Public Health enjoying space at new building

Members of the Big Horn County Public Health staff proudly showed off their spacious new Lovell facility last Wednesday as the public toured the remodeled former Bairco and Pacific Power building at 213 E. Third.The building was made available after Big Horn County Fire Protection District No. 1 last year purchased the building from Bairco, which built a new building on the Cannery Road just west of Lovell. The fire district offered the building to Public Health rent free, and under a memorandum of understanding between Big Horn County and the fire district the county is to reimburse the fire district for utilities plus $50 a month for grounds care and snow removal. The county is to take care of overhead expenses such as cleaning, maintenance and minor repairs, while the fire district is responsible for major maintenance and repairs that affect the habitability of the building.“We’re so excited to be here,” said Public Health Nurse Manager Bobbie Jenks during the April 19 open house. “It’s just an amazing space for us.”[caption id="attachment_12378" align="alignright" width="400"] Public Health Nurse Carolyn Barnes, RN, gives Sarah Pratt a pretend shot during the open house at Big Horn County Public Health’s open house at its new facility in Lovell last Wednesday, April 19. Pratt was one of many touring the facility during the open house.
David Peck photo[/caption]The large building replaces cramped quarters Public Health occupied at the North Big Horn Senior Citizens Building.The deal with the fire district was finalized by the Big Horn County Commissioners and the fire district in January, and the health agency moved in on Feb. 6, Jenks said.Touring the building, the greater space is immediately noticeable. Administrative assistant Tracy Jolley said the staff could only greet one member of the public at a time in the former offices “without it getting uncomfortable.” Now, the front office has multiple waiting chairs, a children’s play area, and “a ton more storage space,” Jolley noted.“There is a lot more storage space, and it’s an efficient area for Tracy to work in,” Jenks noted.Noting the offices for the nurses, Jenks said, “They still have more space than they had before, even though they’re sharing (the office space).”The facility offers a conference and training room that provides room for staff meetings and educational training sessions, and emergency preparedness technology such as radios, computers, maps of the county and teleconferencing capability.“With our frontier population, there are ways to get help with tele-health,” Jenks said. “We’ll be able to do more public education.”Public Health shares the office with the WIC program.Moving through the building to the rear, a visitor notices a new handicap-accessible restroom with “more than required space,” Jenks noted, and at the rear of the building a spacious examination room.“It’s so nice,” Jenks said of the exam room. “There’s water and a sink right here (next to the examination table). There’s great storage and live data entry at the desk (in the corner) so immunization records can be printed by the time they (patients) walk out the door.”The exam room includes a lab draw chair for blood draws, and adjacent restroom for specimens that is much more private than the situation at the senior citizens center and a refrigerator and a freezer for medicine.“It’s perfect,” Jenks said. “We’re so excited about this building. It’s incredible.”

By David Peck