The Porter County Health Department serves the residents of Porter County every day through its four distinct divisions: Food, Environmental, Nursing, and Vital Records. Its Foods and Environmental divisions protect the community through health inspections, septic and well systems maintenance, and more, while Nursing and Vital Records protects and serves Porter County through health programs, diligent record-keeping and more.
Nursing
Over the past year and a half, the Nursing division of the Porter County Health Department has been at the forefront in the fight against COVID-19. Director of Nursing Connie Rudd Hannon remembers the phone call that signaled the start of the fight.
“It started on January 23, 2020,” she said. “Porter County was actually the first in the state that had a person under investigation for possible COVID-19 contraction. It was a group of recruiters staying at Valparaiso University, and that’s when we got a call saying someone was in urgent care and they were showing all the symptoms. Our first confirmed case in Indiana was in March.”
Rudd Hannon and her team got underway instituting COVID-19 protocols based on recommendations from the State Department of Health and their own experience in the past.
“We take the experience and the information we have learned over time, but with something like this, so much was changing as we were moving forward,” she said. “So, we began to align with the CDC and the State Department of Health, and at first it seemed like the information was coming fast and furious, so here we are, trying to adjust, and then things were closed down. So, it’s been a long road, a long journey since January 23.”
This past year has shown the importance of what Porter County’s Nursing division does every day in the community. Rudd Hannon has been with the department for 36 years. Her team consists of seven nurses, not including Rudd Hannon herself. Each nurse, all Bachelor-trained, brings the expertise and knowledge to their work in the department.
“With all that the health department handles, it’s a must to have that level of experience and professionalism,” Rudd Hannon said. “It’s good for our community that we have that level of expertise here. And they all come from different backgrounds: one nurse has a community health focus background, a couple are from ICUs, one is from surgery. We are all kind of a melting pot.”
The Nursing division provides a variety of services in Porter County. From immunizations for adults and children, laboratory testing, and lead poisoning, to communicable disease education, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV testing and counseling, TB testing and treatment, and injury prevention, the division works to promote and protect public health.
Rudd Hannon went on to explain how closely the division works with other divisions in the department and other county departments as well. She remembered a case a few years ago where the division worked closely with Foods and other county departments.
“Five years ago, we had five salmonella cases reported on the same day, and of course, it was a Friday,” she laughed. “It was interesting because four out of five of them had the same genotype, so we got on the phone and started making calls.”
“’Where did you go? What did you eat? What did you buy at the store?’ We asked these routine questions, and that’s when we discovered they had eaten at the same restaurant in Chesterton.”
Foods went on to do a health inspection and found that the restaurant had a handwashing sink that had gone bad, meaning employees weren’t washing their hands appropriately. People had not only gotten sick from the food, but people had also been working sick. The case showcased the division’s investigative capabilities in tracing and determining the source of communicable diseases.
“That’s what nurses do, right? One of our focuses is communicable diseases that get reported to us, and once they are, the Nursing division is really the hub for all that.”
Rudd Hannon went on to explain how, for example, laboratory testing is an important service the division offers. She remarked how not many people realize how affordable the lab services are, all to provide residents with an accessible, low-cost laboratory option.
“We look at the health department as probably the best-kept secret in Porter County, which I think is true of a lot of local health departments,” Rudd Hannon said. “We have a lot of things that we do, a lot of things that not many people know we offer.”
Education is vital to the Nursing division. In a normal time, Rudd Hannon and her team would provide presentations on a variety of topics for schools, churches, organizations, and more who are looking for more information about important health topics.
“When I first started here, we would have nursing students come here for their community health rotation, but after a while, there were so many students who came through our doors that we asked their instructor if we could come to them,” Rudd Hannon said. “We set aside time for our nurses to present what we do in the community.”
“We really emphasize overall public health, because public health isn’t just nursing,” she continued. “It’s foods, it’s environmental, it’s vital records. We all work together to create a healthy community.”
Vital Records
On the other side of the department is Vital Records, which provides birth and death certificates in compliance with the Indiana Department of Health. From birth and death certification to paternity and genealogy, Vital Records tracks and records the people and history in Porter County.
Consisting of a small team, the division focuses mainly on issuing birth and death certificates to customers every day, along with keeping statistics on births and deaths in the county every month.
“We work with residents who come in or call looking for a birth or death certificate,” said Kris Contrino, office manager at Porter County Health Department. “If someone is looking for a birth or death certificate, they simply fill out a form here in the office or on our website. After we receive that form, they provide an ID, pay their $8 for a birth certificate or $10 for a death certificate, and we print it out and give it to them right there.”
The Vital Records team is a small one, but their expertise and knowledge of the systems keep the division running smoothly.
“Our Vital Records people have all been here for quite some time, and they’re so good at what they do,” Contrino said. “They’re very detailed, they’re good at working with customers.”
“We may have times when different situations come up, like the data might be wrong with let’s say an adoption, a name change, etc.,” she continued. “Maybe those records don’t reflect the state’s records. So, they have to work closely with the state inspector and the customer to ensure those changes are made and are correctly reflecting the situation.”
Paternity and home births also fall under the Vital Records responsibilities. These situations require specific documentation that varies from the traditional process of receiving a birth and death certificate. When it comes to genealogy, Vital Records keeps track of all births and deaths every year in Porter County.
“We have records going back to the 1890s,” Contrino said. “We have them organized in books, and we can pull the information that is available in them. We can tell when and where they were born, when and where they passed. It may not get as detailed as Ancestory.com, but it gives them a starting point.”
For more information about the Vital Records division, visit their website at https://www.porterco.org/421/Vital-Records-Division. For more information about the Nursing division, visit their website at https://www.porterco.org/419/Nursing-Division.