In the four months she’s served as administrator of the Kingfisher County Health Department, Jan Fox has been busy rebuilding morale and adding back services and personnel in the wake of state-wide furloughs and reductions in force, she said.

Fox, a graduate of Greenfield High School and Southwestern Oklahoma State University, is a registered nurse who also holds a master’s degree in epidemiology and has worked in public health for more than 30 years.

A multi-county administrator headquartered in the Logan County Health Department, Fox spoke Monday at the monthly meeting of Kingfisher Community Collaborative.

“We had a staff meeting when I first started this job and I asked for input as to what kind of culture the employees wanted to work in and what kind of changes they wanted to see,” she said. “The overwhelming response was that they wanted to rebuild what had been lost and rebuild the health department’s image and trust so the community sees the good work that we do.

“That’s what we’re working on.”

Fox said health department services that had been reduced to just one day per week are now back up to five days a week, including family planning on an appointment basis and immunizations, sexually transmitted disease examinations and WIC (Women, Infants and Children) services on a walk-in basis.

She noted that because of growing antibiotics resistance developing in STD treatment, the health department is focused on not turning away anyone who requests to be tested for an STD.

“Right now, there’s only one remaining antibiotic regimen that’s effective in treating gonorrhea, for example, because of the resistance that’s been built up to every other antibiotic,” she said. “So it’s crucial that we get people tested and treated.”

Fox also referred to a study demonstrating that individuals who have undergone trauma at some point in their lives are more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior and not be as focused on their physical and emotional well-being.

“We’re doing an organizational assessment right now at the health department to see if there is more that we can do in the area of trauma-informed care,” she said.

Other areas of focus for the local health department include developing a social media strategy and “making sure we’re walking the walk by leading the way in healthy workplaces and encouraging our own employees to be active and healthy,” Fox said.

Fox also serves as administrator of Canadian, Lincoln and Logan County health departments.

“I’ve had a varied and interesting career in public health, but I’m really excited to be back at the local level,” she said.

Fox was introduced by Blair Coughlan, county health department wellness coordinator and KCC board member.