Kathy Hussey-Arntson  0:03  
I this is Kathy Hussey-Arntson from the Wilmette Historical Museum. I'm here today with Diane Bader. It is July 25 2022. And we're here at the museum. So Diane, let's start with maybe you can tell us where you're born and where you grew up.

Dianne  0:24  
Okay. Glad to be here, Kathy. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  0:26  
Yes, yes. Thank you for coming.

Dianne  0:29  
I was born in Covington, Ohio, which is a village of approximately 2500 people. It's in Miami County. And as part of the Dayton, Ohio Metropolitan Statistical Area, okay. Miami County is known for its very fertile farmland. It was where the glacier ended. And all that good soil ended up there in Miami County. So it's a good farm. Farmers have great crops.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:02  
So we were your parents farmers?

Dianne  1:04  
No, I lived there during my formative years, but was considered a townie. Okay. But I was lucky to have an aunt and uncle who had a 500 acre farm. So I was out there almost every weekend. Wow. Yeah. My uncle would come in, he'd bring in his produce, make grain for his cattle and hogs and so forth. And then he picked me up and we go back and I'd decide what he's doing and what my aunt was doing and which one I wanted to do. At a good time.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:44  
Yes. Sounds great. Yeah. So you graduated from high school in Covington? 

Dianne  1:49  
Yes. Yeah. Okay. Hi. I graduated in a high school class of 48 students. That was smaller. My brother was seven years younger. And at that time, I think he had twice that number, probably, you know, as a result of after the war and so forth. And other Yeah, yeah. I was accepted into the College of Nursing and Health at the University of Cincinnati. And this was a four year program that led to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree upon graduation.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  2:26  
 Ah, so that was, you know, a lot of people I know, in a maybe earlier generation went to nursing school through a hospital. So you were that was like, I think, yeah.

Dianne  2:38  
Well, I think I had determined that if I was going into that profession that I wanted a degree at the end, Cincinnati was also the very first college university to offer the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Yeah. So I also have a public health degree master's in public health, with a specialty in policy and administration, from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  3:11  
Okay. And so, at what point did you move to Illinois?

Dianne  3:20  
1980. Oh, okay. So I was working in Ohio, after my graduation

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  3:28  
as as a nurse or

Dianne  3:29  
yes, yeah, yes. I think it was three different places, probably. After graduation. We needed to move to Columbus. My husband at that time, had to, everyone had to have service and the he went into the Army, and he was a special force, forces paratrooper. So we had to go somewhere where he could jump on the weekend and get his activities, you know, that was required at the time. So that's how we ended up in Columbus and my first job was with the Columbus Ohio public nursing service, and that they only took those that had degrees at that time, so it paid better. And also, I liked public health, and this offered me sort of in home care along with public health activities associated with it. We did home health services and provided that to patients of all ages, in varying degrees, you know of health and illness. My duties included being a charge nurse at well baby clinics, wellchild clinics and a school immunization clinic was held every week. So we were very much into immunizations at that time.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  5:08  
And what time period? What was that? Would you say that you were doing that?

Dianne  5:17  
1963-64. Okay. I think okay. Yeah. And I it included they made me a parochial grade school nurse, they also gave you a school. And then I, they gave me so that I could supervise a licensed practical nurse and a home health aide in order to get, you know, all of our services done so.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  5:50  
So did those people come with you to the home? Or are they 

Dianne  5:53  
No, I assigned them based on what I evaluated the patient, and whether they would be able to take care in with their, with their education that they had. They divided all of Columbus up into multiple districts. My first district, I would say was more prenatal and postnatal health care to women and children. It was right beside Ohio State University. The second district that I was in was more home health care. And that was when Medicare started. And so if if a patient needed a bed bath needed a backrub needed socialization, you know, I would send the home health aide if it was something that the licensed practical nurse could do at that time. They could also administer medications. I was responsible, of course for their activities. So yeah, it was a very interesting job. I enjoyed it. I also supervised four year public health students from Ohio State University and Capitol universities. We were each given a student, evaluate them talk with their supervisor, you know, give them the experience that they needed. Yeah. I terminated the employment probably after five years, and we had our first child at that time.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  7:39  
Were you a stay at home mom, then for 

Dianne  7:41  
one year, one year, okay.And I always wanted to keep my profession is something you sort of have to keep up on. But I was dedicated enough into the school and the health portion that I never went back in to the hospital. During my training, I'd come home on the summertime and I go to the local hospital. And you know, I was working at that time. That's my only hospital experience. And the College of Nursing and Health was two days on campus and three days on the ward and ward meaning at the hospital. It the I trained at Cincinnati General Hospital, you couldn't have wanted any better training than that. It was about a five storey building. It was 12 patients on each side with a curtain in between them and a solarium in the back that had 12 people that were convalescing. And it for example, my medical, my surgical practice was pretty much on frostbite. Those people who, gentleman usually who had lost parts, amputation due to the frostbite and gunshot wounds. So our sterile technique was perfect. Because we were doing a lot of that. So this Hospital was built very soon with like Cook County. And so it's built pretty much on the same kind of system.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  9:22  
 This is a this was Cincinnati's public hospital.

