The Atchison County Health Department has hired a new R.N. and administrator to work in the health center in Tarkio. Annie Carpenter, left, is the new nurse and Julie Livengood, right, is the new administrator. Both have several years of experience working in the health field.
Following the retirements of longtime employees Jo Blackney and Roxanne Southard from the Atchison County Health Center, the county’s health department has hired two local ladies to fill those positions. Annie Carpenter of Tarkio is the new registered nurse, and Julie Livengood of Burlington Junction, Missouri, is the new administrator. The two join Sara Sue Taylor of Fairfax, Missouri, who has been a receptionist at the Atchison County Health Center for over 20 years.
Julie (Holtz) Livengood is a Tarkio High School graduate and has lived in the Atchison and Nodaway County area all of her life. She is married to Dana Livengood and they have one son. With friends and family in Atchison County and having been a resident here herself, she’s looking forward to giving back to her community and being proactive in this endeavor. She is not new to the health department, having worked in Atchison County and Nodaway County Health Departments since 1998. She has been a WIC Nutritionist, Health Educator, and Regional Response Planner. As administrator, Julie will be in charge of all programs and funding. She will also continue her duties as WIC dietitian and coordinator.
Annie Carpenter lives in Tarkio with her husband, Dr. Dustin Carpenter, and two children. Prior to her position at the health center, Annie was an R.N. in Community Hospital-Fairfax’s Recovery and Interventional Radiology departments. She, too, is looking forward to serving the community in this capacity. She is happy to be sharing her knowledge with the patrons of the health center and providing the much-needed vaccinations that keep our children (and adults) happy and healthy.
Julie remarked, “Annie and I are so happy to be in our positions here at the health center. We believe we are here for a reason and plan to reinforce the values and mission statement of the health center – maintain, protect and improve the health and well-being of all citizens in Atchison County.”
The Atchison County Health Center is open Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (closed from 12:00-12:30 p.m.); however, if needed during the lunch time, please call and availability may be provided. Funding sources for the health department include monies from state and federal programs as well as local taxes. As administrator, Julie will make sure she and her staff are being good stewards of the county, state and federal dollars.
Julie said, “Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work and play. While a doctor treats people who are sick, those of us working in public health try to prevent people from getting sick or injured in the first place. We also promote wellness by encouraging healthy behaviors.
“Public health has the word public in it and we plan to be very involved. We need to start promoting the health department and the programs and activities we perform. There are many people that have no idea what goes on here. Most people know we provide immunizations; however, we do so much more.”
The core functions of public health are Protect, Prevent, and Promote. Julie went on to say, “In protection, we provide an environmental health specialist (sanitarian) that conducts food establishment inspections (restaurants, convenience stores, schools) and makes reports available to the community. We investigate cases of foodborne illness and communicable disease and prevent further spread in the community. We also investigate any truck accidents that involve food to make sure the food is safe to go back into commerce and be sold. Our environmental health specialist will also conduct child care inspections to ensure the health and safety of children in care. Inspectors evaluate cleanliness, facility maintenance, water and sewer services, hygiene, food protection, diapering, and other various procedural issues that promote a healthy environment. We conduct communicable disease surveillance (including flu). The hospital reports flu cases or other communicable disease cases (TB, salmonella, legionella, etc.) as well as animal-to-human diseases (tick bites/Lyme disease, animal bites/rabies). We have an epidemiologist that helps us recognize and report outbreaks and illness in the community, track trends in health status and disease, and seek to discover the source or root causes of health problems in our community, region, state and world populations. We have an emergency response planner that develops emergency preparedness, response, and recovery plans for the community (especially for something like an outbreak or natural disasters, like flooding). We plan to work more closely with the Atchison County Emergency Management Director, county commissioners and other government entities so we are prepared to respond to emergencies. We also provide child lead testing and water testing kits and information to communities about exposure to hazardous substances and ways to reduce exposure until the risk is eliminated.”
“In prevention, few things impact your life more than a serious health problem. Chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and communicable diseases affect the health of millions of people and cost billions of dollars in medical expenses every year in Missouri. Regular health screenings can often discover chronic conditions and cancers early when treatment is more likely to be successful. Communicable diseases can often be prevented through a number of measures including vaccines and proper hand washing. We help prevent disease by providing routine immunizations. Infant and children’s vaccines are available at no charge (through age 18) so cost is not a deterrent to receiving vaccines. We provide the flu shot each year. Flu can cause a worsening of chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, asthma and diabetes. To help prevent the spread of the flu, a flu shot is recommended every year, especially for people who are at high risk for flu complications. Other vaccine-preventable diseases include measles, mumps, polio, diptheria, tetanus, whooping cough, chicken pox, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, etc., and it’s important we continue to prevent these diseases from returning by obtaining timely vaccinations. We plan to work with schools to help improve the immunization rates of junior high and high school students by joining forces with the school nurses and going to the schools during registration to provide the immunizations. We also plan to help with regular health screenings like: conducting blood pressure screenings; offering cancer screenings and continuing our program called Show Me Healthy Women, which is a breast and cervical cancer prevention program where we provide pap tests, breast exams and referrals for mammograms as well as education about women’s health; providing STD/STI testing, counseling and treatment options; and we plan to provide Hepatitis C screenings and treatment options in the future.”
One of Julie’s new goals is to increase the promotion of the health center and its programs so that the thousands of Atchison County residents will know all about what the health center provides. She plans to obtain new signage out front so people will know where the health center is located and articles will be submitted regularly to the newspaper to generate awareness. She plans to promote the many family-oriented programs such as: breastfeeding and nutritional health through the WIC program; pre-conception, prenatal and postpartum health care services for women of childbearing age through the MCH (maternal and child health) program; and family planning options (birth control pills, depo-provera) available at low-cost. The health center will also be a tobacco free campus (all forms of tobacco) with the promotion of smoking cessation and providing tools to help tobacco users quit.
In the next year, Julie hopes to see the health department offering nutritional and healthy lifestyle tips to reduce obesity and chronic diseases in the community, participate in health fairs, back-to-school fairs, and parades, as well as offering worksite wellness, wellness challenges, and lunch and learns. She is also looking into offering lab draws or an open lab day where community members can come in and get blood sugar, cholesterol, thyroid and other tests to help screen for potential health issues.
And, to top it off, NA and AA meetings are offered at the health center. Birth and death certificates are available and are printed onsite and a community closet (in the health center’s basement) provides donated items (clothes, shoes, household items, small appliances, etc.) for those in need. The health center also provides free radon test kits.
Stop by the Atchison County Health Center at 421 Main Street in Tarkio or call 660-736-4121 for your health needs. Also, check out the Atchison County Health Department Facebook page for the latest news.