Eight names will appear on the Tuesday, April 4 election ballot, with seven of those candidates campaigning for three spots on the board of trustees for the Platte County Health Department.
In ballot order, those candidates are Michael Shafe, Susan Cole, Kim Swaney, Steven Hoeger, Karen E. Payne, incumbent Paula Willmarth, Marygold Fry and Brandi Moritz, who will appear on the ballot but has not campaigned for election. Current board members Cathy Hill and Kathy Wright chose not to run for re-election.
Shafe has been board certified in emergency medicine since 1995 and has served as an academic emergency physician training medical students and residents and fellow colleagues the value of applying research and science to help patients.
“I have come to love and embrace the purpose of selflessness through my life and wish to continue my journey with the opportunity to serve as a Platte County Board Trustee,” he said. “I am qualified and experienced to assess the needs our county faces, and may face, and possess the willingness to serve.”
He said divisiveness and polarization seem to have become the norm even where political partisanship is not supposed to occur.
“We need to have trustees that will seek out the needs of our local community and listen to all perspectives and voices as we seek the best possible solutions,” he said. “We need guidelines, protocols and policies that are currently most appropriate, yet flexible to new and sometimes unpopular data and science. We need policies that better prepare us for unthinkable and difficult health challenges that may occur in the future.”
If elected, he said he would determine what measures of health and safety are most important and measurable. Then, pursue actions that most effectively and efficiently promote improvement.
Cole received a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Kansas and has worked in nursing for 40 years.
“My experience as a nurse is expansive,” she said. “I have worked in the hospital environment in cardiology, ICU, infection control, employee health and nursing management. Most recently, I have been a school nurse in the Park Hill School District for almost 16 years.”
Those years of experience as a nurse and a desire to serve the community make her a good fit for the board, she said. As a school nurse, she has worked directly with the Platte County Health Department with immunizations, infectious diseases, and health education.
“There has been much discussion regarding the selling of two Platte County Health Department sites and making just one site,” Cole said. “There are many positive aspects of this, but some concerns have arisen as well. The budget has been more than expected for this new facility and the new board will need to address this. Getting to the new facility for residents may be of a concern. Yes, there is a bus route, but does this take into effect the Platte County citizens that are more north and rural? And there may be (and probably will be) new viruses that arise that the Health Department and the Board will need to make appropriate health decisions that provide safety to our community.
“Tackling these issues will require a cohesive working health board. We will need to be data driven in our health care decisions. We need to be fiscally responsible with Platte County tax dollars. And, we need to be accountable and transparent to the Citizens of Platte County.”
Swaney started her career in criminal justice but returned to school to begin a career in nursing. During those more than 20 years, she has worked for Liberty Hospital, the Platte County Health Department, St. Luke’s Health System, Kansas City Veterans Affairs and more.
“I am a lifelong Platte County resident with three children and three grandchildren who also reside in Platte County,” she said. “I have worked in healthcare for 23 years and have experience in multiple areas of nursing including public health, community health, inpatient nursing, care coordination, clinical resource leadership and hospital department management. My wide range of nursing skills, leadership and experience will be important asset to the board of trustees. I hope to utilize my skills and knowledge to have a positive impact on the future health of Platte County residents.”
Swaney said the new board needs to focus on appropriate allocation of resources, specifically citing the renovations on the new central health department facility building. She also believes the department needs to improve communication with the public regarding public health concerns.
“If elected to be a board member, I will focus on the board’s role in public accountability, communication, education, health prevention and wellness,” she said. “The board must continue to be accountable to Platte County residents with their policy and fiscal decisions. It is imperative for future board members to incorporate citizen input into long term planning by receiving and acknowledging community recommendations. It is of utmost importance to be able to communicate policy and fiscal decisions effectively while basing policy decisions on the latest scientific data and evidence.”
Hoeger, who is also on the ballot uncontested for an alderman’s seat in Platte City, has worked in healthcare for 35 years, 30 of them as a paramedic. He worked at The University of Kansas Hospital from 2012-2019 as the Kansas Metro Healthcare Coalition coordinator. In 2019 I returned to Truman Medical Centers, now University Health, as the corporate director of safety and emergency management.