Dianne  9:25  
Now, it is no longer there. It went away probably about 10 15 years ago. It was also very big during the polio epidemic. And multiple buildings were even built at that time in order to take care of the polio patients. So yeah, there it was sort of like walking into a dungeon and then depending on what floor you go up to, so it was it was a great learning experience. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  9:59  
Yeah, sounds like it. Yeah. So so when you came to to Illinois, were you, were you, were you coming to Wilmette, or are you coming to a different part? And you said in 1980, where you

Dianne  10:17  
my husband took employment with, with, down at the Merchandise Mart. We had, there was a small time when I did not work for two years. And that was when we were down in Jasper, Indiana. He was with Kimball International. So we moved here, in order for him to be at the Mart. We had friends in the area. So we sort of knew suburbs where we would love to live. Actually came in into 79. We were looking. March of 80 we moved and we moved in with a 21% interest rate. There was fear. Yeah, that was the time when interest rates were sky high, very little on the market. And you also had gone through, I think 32 inches of snow that winter. And there was a lot of houses that that we looked at that had damage from water damage. So it was a very bad time for us to move.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  11:21  
Yes, right. Right. But this but but you kind of sounded like you had in a way no choice in terms of you know, moving for your husband's job. Right, right. Yeah, right. Yeah. And how many kids did you have at that?

Dianne  11:35  
We had two children from second they went into the second grade and the sixth grade,

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  11:39  
okay. At that Which school did

Dianne  11:42  
Mackenzie okay. And then you know, we by being March then our daughter moved up into the junior high at that time. And it was a quite a transition because we had done Montessori schools. We moved to Jasper and the public, the parochial schools had become public schools. But we still had sisters that were teaching at the time. So it was a transitional period for them to be going. But it it was a little more restrictive in what she had in the past. So I think the move here was good for her to go into it to be able to transition from one place to the other and get to know the kids and everything. Yes. She had started a softball program down there, the Cream Puffs, and when she was in the fourth grade, and so she was very good. And she went on to be the pitcher for New Trier as a freshman, so it did work out.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  12:52  
Yeah. So what's what's her name? Yeah.

Dianne  12:57  
Her name that she goes by now is Katherine Bader Mangel. Her christened name was Inga

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  13:06  
Okay,

Dianne  13:07  
 Inga Catherine. Apparently, she decided she'd rather have Catherine as her first name. Okay. That's all right. My husband was a Frederick. And he petitioned and went to Gordon, he's a Fritz. So we can understand

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  13:24  
It runs in the family. Yeah. So did you when you when you moved here in 1980. Did you start working for the village then? Or?

Dianne  13:36  
 I did? Yes. All right. But I don't know whether you want to know what else I did or not between? 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  13:42  
Sure. Yeah. 

Dianne  13:44  
All right. I was with, after pregnancy and having our daughter. I went to the Columbus public schools. And it was strange there because even though with my degree, but I wasn't a teacher. They gave me only 80% of the teacher salary. So but I was in the interim anyways. So they gave me to two schools. It was about 1200 students at the time. So I was just there a short time because we in 71, moved to Cincinnati, and we felt very calm. My being there before I felt very comfortable going back to Cincinnati. And I started with the Cincinnati Health Department. And they gave me 11 schools. They divided their health department into nurses who were in the home, in the schools in the clinics. So their opening was for schools. And so I had that little bit of background and they put me in the schools, they gave me a license as practical nurse and a clerk and told me to take care of 11 schools,

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  15:06  
that seems like a lot for even two people and a clerk. Right?

Dianne  15:14  
I will, I wrote these down. It included a public high school, which was Withrow High School and its size was 2000 students in grades 10 through 12 (That was in Hyde Park and Cincinnati),  a public Junior High School, a Catholic orphanage, a parochial High School (9 to 12th grade all boys,) I can't think of what the last name of the or the the name of the school was a private Jewish school, a parochial elementary (1 through 8th grade), a private Montessori and four public elementary schools.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  16:02  
So a lot of responsibility.

