At a recent meeting of the Northeast Nebraska Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council they heard from Roger Wiese, Director of the North Central District Health Department located in O’Neill. He gave a brief history of how and why the public health departments were created in Nebraska. They started in 2001 and were funded initially in all 93 counties with payout from the tobacco industry lawsuit. His office covers 9 counties: Cherry, Brown, Rock, Keya Paha, Boyd, Antelope, Pierce, Holt, and Knox. Some of their programs include Emergency Management Preparedness, mental health issues, substance abuse, natural disasters, and public health symptoms. Much of their work involves collecting data and information and then acting on it. He explained that their Miles of Smiles program, which offers oral screening and fluoride varnish for elementary and middle school students in the district, is seeing an improvement with the children’s dental issues.
Jan Jorgensen, Projects Manager, reported that the grant writing workshop held recently was successful with 34 people attending from 23 communities. They were excited to learn of the granting opportunities that exist and were glad for the chance to meet some of the funders. Sensitive document shredding events will take place May 8th and 9th in the six communities of Orchard, Creighton, Plainview, Ponca, Hartington and Wayne. Electronics Recycling is still be planned for this summer with times and locations to be announced.
Continue reading “Northeast Nebraska RC&D Learned of Rural Health Department Work”