“Trustees for local public health departments are responsible for providing guidance in the overall administration of the health department, setting tax rates commensurate with operating the health department, and making policy decisions consistent with the mission of pubic health,” he said. “My experience in healthcare, healthcare management, serving on related boards like the Northland Regional Ambulance District Board for six years and serving as an alderman in Platte City for the past five years makes me an ideal candidate.
“Public Health has been under fire the past three years responding to COVID-19. During that time I was frequently interviewed by local media regarding the impact of COVID on regional hospitals and health care and considered a trusted source of information. I want to help restore the public’s confidence in public health and its mission of ensuring equitable healthcare in Platte County.”
Hoeger said government overreach in responding to a public health crisis needs to end and those trained and entrusted with providing public health services must be empowered to do their job protecting the public’s health.
“My job as a hospital emergency manager and as the Mid-America Regional Council’s healthcare coalition chair is preparing for known and unknown eventualities,” he said. “I work daily with hospitals, local public health departments, EMS providers local Emergency Managers, and others enhancing our ability to work together, share information and manage scarce resources in times of need. While Platte County has unique needs there are more commonalities shared by our neighbors and committing to work together to address these challenges will help us all succeed.”
Payne is a registered nurse with 40-plus years of experience in the hospital setting, office nursing, school nursing and public health. She worked for the Platte County Health Department from 1994 to 2004 as the communicable disease coordinator and administered vaccines, worked in all the nursing clinics including offsite clinics at churches, schools and senior groups. She later became a supervisor in the health department.
“Having knowledge of what is involved in public health and our county going through the recent pandemic raised my interest and I had concerns about the negativity being said about a health department that helped to get Platte County ranked No. 1 in the state,” she said. “Continuing to improve our community’s health is vital to our county’s success. I want to keep our county healthy and provide a great working environment for the employees. The health department doesn’t provide a product that can be sold. It provides many services and for that to happen you have to have great employees and an up to date facility to get the work done.”
She said the department needs to conduct an assessment to find the needs of the community and to receive input from the citizens and others. A county-wide assessment would help to determine what’s needed in what areas.
If elected, she said she would ask for more collaboration with other entities through the director.
“If you have a great health department (which I personally think we do) the assets are there to do the work,” she said. “As a trustee my responsibility would be to monitor the finances and develop policies to help get the work done. And most importantly to assure our tax money is spent wisely.”
Willmarth has lived in Platte County since 2014, moving back to the KC area after 40 years in Jefferson City. In the capital city, she worked for the Missouri Department of Social Services and the Department of Mental Health for a combined 30 years. She served as the Director of the Division of Family Services for four years and was privileged to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Willmarth studied Child Welfare at Duke University and at the National Child Welfare Leadership Center at Chapel Hill, N.C. She was appointed by Governor Mel Carnahan as the first Director of the Governor’s Committee on Homelessness.
After retiring from Missouri state government, Willmarth continued her career in social work at the Administration of Children Services in New York City. She was also was owner and CEO of Paula J. Willmarth Consulting until retiring from that career in 2012.
Willmarth is a published author, having published “The Road to Recovery,” First Edition April 2002, in conjunction with the University of Missouri, Project Life. “The Road to Recovery” is a guide to life in recovery from mental illness.
Fry worked in public health early in her career, working on the epidemiology side of the Kansas City Health Department. Over the past 25 years, has been involved in and held executive positions in the Association of Professionals in Infection Control (APIC), North Kansas City Business Council, and Northland Business Women’s Breakfast Club.
“Public Health is a passion of mine and I am always seeking ways to be involved in my community, so this is a perfect opportunity for me,” she said. “My love of public health comes from my experience working in the Kansas City Health Department as a public health specialist after graduating from Northeast Missouri State University with a bachelor’s degree in biology.”
Fry works in a family business of about the same size as the health department, and says this perspective helps her to understand the challenges businesses may face.
She said recent events have eroded trust and support for the health department and if elected she would work to restore that.
“As trustee, I would support the Platte County Health Department director and his staff in ‘getting back to business’ and restore the trust between the Platte County Health Department, the residents, and businesses,” she said.
“This can be achieved by continuing the current vision, as set by the past and current PCHD Directors, past and current Board of Trustees, and by supporting their efforts to be an efficient, effective, first-rate health department.”