Dianne  16:03  
It was because Withrow had a pool. So we had swimming going on, you know, which to me is a red alert, you know, you don't. And I did have a thing that they had shot at the junior high and we did have amputation of a finger during one of the shot projects. So I tried to position myself where I thought I was going to be more more need and tried to,  I had a good licensed practical nurse.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  16:39  
Yeah, that that seems like too much responsibility. The the public health it sounds like the Public Health Department maybe didn't have enough funding to have a sick. 

Dianne  16:52  
Yeah. That would be my guess. Yeah.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  16:55  
So is it very common I, in public health to for public health nurses just serve both public schools and private schools? Is that right? Yeah. 

Dianne  17:07  
Right. Okay. I, for example, with the Columbus public health nursing service, each one of the nurses had parochial school to look about and your primary. It wasn't triage as much as it was to make sure that immunizations and health records were complete for the state. Okay. And I think that's primarily were most of your hours. I mean, I was only there one time a week. So just, you know, trying to get it all. I mean, to be organized enough in order to to notify parents that you got to get this or, you know, there's action that needs to be taken.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  17:53  
Okay, I can see the rationale there then. So if so, if a child at one of these schools got sick or injured, while at school, there was usually no pub pub, there was no nurse there on the premises most of the time. That's right. Okay.

Dianne  18:07  
All right. I wanted to say that, but I guess that's pretty much is it until relocation to Wilmette.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  18:26  
Okay. All right. Well, I can see a continuity I think a little bit with what you did in for the village of Wilmette.  So you started, tell me what it was like when you started in 1980. At for the health department for the village Wilmette. 

Dianne  18:42  
1981. Okay. Yeah.I when we started, when we came here I came, I work for the Division of Services for Crippled Children. And that is administered under the University of Illinois. So that was my first job here when I came to Wilmette. Okay. All right. Each state has a special program using state and federal funds for the handicapped children who require special diagnostic and treatment services. We don't use the word crippled anymore. We don't use the word handicap, but that's what was used in 1980. Yeah, okay. All right. And these services could include club feet, cleft lip, cardiac, loss of hearing, scoliosis, cerebral palsy. And my duty was to make them financially and medically eligible

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  19:46  
 for the services, so they could go to so they could attend school, is that  or?

Dianne  19:52  
It depended on the child. We had a lot of spinal bifida. So what we had was, I mean, I learned the whole metropolitan area in probably three months, because the region for Chicago went from Lake to Kankakee counties. And so the first thing the child did if they were applying for services, and was made financially, and then in this isn't always easy to do. My I have never had a job before where I didn't have records that was just stacked and stacked. And because you had not only the children that were just applying, because financially, they needed some help, but you had accidents and you had children that were born and needed immediate care. There was no financial arrangements to be made at that time. You know, so you were constantly trying to keep with the old and take in the new.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  20:53  
Yeah, so were you being, were these children being you know, identified or sent to you by hospitals or the parents or both?

Dianne  21:06  
Both, doctors, hospitals. They went to a clinic first and found out you know, well, there would be a pediatrician there. It would be a neurologist there. There would be an orthopedic person. So if you had a spinal bifida child, you needed the physical on, the normal physical that's done. You would need the orthopedic part, you would need the neurological part. So the nurses, we had certain clinics, we probably had, it came, we were at  63rd Street and Cottage Grove. That's where the main office was. So we were going to all the clinics probably 11 clinics. Elmhurst all the way up to Waukegan, Loyola just any hospital. For Elmhurst it was cardiac cases. And so we, they had the supreme physical attention. The physicians were the best. In other words, in all these clinics, and then in the meantime, you tried to make them financially medically eligible. Yeah.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  22:20  
So you were also doing all the paperwork.

Dianne  22:23  
 Right. Yes. Hydrocephalus. You know, the children that were born with that immediately if they needed assistance with their finances. I mean, medically yes, it made them eligible. But you had to figure out, you know, trying to get forms that you need in order to establish that are not that easy in many cases.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  22:44  
Yes. And parents probably were very overwhelmed with 

Dianne  22:47  
Very, yeah. Everything. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  22:50  
Great service. Yeah. 

Dianne  22:52  
So I terminated my employment to become the public health nurse in the village of Wilmette, that lasted 36 and a half years. So

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  23:02  
that's an incredible record. So were you the only person in the health department when you started there? Or

Dianne  23:10  
when I began, I was full time along with a part to full time sanitarian Paul Slavey that was hired about 10 days before I was hired. Okay. And then a part time health officer, Dr. Arthur Peterson. He had been preceded by Martin Seifert who was there for 47 years

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  23:33  
Yes, I recognize that name.

