Seneca County Health Department
- Back Left: AJ VanCuren – Public Health Educator, Kevin Serrett – Public Health Sanitarian, Austin Williams – Public Health Specialist, Chersti Kuhlmann - CSHCN/ PHCP Coordinator, Jennifer Bates – Staff Resource Assistant, Mary Jump – Director of Environmental Services, Tiffany Williams – Senior Public Health Educator, Betty Sherman – Early Intervention Coordinator, Kendra Brigham - Early Intervention Coordinator.
Scott King – Interim Director of Public Health, Vickie Swinehart – Director of Public Health (Retired), Mary Reese – RN, Kristina Knight – RN, Cathleen Felice – Staff Resource Assistant.
The dedication and hard work demonstrated by Seneca County Health Department staff has surpassed all expectations. The pandemic has tested staff perseverance, from case investigation and contact screening, to communicating and monitoring isolation and quarantine orders, to developing and instituting a COVID-19 business compliance program and implementing county-wide vaccination efforts. In the middle of the pandemic, the Department was forced to implement their Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) following an electrical emergency. The Department also had to manage an area-wide water emergency affecting the home office and nearly 10,000 county residents, all while managing the surge of new COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta and Omicron variants. This was all accomplished despite the loss of a third of Department staff due to the retirement of five staff members with more than 100 years of combined experience. The resilience and teamwork demonstrated by this very small group of individuals from a full-service* local health department cannot be overstated. The Seneca County team has met and overcome all challenges and obstacles they encountered throughout COVID-19 pandemic response.
*A full-service local health department provides all five basic public health services as defined in Article 6 of Public Health Law: community health assessment, family health, disease control, health education and environmental health.
