Health department leads local fight against virus
* Unsung Heroes: Part 4 in a 5-part series
Tallulah – The Graham County Health Department has been at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic locally – while at the same time, maintaining its myriad of other duties.
As public health departments as a whole in other parts of North Carolina face staffing issues and shortages of skilled labor, the Graham County Health Department has maintained its staff.
Director Beth Booth attributed the low turnover to a caring, lighthearted work environment, even in the midst of a global pandemic.
“The camaraderie here is very good for the staff,” said Booth, who has led the health department since 2017. “The staff here is very close-knit here, very tight. It has served them very well, because a lot of health departments all the way up to their health directors.
“There are several counties in North Carolina right now with no health director. They’re dropping like flies and they’re not coming back.”
She said several North Carolina counties have lost more than half of their nursing staff.
“Here, I’ve been blessed that my staff didn’t turn over at all,” Booth said.
Head nurse Lorita Eller – who has spent 26 years of her nursing career at the health department – also spoke to the work environment. She said at the height of the pandemic, the departments nurses would sometimes work long hours seven days a week, but through the intense work environment, the team made a point to take care of each other.
“If we had not been such a close, dedicated team, it would have been almost impossible,” Eller said. “Everyone would be leaving and if I would still be working for several hours – or another nurse would be working – our staff would bring us food or check on us, or ask if our family needed anything.”
Booth said the environment was one of the most important aspects of her department, and that it was noted by the public as well, with people sometimes traveling from as far away as Black Mountain to receive immunizations at the health department.
“There’s a lot of laughter in this building and it’s really good for the psychology of the department,” Booth noted.
Booth also discussed the department’s role during the COVID-19 pandemic, which started to flare up early in 2020 when the severity and quick spread of the virus came to light in the United States.
“The toughest part of that was the constantly-changing guidance,” Booth said. “We didn’t know from day to day what you were enforcing that day and because of that, the public was frustrated, because it was constantly changing, but the huge impact that it was making on their lives, that frustration got thrown back onto us.
“The guidance changed by the hour sometimes.”
She said the department was first notified about the virus on Jan. 20, 2020.
“I realized it was going to be a thing probably (around) the beginning of February, when it was spreading so quickly,” Booth said. “We were already kind of ready for it and preparing for it.”
Eller also recalled the beginning of the pandemic, saying her first concern was its potential impact on Graham County, especially with the county not having a hospital.
“Just a lot of fear for the community’s well-being and how we are going to help everybody as public health; how our small staff would manage this,” Eller said.
She said the most difficult aspect for her was seeing the severe cases and deaths the county faced. As of Monday, 13 people from Graham County have lost their lives to COVID-19.
“That was very challenging, but we were able to get some assistance,” Eller said. “We now have case investigators and contact tracers from (Community Care of North Carolina).”
Despite the difficulty of the pandemic, Booth said some if the lessons learned could be applied to other situations, including flu shot or other clinics.
“We’ve held vaccine and testing events, collaborations with the school system and using their drop-off line for events,” Booth said.
Eller also explained what working in public health meant to her.
“I get to deal with prevention,” Eller said. “I get to hopefully deal with things that prevent illness, so I like that.”