TORRINGTON – Although winter flu and cold season is still upon us, the weather has shown signs of turning warm in recent weeks. As with any change in the season, old challenges begin to subside while new begin to discreetly present themselves.
While county health matters thankfully have proven to be somewhat mild and routine in recent months, according to Goshen County Public Health’s (GCPH) new Nurse Manager, Kara Palfy, and Public Health Response Coordinator, Ryan Wunibald, it is always healthy and wise for residents to continue practicing healthy habits and hygiene.
Although the county is in a far different and much better spot today than it was four years ago, warmer weather may mean less cold and flu but perhaps more of other things.
Originally from Colorado and having started her new county position just this last October, Palfy is both excited and eager to fulfill her new responsibilities in providing safe and appropriate health assistance for all county residents.
“I started October 31, and have done things in my past that were public or population health related,” Palfy said. “I’m still learning the system and learning the ropes. Also, this position is not like any nursing position I’ve ever had. I’m doing a lot of grant invoicing, and time keeping in an administrative position I have not done before. It has all been new.”
When asked of the current public health situation in regard to residential population, Palfy expressed cautious optimism that hopefully cold and flu season may be on its way out the door for the season.
“We are coming out of respiratory illness and influenza season,” Palfy continued. “Hopefully it hit its peak and is starting to come back down. Covid didn’t seem to be terrible with people this year, and we had fewer hospitalizations which was good. I think we were pleasantly surprised as everyone was waiting to see what Covid would do again. It seemed a bit milder than it’s been in the past, but influenza was a little bit worse.”
Adding further to the comments of Palfy, Response Coordinator Wunibald noted indeed COVID-19 was not nearly as much of a problem this year than influenzas. According to Wunibald however, the month of February turned out to be quite a challenge for statewide health providers when dealing with widespread influenza.
“We had really an awful February,” Wunibald stated. “The state of Wyoming had more deaths in February than we’ve had in quite some time. I know we had a pretty widespread influenza hit in the school district, and we had multiple schools who were hit harshly. Some got nailed really bad and struggled locally.”
When touching base on what residents can do to avoid spreading influenza going forward or headed into next school year, Wunibald stated courteous common sense practices have not changed when it comes to the prevention of spreading the flu.
“It’s one of those things where you are pretty much not supposed to be around people for five days,” Wunibald continued. “So, you are helping if you have a positive influenza and try to keep yourself away from almost everyone for five days, so everything does not become worse. For everybody it can be hard.”
While cold and flu become less of a concern headed into the warm months of both spring and summer, Wunibald and Palfy are adamant and hopeful residents will take necessary precautions to protect themselves and their children from one other summer health concern. One in recent years that has proven to have dangerous, or even deadly long-term consequences.
“Health wise, definitely wearing sunscreen is a big deal,” Wunibald continued. “Right now, we are in a situation where weather changes instantly, constantly and a lot. We are in a very volatile cycle for weather right now. Be prepared to run into nasty weather you maybe didn’t think you would have for a while. I’m positive that there will be some vaccination clinics coming up. We did that last year with Jen Boxberger from Lingle.”
In possibly partnering with the Wellness Wagon in Lingle, operated by Eastern Wyoming College professor and nurse practitioner, Jen Boxberger, Wunibald and Palfy are remindful and eager for upcoming county health clinics and expo participation.
According to GCPH such events are crucial in advocating in particular for seniors, as well as keeping up with essential community engagement.
“We’ve been working with state cancer prevention, and they sent us a whole big box of protection from the sun such as plenty of sunscreen and sunglasses,” Palfy said. “Summer is a great time for getting people outside for fresh air which is healthy. We are very excited about our Senior Resource Expo on May 24. We have people lined up already to start setting up booths. There will be hot dogs, chips, drinks and door prizes. We told people rather than pay a booth fee they can provide a door prize.”
“If things go the way we would like, we will have over twenty booths for seniors going over fall risks and exercise for different scenarios,” Wunibald added. “We should have providers for a lot of different knowledge in fields for senior citizens. We will have housing, Wyo Help, medical clinics, dental offices and hearing aids. It’s more of an event focused on seniors, and we are very excited. It’s nice to have the opportunity. The city is obviously allowing us use of facilities, and it’s a handy space as it will be held in the Pony Express Room.”
Palfy was once again remindful to residents that GCPH does a wide variety of different things for potential patients off all ages, and actually wishes more individuals would come in seeking help not just for vaccines, but also matters concerning birth control, motherhood and male health.
“I really want the community to feel they can come in and say hi,” Palfy said. “I would like more input from the community, and I’m open to doing anything up here that makes sense. We also have our Maternal Child Health program. It’s an amazing program where we see pregnant women and follow her until the baby is two years old. We take them and provide education materials, while also providing teaching throughout the whole process. Our nurses Cindy, Alissa and Manon are amazing and it’s a great program.”
Just prior to returning to his end of the week responsibilities as Goshen County Health Response Coordinator, Wunibald had some final words of praise in regard to a growing number of senior residents who have come in with goals of protecting not only themselves, but their equally vulnerable grandchildren.
“As far as RSV vaccinations we did a few at the beginning of the year with adults, but we also saw some people who came in wanting to be up to date so their grandbabies were not exposed to some things,” Wunibald said. “I bet we had ten different grandparents who came in and said they are recommending this so ‘I don’t expose my newer grandbabies.’ This is a health initiative with young women as well that is being talked about. I greatly admire these grandparents in helping provide safety for their grandkids, if that’s what their recommendation is, whether it’s tetanus, diphtheria, or whooping cough. You don’t always picture public health being an on-call thing, but there are things we have to stay on top of so we don’t lose thousands of dollars’ worth of vaccines. I tell kids each of these ladies have given me a shot, and they are darn good at it. If a kid were to have a reaction, we have the capacity to figure out how to help them quickly if there’s an emergency, but that basically never happens. Sometimes they feel nauseated by a needle, but you never really know when that’s going to happen. Our nurses coach them amazingly, and it’s not uncommon. Just relax and you’ll be fine. And remember, it’s at zero cost.”
“We are trying to make this up here a friendly environment. We really are,” Wunibald continued. “We are very thankful for our commissioners getting the opportunity to expand. Sometimes it’s a big challenge, but we have a vast majority of residents who are very supportive of us providing services with what people need. There are some things that literally make you go to a pharmacist to get that, and those are the things that we have to come up with so we are steering people in the right direction.”
If you have more questions or would like further information on GCPH, feel free to visit www.goshencounty.org or call 307-532-4069.
