Health Department making services more inclusive

Department working with health care providers to assess needs

BY DALE HOGG dhogg@gbtribune.com

After three years, the Barton County Health Department is seeing the light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel.

“I’m just really excited to be getting back to public health like we were before,” Health Director Karen Winkelman said.

While the nasty virus is still rearing its ugly head, “we are winding down on some of our COVID work. This workload is diminishing.”

Despite the burden this caused, “we maintained all of our services throughout the entire pandemic,” she said with a feeling of pride. “Now we can focus on enhancing those programs.”

Here is a summary of what the department has done over the past year and has in the works for this year:

• Grants: State grants make up a big part of the Health Department’s budget, and Winkelman said it is time to apply for renewal on the longrunning grant opportunities and seek new ones to expand services.

• Home visits for new mothers: They are expanding the visits to the moms and their families. “We want to make sure they have the support they need,” Winkelman said.

• Meeting with health care providers: These meetings help the county’s medical community know what resources are available and may also help find weaknesses.

• Community Health Assessment: The Health Department was invited by the University of Kansas Health System Great Bend Campus to be a partner with them on the project, Winkelman said.

“We will be holding focus groups to help fund the unmet needs in our community,” she said.

“We want to know where the gaps are.”

Creating this plan is a public-private partnership made up of the United Way of Central Kansas, the Health Department, Aetna Better Health of Kansas, the University of Kansas School of Medicine along with UKHSGB. The goal is to create a Barton County Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan. They hope to have this done by this summer and start acting on the plan by year’s end.

• Social Determinants of Health Grant: This is related to the assessment, she said.

“We want to assure equal access to services for everyone,” she said. “We want to break down barriers.”

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con room that will feature a shower, and a washer and dryer. It should be completed in the near future.

This way, staff members who encounter hazardous materials can clean up without risking exposing the outside world, she said.

• Drug take-back: “We are again working with the (Barton County ) Sheriff ’s Office for the Drug Take Back Day,” she said. The annual event is set for April.

This is a joint effort with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency to help individuals and organizations safely dispose of their unused prescription medications. The idea is to prevent abuse of prescription drugs and to allow for proper disposal. Representatives accept drugs from private citizens as well as institutions such as nursing homes and longterm care facilities that may need to dispose of any controlled substance.

As an example, her staff recently held an outreach visit at the Oxford Houses in Great Bend, offering services to those in the recovery community.

• School visits: She said they are engaging more with schools in the county.

• The Family Crisis Center: Winkelman said they are working with the center and area hospitals to make Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) examinations more accessible. The SANE exam is a way to collect evidence that may be on one’s body from the sexual assault.

“These are really important to have available,” she said.

• Health Living Labs:

These are blood tests like one might receive at a lab fair, Winkelman said. They are available daily on a walk-in basis. “We want people to know their numbers,” she said. They don’t want to compete with other providers, they just want to make sure these services are as widely available as possible.

• Decontamination room: The department is in the midst of a renovation – two rooms are being converted into a de-

• Health Department Advisory Committee: “We are continuing to work with the Advisory Committee,” Winkelman said. A key part of the department’s ongoing services, as well as its response to the COVID, is the committee, she said.

Members have to be Barton county citizens. No fewer than five of the maximum of nine can be from the allied medical field, with at least one being a physician and one from the animal health field.

The appointees serve two-year terms without compensation, and are appointed by the County Commission.

Currently, she said they have two open positions.