As Nursing Services Manager for Kingman-Mojave County, Lynn Valentine is responsible for the critical and critical public service work of overseeing the operations and budgeting of 10 different nursing department programs and 23 staff members. She must ensure financial accountability and lead the team to be good stewards of taxpayer money. Most of the programs are grants and she is responsible for full compliance with the specific requirements and monitoring their effectiveness.
The nursing sector is a long and important list of programs, including adult and childhood immunization programs. Tuberculosis (tb) Control; Communicable Disease; HealthStart Home Visiting Program. High-Risk Perinatal Programs; Youth Health Initiatives; Family Planning; HIV Prevention; STD Programs;
Valentine also serves as Operations Chief for her department’s emergency response team. She plays a key role in the administration of public health emergencies involving the county. Nursing services managers also serve as community representatives for the nursing and public health departments.
Some of the programs mentioned, such as family planning, adult and childhood immunization, sexually transmitted disease programs, tuberculosis programs, and HIV prevention, are clinically based programs or contain a clinical component. This means providing medical or clinical services directly to patients. Most of these clinical services are either free or based on a sliding fee (the cost of the service depends on how much the patient can afford to pay). Many of these services, such as family planning programs, are aimed at the uninsured or underinsured.
“Some programs, such as the communicable disease program, work closely with patients diagnosed with infectious diseases or with providers who may have patients with infectious diseases,” said Valentine. It works more “behind the scenes”. ”
In situations like this, she said, “we conduct research to help determine when and how the exposure occurred, and our ultimate goal is to “Like all health sector programs, they are based on prevention at all levels: primary prevention from outbreaks of disease, injury, or conditions; Prevention of deterioration of condition or prevention of spread of disease to others.
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Valentine said: All positive cases of COVID had to be reported to us, and we were responsible for investigating each case, providing isolation/quarantine guidance, and tracing close contacts for each case,” she said. , especially towards the beginning of the pandemic, “We provided support and education to sick individuals and their families. We have a dedicated staff team that regularly checks in positive patients and their families to address their questions and concerns, and to monitor their symptoms. There have been several times when I had to recommend
When COVID testing first became available, the Arizona Public Health Lab was the only agency able to conduct the test, so the Mojave County Department of Public Health helped coordinate testing between providers and state labs. I had to. Valentine saw providers call her day and night, and she and her staff had to help determine if patients met the criteria for testing. It was a difficult task, especially in the early stages, and it wasn’t until COVID testing became more readily available that her department didn’t have to do this. she said: Although our capacity was limited in the amount of testing we could perform, we assisted in testing residents of several long-term care and assisted living facilities. ”
Valentine emphasizes: Fortunately, our wonderful staff are united, stronger than ever, and passionate about our cause. ”
Locally, the county health department was where people turned to with questions and concerns about COVID in general. As she puts it, there was little time to meet all requests. There was a lot of uncertainty and confusion at the time. ’ She didn’t mention the media, but that link to the public had questions on an almost daily basis. These answers had to come from county health officials like Valentine..
On the personal side, Valentine was born in Iowa, the youngest of six children, with siblings and a “wonderful, strong, and devoted” mother (her father died around the time she was born). moved to Kingman on 6. She graduated from Kingman High School and received a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University, processed the RN program at Mojave Community College and later received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Grand Canyon University. , worked as a school nurse for five years before being hired as an occupational health nurse in Mojave County. In December 2015, after her year and a half in occupational health, she became Nursing Services Manager for the Mojave County Public Health Department.
The present and future of Valentine and her husband of 24 years, Keith, are positive and bright. Now, with her two sons attending college, she is an “empty nester” and is enjoying life in Kingman to the fullest. They have companions little Arthur, a Havanese dog (the only breed native to Cuba), and Simon, a feisty tuxedo cat. Valentine enjoys reading, attending concerts, including her upcoming Eagles event in Phoenix, and traveling. She also has no end to her love of couples for Kauai, Hawaii. But make no mistake, Kingman is at home.
(This is one of a series of Mojave County employee profiles by the Mojave County Communications Office.)