Dianne  23:44  
1939 to 1979. I came in 1981 so Dr. Peterson was just a couple of years having been there.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  23:54  
And what was Dr. Peterson's background? As a doctor, as a physician,

Dianne  24:01  
I would say he was an internal medicine doctor. He was at Swedish covenant. He had the convalescent nursing home that sits on Poplar. Right, I can't remember what the name of it is.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  24:17  
I know that name keeps changing. I don't know what it is now, either. It was Manor care for a while and yeah, it's I think it's maybe something a little bit different now. Seemed like the sign has changed, but I know you know, it's

Dianne  24:31  
It was Manor care. Yes. And then he also had one, the one that's on Orchard, Old Orchard Road by the Westmoreland. As you go down, the nursing home that's there right before the light to Skokie. That was also hard. Okay. Okay. I think there was another one. He was he was Swedish himself. And so he was at Swedish Covenant. That's where his offices were

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  25:01  
okay. Did he live in Wilmette? Do you know? 

Dianne  25:04  
Yes, yeah, he lived on Mohawk. Oh, okay. He and his wife, Mari-Lyn (two separate words). She was a nurse. I not, she at times would during our influenza clinic, she would give us a hand. You know, if we had a lot of people coming in. He, he, he wanted that, I think, you know, for his own achievement. But he was very much involved with the village, do anything for the village that he could. I did not know Martin Seifert. His daughter called me once, but I don't know how much information she has about the health department. It's minimal information. I know there was a clinic up here on Ridge Avenue, because the nurse that preceded me was [Bea Wickersheim]. And she was here for 20 years. She mentioned that clinic to me. And she also mentioned there was another nurse before her that was here for 21 years. So I feel that with Dr. Seifert, having become the health officer in 39 that there probably were just the three public health nurses, two before me. Okay, and that's that's really all I know about the previous people

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  26:39  
well, that's more than I think we know. So I think we know a little bit about Martin Seifert. Dr. Seifert, but otherwise, I don't think we have a not very good photograph of Bea Wickersheim. Wickersheim whatever and, but really don't know, it didn't really know how long she was here or anything. So that's that's actually helpful.

20 years before I was.

 Yeah. Yes. So when you started, what kinds of what kinds of work were you doing on a? It sounds like it's not necessarily a weekly basis, but are what kinds of what kinds of work were you doing for the?

Dianne  27:04  
My primary duties were disease preventive screenings, like a blood pressure's. The glucose, the colorectal cancer, streptococcal sore throat and adult and child vision and hearing screenings. I was responsible for administering programs and CPR. The Gillson Beach e. coli testing or closure. The influenza vaccine, the private grade school program, and the village wide preschool vision and hearing screening. And this also included assistance to District 39 nurses and staff and becoming the board liaison to the Board of Health.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  28:18  
And was the Okay, that's that's a lot of different responsibilities  very, yeah, yeah. So when you were saying you were doing these screenings, you were doing these yourself? These were things I know that you had a blood pressure clinic you had, so you were doing all of these different things.

Dianne  28:44  
Yes, even even the glucose because we were doing a post parental at the time, so And yes, and the cold, no way. We musta had the lab, pull blood on that. You know, so I was dealing with yes, the Swedish covenant because of Dr. Peterson's connection was Swedish. They came in and took the blood work for the glucose so I was not drawing blood. Yeah. Okay. I think yes, everything else the influenza vaccine I carried on. The private school grade school, I mean that St. Francis and St. Joseph. And then the village wide, the nurses from District 39 helped me with that vision program. We'd have it on a Saturday morning. And because and that was before the state required that all preschoolers have vision and hearing done while they were in preschool. Okay, so that nobody was doing it up until that point.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  29:50  
So you were so you were kind of on the cutting edge of doing that, would you say

Dianne  29:56  
definitely yeah, definitely and we had done it a few  years before I came. Okay, so that yeah, definitely it was.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  30:06  
Yeah, it sounds it's interesting. So the Board of Health,were there. Those were monthly meetings, or were they just quarterly quarterly? 

Okay. And you were the staff liaison to that to that board. Were there, and I know you know, that board was was composed of people who were Wilmette residents who were volunteering for the for the commission or for the board. Were there do you recall, were there issues over the years? Any significant issues or controversies or that kind of thing?

Yes, yeah. Can you? Can you describe it? You know, 

Dianne  31:03  
you jumped a question. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  31:04  
Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. All right. I'm ready to answer. Yeah.

