Informatics Champions

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Introductions

  • 1.  Introductions

    Posted 12-20-2023 10:26 AM
    Hello,
     
    Welcome to NACCHO's Informatics Champions Group! Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our first webinar. Unfortunately, we could not do introductions during the call due to the volume of participants. However, we would like to learn a little bit about you, so please introduce yourself (name, LHD, role, favorite dessert) and also tell us what informatics looks like in your health department.  
     
    Please feel free to engage with your peers' posts as well! 
     
    Happy Holidays! 


    ------------------------------
    Gelilawit Tamrat MS
    Program Analyst, Informatics
    National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
    Washington DC
    (202)800-3713
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 12-21-2023 09:19 AM

    Hello all!

    Alicia Nelson here from St. Mary's County Health Department in Maryland. All of our information systems are quite antiquated and we are beginning the process to evaluate what our needs are to come up with a data modernization plan of our own. We need improved systems across all operations from HR, Fiscal, Inventory Mgmt to Behavioral Health and other clinical services. We also need improved method to gather and report data on our programs as well as community impact of vaccine uptake, infectious diseases, etc. I look forward to learning from the group!



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    Alicia Nelson
    St. Mary's County Health Department
    Leonardtown MD
    (301)885-8971
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 12-22-2023 02:44 PM

    Hi! My name is Mindy Allen and I am the Nursing Supervisor over the Cincinnati (Ohio) Health Department's Communicable Disease Unit. My favorite dessert (if I must pick ONE) is probably white chocolate! Informatics in our health department is mostly managed by our epidemiologists and IT team and we use a combination of an EHR and state databases to store information. 



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    Arminda Allen
    Cincinnati Health Department
    Cincinnati OH
    (513)357-7338
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 12-26-2023 11:29 AM

    Good morning! My name is Megan Hanley, and I am the Epidemiologist at the Tazewell County Health Department in Central Illinois. My favorite dessert is probably a homemade apple pie. 

    Informatics at our health department is definitely in the developing stages. Currently, we use our state databases to receive information and then do analysis in Microsoft excel. That process is rather cumbersome because of the age of the state's databases. As a smaller health department, I am the only staff person working with or manipulating data and am looking forward to learning from this group. 



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    Megan Hanley
    Tazewell County Health Department
    Tremont IL
    (309)929-0281
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    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 01-05-2024 01:20 PM

    Hi!!

    My name is Maria Torres and I am the Health Equity Coordinator for Pottawattamie County Public Health. My favorite dessert hands down will have to be ice-cream 🤤

    Informatics in our department is still on it's beginning stages we are a semi-new established county public health. Working on what would be the best way on collecting data. I look forward on learning from the group :D 

    ----------------------------------------------------------

    Maria F Torres (She/Ella)

    Health Equity Coordinator

    Public Health

    223 South 6th Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51501

    P: 712.242.1155 | EXT: 1122|

    C: 712.828.2064

    PottCounty-ia.gov



    ------------------------------
    Maria F Torres (She/Ella)
    Health Equity Coordinator
    Pottawattamie County Public Health
    223 South 6th Street | Council Bluffs, IA 51501
    P: 712.242.1155 | EXT: 1122|
    C: 712.828.2064
    PottCounty-ia.gov
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 01-08-2024 10:46 AM

    Hi all, 

    My name is Jen Young, I work as a Communicable Disease Epidemiologist at Thurston County Public Health and Social Services here in Washington State. My favorite dessert would be lemon bars. Informatics in our department is in the rebuilding stages after COVID-19 with lessons learned and turn over. I look forward to learning from the group to improve our practices. 

