Leading charge

Jay County Health Department is the lead agency in local efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county health officer is the key person in charge.

But a situation like this requires a team effort.

“When faced with the complex health issues as we are today, the one thing that is most important to realize is that we’re all in this together,” said David Hyatt, president of IU Health critical access hospitals for the East Central region.

County health officer Dr. Jerry Whetzel agrees.

“It’s been nothing short of sensational,” Whetzel said of the collaborative effort, citing Jay Schools and county government.

“It’s been fantastic,” he added. “We’ve always had a wonderful relationship with the hospital. Everyone has been very agreeable and complementary. I’ve been very impressed.”

“We have no confirmed cases (of COVID-19) in the county as of now. I expect that to change.”

He noted the pandemic’s trajectory is likely to be significantly different for rural areas than for areas with high population density.

“Jay County will see some cases of COVID,” Whetzel said. “There’s nothing to insulate us. These things have a tendency to penetrate.”

But he expects the local pandemic experience to be “proportional to our population size.”

“My hope is we’ll have less,” he added, noting there’s an “inherent social distancing” in a rural community and the public has been responsive to the stay-at-home message.

The county health department was also prepared in advance for the pandemic challenge.

“I think we have done a particularly good job in planning and preparedness,” Whetzel said. “We often run drills and scenarios.”

A member of the Jay County medical staff since 1999, Whetzel graduated from the Medical College of Virginia after first getting his bachelor’s degree in biology from George Mason University.

He completed his internship at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Virginia, then completed residencies in family medicine at Riverside Family Practice and the Medical College of Virginia.

He’s been county health officer since 2013 and has been medical director of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Jay County’s hospital since 2001. Since 2003, he has been medical director at Miller’s Merry Manor, Dunkirk.

Day-to-day operations at the health department are the responsibility of Heath Butz, who joined the department as administrator/environmentalist in 2016.

A 2002 graduate of Ball State University with a bachelor’s degree in natural resources and environmental management, Butz served as an environmental health specialist for the Wells County Health Department for more than a decade.

While the health department is working with IU Health Jay and Jay Schools, its primary interface with county emergency personnel is through Jessica Ooten, director of Jay County Emergency Management.

A Ball State graduate with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, she has led the emergency management office since 2019. She is also an EMT with Jay Emergency Medical Services, lieutenant of the Portland Police Reserves and a deputy coroner. She’s a certified medicolegal death investigator.

“Community partnerships are critical to ensuring that we are able to provide the best care of our community,” said IU Health’s Hyatt. “Our teams, those on the front lines, are the ones who are going to ensure our patients get the best care possible in these very challenging times.”