Dianne  31:08  
Okay. All I'm saying is being staff liaison to the Board of Health, to boards, any boards and commissions, and also being in "health department," you get a lot of controversies that you become involved with. I think people think health is in a lot of things. That's what I mean, right. The first one that I remember is 1986. And that was the HIV AIDS. It appeared in Wilmette, as the first case of AIDS in Cook County. So that sort of stood out at the time. This followed after the disclosure of Brian White in Indiana, and how he rallied to be able to attend school. So this was sort of like the second case. Whether it was or not I, you know, but I know it was very soon thereafter. When the Wilmette student, John was in the second grade at Central School, his parents discovered the reason for his health problems. John, was HIV positive, having contracted the disease from his biological mother. And that was not known at the time, nor was it till the following year, late in the year in 87. People wondered that they did not know that, oh, he was an adopted child. At that point, the rest of us did. The school district 39 appointed a committee made up of professions, including myself, to inform and educate the community of teachers and parents and residents. And I can't remember right now the name of the board president, but he was in communications. That was his job. And this was sort of a very good, wonderful outcome with John. The children were very protective of the child. If anybody'd asked who has AIDS in here, they'd all say, I have AIDS in here. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  33:27  
Oh, how touching it was.

Dianne  33:29  
It was and also, the families were not met with hostility of any kind. He enjoyed supportive relatives and friends and school officials, and Wilmette Public Schools was the first to admit a child to enter school. So he died at the age of 10. I remember that. So he did not live maybe four or five years after that. So that was a it was a I think it was all due to superintendent who before Sam Mikaelian. He moved to Missouri, but he and his President handled it so well. Teachers accepted it, the parents accepted it, it it just was a nice setting you know, didn't go awry.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  34:25  
speaks very well of Wilmette. I have to say.

Dianne  34:29  
 Yeah, it did. In 1988 we got involved with the anti smoking campaign. And Wilmette was able to lead in an anti smoking campaign because it was one of 21 communities exempt from the state guidelines. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  34:49  
And why was that?

Dianne  34:29  
Because the state didn't have anything on anti smoking or Illinois clean air. So the Board of Health under Chairman Mary Terman developed the no smoking ordinance that was unanimously adopted by the village board. I worked on with Mary during the football game, I went over to her house, I remember that. And we sort of put it, you know, things that she wanted, and I thought it was important to put it in there. So was more or less, you know, our, and it was picked on John Jacoby was the president at the time. And it banned, for the most part, public and workspaces. There was those that contested of course, were the restauranteurs and also the Restaurant Association. And because this was new, and there was special use, you don't say special use, there was special provision that the smaller restaurants didn't have to comply because there wasn't enough room to say people sit over here for smoking and over here for non smoking. So the little ones got, did not have to prove anything or say no smoking at the time. Okay. So there was the special tobacco store this [Cigary Olivia Lounge], now this over on Skokie Boulevard right down from Mather?

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  36:43  
Yes, right, right. It's still Yes, right. Yeah.

Dianne  36:48  
So that's the way it was back in 88. And then, in 2004, we had Diana Hackbarth, who was our president at the Board of Health. She also had Joe Afric, who was the president of the lung association that lived here in the village. Diana is a PhD nurse at Loyola teaching at Loyola University, so she was very much health oriented. And she wanted 100% comprehensive, no smoking ordinance or anti smoking. And so this was proposed and voted on prohibited smoking and publicly accessible places, including restaurants, bars and grills. So then it became like the park district in their restaurant, or their club, I should say. When the board passed the ordinance, Wilmette had the toughest anti smoking ordinance in the state. It was soon followed in 04 by Skokie, and Evanston. And in 05 by Highland Park. And it wasn't till 08, that the state of Illinois had the Clean Air Act. So after that anyone who wanted to have a smoking ordinance had to have it, at least what the state had. And better if they wanted it, they couldn't have less.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  38:30  
So that's interesting. So again, it seems like Wilmette is on the cutting edge of of a smoke free office or restaurant or whatever. Yes. Yeah. It's interesting. So they went from the village went from sounds like what you're saying from, in 1988 they went from smoking \ non smoking divisions in a larger restaurant or that kind of thing to no smoking in 2004. No smoking, right  indoors. 

Dianne  39:10  
And I think if you look at the ordinance that might say so many feet, 1200 feet 1500 I'm not sure I say about 1200 feet. So which meant how there then you get into condominiums and then you get the the area the entrance area to condominiums, can people smoke in that area? Or did they have to wait till they get up to their own place of residence and smoke, you know, so there was a lot of questions, you know, and I think that's why I'm pretty sure there's feet within that ordinance as you can't smoke within.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  39:46  
Yeah, remember, this was a little bit of a controversy for some people at the village hall, the Wilmette village hall because there were some smokers so they would hang out in the back near the the parking lot to smoke. Yeah, right. Yeah. Outside.

Dianne  40:05  
Yeah, we were the first, you know, in the state with the with the [tapas and ice]. Yeah. And that was 04.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  40:13  
And did you help write that, that revise that as well? 

