COVID-19 Public Health Heroes COVID-19 has obviously had dramatic effects on all parts of our lives. Through periods of adversity, heroes rise to the top. This Q&A session highlights two such heroes working on the front lines in public health. Though they would prefer not to be called heroes, we believe they are deserving of the title. We salute and thank them and all of the frontline workers going above and beyond during this pandemic. JP Heim ‘98 and Claire (Vanden Wymelenberg) Evers ’98 both have fulfilling jobs in public health. Both took some time out of their extremely busy and chaotic schedules to answer some questions regarding their jobs, their responsibilities and some changes as a result of the pandemic. 1. Can you briefly describe your current role and job responsibilities and how these have transformed since the COVID-19 outbreak? JP: I am currently the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Planner for Outagamie County. In this role, I work closely with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to identify, plan for, and mitigate public health related emergencies here in Outagamie County. Additional responsibilities have included public information and communications guidance. While the “emergencies” are almost never in the headlines the way COVID-19 is today, public health is responsible for assurance and prevention roles in our communities, which includes disease surveillance and investigations of all communicable diseases and outbreaks. The effects of COVID-19 on my work continue to unfold nearly every day. The impact is real-time and will profoundly impact our future planning and response. Specific response planning I have helped to lead include isolation centers, community testing sites and point of dispensing sites. Not since the last flu pandemic over 100 years ago has the world seen an event such as this and the what-ifs of a repeat outbreak were just that, what-ifs. Claire: I am the Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health for the City of Milwaukee Health Department. Before the COVID-19 response I spent a lot of my time planning for the Democratic National Convention 2020 in my role overseeing Emergency Preparedness and Consumer Environmental Health. I put in a lot of hours but was able to take off for my kids’ school events, vacations and had my weekends off. Since we began the COVID-19 response, I am working 10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Additionally, most of my time is spent on Zoom meetings collaborating with other local health professionals, developing policies and procedures, as well as outreach. 2. Obviously, this has been a trying time on both a personal and professional level. What do you feel have been the most difficult challenges you have faced and at the end of the day what, if any, have been the rewards? JP: The what-ifs mentioned above lead to one of the main challenges to response and mitigation efforts with a situation like this. Effective planning efforts by public health experts throughout the world can only account for so many scenarios. With the fortunate infrequency of pandemics, the plans of today are based on scenarios from 100 years ago adapted for today. Candidly, anticipating how a virus that was unknown just months ago will affect our lives here in northeast Wisconsin has been mentally exhausting. Further compounded by variables such as misinformation and
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X, The Xavier Magazine
• Summer 2020
