with nursing duties to name a few. Kristina Winfield is a registered nurse with a bachelor’s degree and 15 years of nursing experience. Both nurses are extensively trained to provide nursing consultation regarding public health. Winfield’s focus is immunizations, the TB medication program, and case oversight for communicable diseases. The nurses are on call 24/7 for public health emergencies and are crossed trained to do numerous nursing jobs. Melissa Gary serves as the health department assistant. Gary has worked at Jasper County since 2003 and she was formerly a home care aide. She oversees the office, the home care reimbursement program, and the Jasper County Safe Kids program. She is also a certified car seat technician. The health department provides blood pressure and weight checks as needed. The last two years have been consumed by the pandemic of COVID-19 and they provided coordination with all the medical facilities for overseeing COVID cases, vaccine, PPE and test kit distribution.

Jasper County Health Department believes in no wrong door for community collaboration and referrals. They provide resource guidance, as well as community health education. They participate in a wide variety of community health fairs, education, and promotion: child abuse prevention, blood-borne pathogens, Stop the Bleed, Parent Cafes, Strengthening Families, family literacy, free condoms, dental health, and injury prevention. They have the Vaccine for Children program which serves children that meet the requirements.

The board of health subcontracts Environmental Health services with Jasper County to provide all well, septic, tanning facilities, pools, spas, and tattoo inspections. Many other outside agencies that provide services in Jasper County are required to report to the board of health including MICA (WIC), EFR (Substance Misuse and Gambling prevention), I-smile, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health programs, etc. Public health is constantly changing and evolving with the needs of the community.

Public health’s goals for this year include moving into the new Jasper County Administrative Building, completing the Community Health Assessment and Health Improvement Plan, completing the COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, participating in the upcoming health fairs, planning and hosting a public health emergency preparedness drill with all the health care organizations and law enforcement, auditing all school and daycare immunization records, utilizing the COVID funds including a large COVID technology grant including audio visual equipment for the new conference room and upgraded internet and computers, collaborating with WIC clinics, building relationships with all health, schools and social service organizations, and expanding the Jasper County Safe Kids injury prevention program.

“We are glad to be on the downhill of COVID-19 and we want to improve the health and wellness of Jasper County,” Pryor said. “Public Health is Where You Are” and the small but experienced public health team along with the board of health have a vision of improving health for everyone in Jasper County.

For more information or to learn more about the Jasper County Health Department, please check out the website at jasperia.org or contact them at 641-787-9224 or bpryor@jasperia.org.