By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Barton County Health Department sat relatively quiet in its corner at Lakin and Kansas Avenues for years. Then the COVID pandemic hit, and the department gained a new level of importance. Tuesday morning, the health department's advisory committee met for the first time with Barton County Commissioners that double as the county's board of health. Health Director Karen Winkelman described the importance of the committee that meets each month.
"It's an uncompensated position but we do value the input on evaluating our programs and just giving us suggestions," she said. "Another set of eyes, telling us what the needs are in the community that they're seeing."
Winkelman served with the health department for 23 years before taking over the director job three years ago during the pandemic. The advisory committee was formed years ago to meet the requirements for a Family Planning Grant. One requirement is the board must include members of the medical and veterinarian fields, as well as representatives from the general public. Barton County also has a licensed medical consultant in Dr. Jonathan Pike.
"If you're a smaller county, I think under 100,000 people, you don't have to have your health officer be a medical doctor," explained County Counselor Patrick Hoffman. "But they have to have an advisor that they consult with who is licensed to practice medicine in the state of Kansas."
As Health Director, Winkelman emphasizes that the Barton County Health Department is just that - a service to all residents in the county.
"It's not Great Bend Health Department, this is Barton County," she said. "If anything is put on my tombstone, it's 'She said it was Barton County Health Department, not Great Bend.'"
As such, Winkelman has been instrumental in reaching out to rural areas in the county. The Barton County Sheriff's Office now has Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in its north office, the jail, and three mobile units since deputies are often first on the scene at medical emergencies. Deputies were also outfitted with Narcan for responses to drug overdose emergencies. The health department's mobile unit gives them access to rural communities without having to rely on business owners for space. Jennifer Schartz, a member of the advisory council, said the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has taken notice.
"Whenever there are some extra funds, (KDHE) comes to Barton County and says, 'We know you are very responsible with funds, how can you use these?'" Schartz said. "We have received monies like that for lots of different things."
The health department offers a wide variety of walk-in services for all citizens of the county, and staff has recently reached out to assist the appraiser's office with scanning documents.
"I think if anything," Winkelman said, "through COVID, we realized the importance of working with the community, but also our county departments. We've had people come in here from other departments for the last several years helping us out. I am grateful to work for Barton County in that that is allowed because this isn't across the state that you hear this."
The advisory committee typically meets on the third Thursday of each month. The August meeting was moved to Tuesday morning to accommodate the meeting schedule of the Barton County Commission.