Rebecca Johnson took the helm as director of the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department in April of last year. She hasn’t had much time to sit back and reflect on the road traveled.
Nine months into her tenure, she, along with all of us, had her world turned upside down with the COVID-19 pandemic. All of a sudden, nothing would ever really be the same.
Five months later, as the country opens back up and our daily lives resemble more and more how they used to be, her recommendations to the residents of southeast Kansas remain, in many ways, the same: “This virus hasn’t gone away. We can’t emphasize enough that you need to take responsibility for yourself and your loved ones. I’m concerned, but I also have faith that our community will make good choices.”
The SEK Multi-County Health Department serves Allen, Anderson, Bourbon and Woodson counties. When asked about the challenges of serving such a wide swath of the state, Johnson immediately points to the value of personal relationships. “I don’t know as many people in Allen, Woodson or Anderson as I do Bourbon County,” she remarks. “But this COVID-19 pandemic has forced everybody across the state to make more connections and develop relationships with people you don’t know.”
The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst public health emergency in over a century, yet southeast Kansas has been spared much of its wrath. Currently, there are no active cases in Allen, Anderson, Bourbon or Woodson counties. The sole positive report of COVID in Allen county, involved a resident resident has not been in the state for about three months.
When looking at the four counties’ response to the pandemic, Johnson says, “I think we’ve done fairly well. On our end, we’ve done quite a bit of education for the public, whether it be on Facebook, radio, newspaper or sending it to our county clerks for them to put it on their websites.”
With regards to the low numbers of diagnosed coronavirus cases in our region, Johnson remarks that the department has “been on the ball and been able to reach out before it [the virus] spread further, and that really helped decrease the spread. I think my staff did an excellent job, and I’m very thankful for them and all their knowledge.”
Yet Johnson easily identifies areas for improvement. The department, Johnson notes, was quickly overwhelmed by the public’s desire to get accurate information. She remarks, “We do not have enough staff to take in all the calls, emails, texts and messages we’ve received…I feel bad that we haven’t been able to answer everyone’s questions or comments, but there’s just no way. It’s almost a full-time job in itself.”
Additionally, SEK Multi-County Health Department has no capacity to test someone who believes they may have contracted the virus. “I know a lot of people thought it’d be necessary for the health department to be able to test people,” Johnson says, pointing to Crawford County’s health department as an example. But when asked if her department should be able to test, Johnson defers, saying, “It’s something people thought we should have been doing. But with the number of PPE involved and the risk to staff, we have to weigh what would be best.”
As the local health officer, Johnson works closely with county commissioners, often speaking with many of them on a weekly basis, if not more frequent. A commissioner from each of the four counties is also on the SEK Multi-Health Department’s Board of Directors.
In the case of a spike of new coronavirus cases, or, as experts suspect, a wave occurs this fall, the decision to establish additional mandates rests with Johnson. As the local health officer, she is empowered to prohibit public gatherings when necessary, but it’s not an authority she’s eager to assert. Johnson says that over the past months, she and county officials have “worked more as a team rather than my saying what we need to do. I believe I need to reach out to those who have more experience with their county, so I’ve worked as a team with them instead of going rogue, so to speak.”
Looking forward, Johnson seems optimistic about the future. “I feel like we’re prepared as a county and our counties as a whole,” she says. “But I can’t tell the future.”
In a rare moment of reflection, though, Johnson asserts that the daily adventures are what she likes best about her work. “It’s a lot of fun,” she says, laughing. “And it’s never boring.”
Listen to the full interview with Rebecca Johnson on our podcast “Registered.” Visit iolaregister.com/registered or find us wherever you listen.