Dianne  40:17  
Yeah.With Diana. Yeah. But Diana, Diana and Joe Afric. Both, you know, had a lot of input into this. Yes. Yeah. So I didn't I didn't put everything down here. But I thought about 1991 and electro magnetic fields became a very controversial issue.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  40:42  
Yes, like cell phone towers, is that what you're thinking of?

Dianne  40:45  
It creates like us or the creation of the cellular towers. And also at that time, the Linden substation, CTA was under redevelopment. And they wanted to move their power terminal operations, closer to residential property in a way. I mean, that's how they didn't mean to do that. But that's what happened in their planning. And there was a little bit of a twist in that. Dr. Arnold was my president of the board at that Board of Health at that time. His brother was the person who was in charge of the planning at the CTA in this redevelopment, 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  41:32  
oh, so a little bit of a conflict of interest. 

Dianne  41:36  
Right, and I don't remember what his first name was. But anyway, the Arnold people. The CTA took care of it by redesigning it. And in the end, the village board included in its approval, a provision that the EMF levels at the edge of the CTAs property be no higher after the work was done, than when it started. So then we got into measuring where EMF was, and are tributaries like 15th Avenue, or 15th street that's in the middle, that's where all the transmission lines go down. So then you get into ambience, you know, does your house sit back far enough, you know, from this, I think like, also has a Lake Avenue, in probably a lot of the arterial routes, you know, then the cellular towers were a problem because the EMF does not come down like this. It comes out like a triangle from the top, you know, the, this was a very sort of controversial question, I guess about the electromagnetic fields. The village board passed a resolution, they didn't pass an ordinance that called on the village government to exercise prudence avoidance, whatever that meant, yeah. Other fields. Yeah. And so it became easy things you could do, such as sitting farther back from the computer. Maybe you better not use a warming blanket on your bed. Watch how close your clock is to you. You know, so people started worrying about all these small things and EMF and so we had two EMF meters that I would give out to the public and we made available to them to check if they wanted to, if they had big concerns. The village created an extensive ordinance for cellular antennas later on as a special use. Special emphasis included 15 feet from a school, a daycare, anywhere where children were. And I know there's more to that ordinance, but in effect, that's sort of what it was. They were trying to put antennas up. And I remember being on the Home Alone Church on the roof with the engineers trying to decide whether well once they said that you can't be near a school you got Central School you got a preschool underneath easy. Oh, so that was out of the question. Up there acrossed where the alley goes to Walgreens. I can't remember that there was a building right there that they wanted to put it on. Then there was one out on 94 but it's on Wilmette easement back there for some of the West siders there. So all of these became a controversy and I think that's why they finally did the ordinance. And we at the village hall got a cellular antenna because it was a safe place to be. Right, it rained down.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  45:17  
Right? Yeah. Right. On the railroad tracks. Yes. Right. Yes. Yeah, on our cars.

Dianne  45:24  
So that lasted quite some time to get all that figured out. And I don't know where we are on it now whether there's any been I doubt it, you know, because cellular antennas. However, I think there was one in Kenilworth around the Sears school that brought a lot of controversy. And I think that was eradicated. I'm not sure. You know,

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  45:49  
yeah. Yes, I was. I have to go back and look at it through, just just by chance, somebody gave us a number of clippings. And I noticed that I haven't filed these yet or copied them, but a number of them are on the cell tower controversy. So I'll have to go back and read those. And

Dianne  46:19  
you may say, if they have my files from my, you may find that kind of stuff on there. Yeah.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  46:27  
So this was a new, this is, I don't want to I want to go back to other things you've done. But I don't want to if you have more to say about controversies. I don't I don't want to interrupt you. But this was seems like the new duty to do to take EMF readings, and be involved in that.

Dianne  46:52  
And it was true to the public to the Board of Health being very involved in it, and trying to find locations as it came in. So I can't remember what who else might have gone with me like to the Home Alone.  I know I was talking to Tim [ Frenzer] are quite a bit at the time. You know, what couldn't couldn't be done?

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  47:18  
Right. Right. Tim [Frenzer] are being the Corporation Council at the village at than time. Yeah.

Dianne  47:23  
And as I say this was at the time that Dr. Arnold, he lived over on Michigan Avenue. I can't remember his first name right now. He worked at Lutheran General Hospital.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  47:38  
And he was he was chair of the

Dianne  47:40  
he was president. Yeah. Chair of the Board or board.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  47:45  
Board of Health. Yeah. All right, interesting. So those are all very, very, very interesting issues that you bring up.