    Best, 

    Jen Young, MPH, CPH (She/Her)

    Communicable Disease - Senior Epidemiologist

    Thurston County Public Health and Social Services

    412 Lilly Rd. NE. Olympia, WA 98506

    Phone: 360-688-4504

    Email: jennifer.young@co.thurston.wa.us 

    Fax: 1.833.418.1916



    ------------------------------
    Jennifer Young
    Lead Epidemiologist
    Thurston County Public Health and Social Services
    Olympia WA
    (360)867-2500
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 01-09-2024 08:23 AM
    Edited by Tommy George 01-09-2024 08:23 AM

    Hi everybody - My name is Tommy George and I supervisor the Epidemiology program within the Public Health Informatics & Planning Division at the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department in Lincoln, Nebraska. My favorite dessert is probably chocolate chip mint ice cream, but honestly anything with mint probably. Informatics in our department is a collaboration between our epidemiology team, the information systems specialists (IT/GIS) in our health department and city-county IT departments. We use a software called LogiXML, which is kind of like Tableau, to build our dashboard systems. We try to use our informatics to streamline how we do reporting for the general functions of assessment (Community Health Assessment primarily) and our support for evaluation of programs throughout the department. I look forward to learning more from all of you!


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    Tommy George
    Public Health Epidemiologist
    Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department
    Lincoln NE
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 01-11-2024 01:13 PM

    Hello from Mountain Maryland!

    My name is John Corbin (he/him), and I am the Communications, Data Science, and Informatics Administrator at the Garrett County Health Department in Maryland's westernmost county.

    Currently, our local health department is continuing to innovate along the digital transformation arc that began in our county around 2016 with our first "modern" Community Health Assessment. There are a number of outstanding challenges when it comes to antiquated systems (particularly when working across counties), as Alicia mentioned, but we are excited and energized about ongoing efforts to develop and expand informatics practices!

    Dessert? Well, that would have to be fluffy lemon sour cream cookies!



    ------------------------------
    John Corbin BS Business Administration
    Informatics Administrator
    Garrett County Health Department
    Oakland MD
    (301)334-7700
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 01-18-2024 02:51 PM

    Hi Everyone,

    My name is Susan and I work as a Public Health Nurse in our Communicable Disease Division at Winnebago County Health Dept. in Wisconsin. Our department is looking into ways to incorporate data modernization (e.g., different programs to utilize versus spreadsheets for things) which many times our Epidemiologist is involved in as well as IT at times. However, the term informatics is a bit more vague to people I feel. I recently graduated with my master's in clinical and health informatics but found that people were not as familiar with that term. As for my favorite dessert I think it truly depends on the day.

    Have a good day,

    Susan



    ------------------------------
    Susan Sattler
    Public Health Nurse
    Winnebago County Health Department
    Oshkosh WI
    (920)420-8149
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 02-01-2024 04:25 PM

    Hi all!

    My name is Lillian Jensen and I am affiliated with the Kent County Health Department in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I am currently working with Kent County as a private contractor to complete a data modernization project that we started during my MPH practicum (I graduate in April!). 

    My project is about accelerating data into action in Kent County. I am building an automated data management pipeline which pulls surveillance data from the state's (rather old) surveillance systems, cleans and preprocesses it, then pipes the data into a Power BI dashboard. At the end of my contract we hope to have the dashboard up and running on the county webpage. 

    Moving forward, I am interested in applying my data science background in local public health, so this feels like the right place for me!

    As for my favorite dessert, my spouse makes a boozy chocolate mousse that is to die for :)



    ------------------------------
    Lillian Jensen
    Kent County Health Department
    Grand Rapids MI
    (616)634-4191
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 02-05-2024 05:14 PM

    Lillian welcome! I'd love to hear more about your project- that it exactly what I think we need for our LHD. 



    ------------------------------
    Alicia Nelson
    St. Mary's County Health Department
    Leonardtown MD
    (301)885-8971
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Introductions

    Posted 03-08-2024 12:06 PM

    Hello, I'd like to participate in Informatics Champions again.  Please let me know when the next webinar is held.  Thank you!



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    Lisa Klotzbach MA, PHN, RN, LHIT
    Dakota County Public Health Department
    Rochester MN
    651-554-6280
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    Original Message


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