Dianne  47:54  
And I have one more. Okay. And it was very, very controversial. And that was the licensure of group homes.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  48:03  
Always, it seems it's often an issue in communities. Yeah. So what what was the

Dianne  48:10  
NIMBY, you got two sides, 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  48:13  
not in my backyard 

Dianne  48:14  
That's right. Yeah. And a feeling that they were victims. As on the west side, it was perceived as a real threat to their neighborhood, diminished housing, and heightened crime rates.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  48:30  
So tell me a little bit about who was was projected to live in this group home.

Dianne  48:38  
The cream of the crop of mental illness and disabilities. Okay. The other side of the story. Were residents and parents of older children with mental illness, or other disabilities, and they use their own financial means they wanted to buy property and provide for their children. They saw this as a way to make sure that older adult child would be cared for when they no longer could be able to care for them. So they were buying property and the Thresholds, Willpower, which are organizations, they were in Northfield, they administered the program. They would provide the manager of the home, the night manager, the caseworkers, the educational and work activities for the group home residents. So parents would afford the place and fill it with whatever necessities and then you had Willpower or Thresholds. I think it's New Foundation now. I think that group is at 444 Frontage road. Okay. All right, yeah. And my responsibilities encompass the initial and the annual gathering of documents, arranging a home inspection with the community development and fire departments. And then we could provide a license for one year. And then we did it all over again. I also would contact the fire department or the police department and ask if there was any complaints that had come in. That was Heidi Voorhees I was very much involved with Heidi at the time in order because we had a community meeting at the Wilmette golf course. And it was for all any, any residents who were interested in this. We had our department heads there. And it was an angry crowd that came in. They did not want it in their neighborhood.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  51:01  
So were they were they were these people who were buying the property were they Wilmette residents or yes? And and so they had maybe already bought the property and were trying to get a license and the the area residents were objecting is that, would you say that was accurate?

Dianne  51:29  
I think the property was probably purchased because we knew the address. Okay. And, you know, it, even going to the village for approval, it was still a very unruly crowd.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  51:48  
And did the the people who object, objected did they prevail or?

Dianne  51:56  
No, no, we, because let me give you a background. Yeah. The US Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmsted versus LC Olmstead found the unjustified segregation of people with disabilities as a form of unlawful discrimination under the ADA. The ADA's integration mandate requires the individual with disabilities receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. So you have an established federal law, you're following ADA. This is also at the time when children were coming to Wilmette because Wilmette had a very good program and assimilating these children in providing the needs that they needed, this information got out to others who had people moving in because their children needed special care. So it not only involved children, but it also in this case involved those with mental illness, but they are not going to place anyone in a group home unless, you know, they are, as I said, cream of the crop. So the parents were able to provide Willpower Thresholds did a wonderful job, they still do, as I say, I think it's New Power instead of Willpower now.  Thresholds is also down in Chicago. They're known to be able, no longer do we have I think group homes, I think the the there's been a new thought that you buy a larger building, and each occupant has their own facility, and you have a manager in that building that keeps watch and check and whatever needs are needed. And so that person is living totally by themself, because they're able now to and also, for example, Jewel has hired, they're very good in hiring those that can do a function. And they still do, you know, so it was a matter of educating if you could, and if you couldn't, then providing some kind of place in the daytime, where they can be. Everybody was gone from the group home during the day, they all had a job. And they would come back.  They had a night manager and they would prepare their meals. I mean, it was it was a home. I think five was the minimum that and the maximum you could have.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  54:35  
So so it was in a lot of ways these were, I  mean it was it was a small number of people and and it it sounds like maybe initially the residents were fearful of what was what what 

Dianne  54:53  
their property values, the crime rate was going to increase.Right, right. But that's proofed wrong. And it became a moot issue after a while. And we had another one come. There was another organization that right before I left, I believe, that two years maybe before I left that, we became eligible for a group home. But as I say, I think that's now reversed. I think Evanston has a larger structure over there where they have individuals, I'm not quite sure since I'm not involved in it.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  55:26  
right. Right. I could imagine I at one point in my, my career I worked with people with with disabilities of various kinds. And I can, I can imagine that things have changed over the years, but I do remember when I was living in Minnesota at the time, and I remember when this change and working in social work, and this change happened in the in Minnesota anyway, in the in the 1970s. And where they were, had deemed that a lot of the psychiatric hospitals were inappropriate places for people to, to live in to get care on an ongoing basis. And they were closing the psychiatric hospitals on putting people in the community. And, and, and, and that worked. And it did not. Yes. Right. That worked. It didn't work in some ways. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that was yes, I think so too.

Dianne  56:32  
So it resolved itself. But at the time, and I can't remember the I thought that one of the trustees was going to get a purse slapped on her hands, or somebody came up to the podium, and I, you know,

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  56:49  
wow, was very, very, very vocal. Yes. Very emotional.

Dianne  56:54  
Right. Yeah. And before didn't have anywhere to go other than to, I think, you know, approve it based upon, you know, what they were looking at,

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  57:02  
and I could, I can see that possibly, you know, newer houses west of here would have been more desirable than houses east of Ridge Road, just because they might be more likely to be one level or, or easily adapted if somebody was, you know, had a disability or something like that. Whereas it would be much harder with an older home to do something like that.

Dianne  57:31  
These were older. These were older individuals. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  57:35  
They're all adults. Adults. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Wow, very interesting.

Dianne  57:42  
I don't know whether you want to go back to how my duties changed?

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  57:42  
Yes, I would like to. Yes. So you talked for at the beginning about, you know, what your duties were when you started. So, you know, 36 years, that's a that's an incredibly long time. How over that time period, you know, what kinds of things might have stayed the same? And what kinds of things might have changed in your job?

Dianne  58:05  
I think pretty much those screenings stayed the same. I added osteoporosis screening, just for a short time. The person I was depending on to do that changed. And so I wasn't able to continue with that. When we provided the group homes that made me do the licensure. So that was a brand new thing. Also, I administered the prescription drug, the medical sharps, the CFL bulb and the battery collection programs. And that was pretty much anytime that the health department was open. We took those and then other times we set times

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  58:57  
and then you had some some way to some segue to dispose of those. 

Yeah, this was all under a SWANCC, solid waste agency of Cook County, and I would attend those meetings and they were the ones that would come then provide the containers and pickup and delivery an certain days. Okay. All right. We collected a lot, a lot of drugs. It was it was good. And I'm sure the police department are continuing that program. The flu vaccine program required learning how to submit electronically Medicare request payments and that was very difficult so I was giving flu shots but I wanted in every well they're free. You know, it's what everybody thinks and so you do have to pay for them and Medicare which usually those that the the place to go to for the people that are taking care of or giving the shots to and It became a circus in order to try electronically use their program and set it up on our program. And Steve Johnson helped me immensely on that. And then after Steve was gone the I can't think of the gentleman that was a fireman. And then he became our tech person. Oh, Carpenter,  George Carpenter. Yeah. 

So this is the village's IT department. Yes, right.

Dianne  1:00:31  
Yeah, he was. He was wonderful. And but we had to go over to the fire department for somewhere where that particular station was in order to send it through in it, it was a lot.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:00:46  
So this was, that's interesting, because I would have thought that the individual person would have to do that themselves. But no, you were doing all of that. Right.

Dianne  1:00:56  
Right. If I wanted my money, yeah, of course, you have to go by their guidelines and how much you're gonna get paid?

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:01:02  
Because otherwise the alternative would be you would be charging them and they would have to get reimbursed by

Dianne  1:01:06  
they're not paying. It's free, you know? Yeah.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:01:12  
Well, that encourages them to get the shot. I have to say, yes.

Dianne  1:01:15  
And we had a good. We had a lot of people coming. Yes, I became the staff liaison to the community, or to the committee, commission for persons with disabilities and the senior resource commission. And I went to my goal at the time, and I said, three commissions, yeah, because that, you know, that's so odd. Yeah, so I can't remember what happened, I know that I ended up with the senior resource doing their whole senior directory, you know, which was a big, big undertaking at the time. So there was extra work with that. The park district came to me because they knew I do did vision and hearing and ask if I would do the vision on their lifeguards, apparently, something came down from the park district, other park districts or whoever the person is at the top and said, You need a whole the kids screen for the vision. So I would do go down to the beach, do that do those lifeguards, and then go over to Centennial and do theirs. And then the village asked me to do hearing conservation, because they knew that I did the hearing on the kids. This was a new act apparently came down that you have to make sure that you know you're protecting the hearing of your employees. So it was for public health, or public works, and the water plant.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:02:44  
So what does that mean? Were you you were screening them from time to time?

Dianne  1:02:50  
Yeah, on a day, they would come up, whatever they had to get their ADA license, okay, they would, I would get this, this many people need to be screened. So I will go over to public works. Using the audiometer, and where they heard it, but their hand up, down, so forth, then grafted out, and make sure that they fall within the guidelines. Okay, it was only a couple of times where it was very hard. And this is supposed to be in a way, what I want to say private. So I didn't necessarily share it with anybody other than to say this person has passed. There was a couple of times that there were individuals who did not, you know, was sort of put their job online, but you know, they had to prove then that they had taken care of their problem, and that they could hear sufficiently with aids or whatever it took. And then I'm sure that also they had all the education that they needed. And the guys were real good about wearing here. I mean, they understood

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:03:59  
that they needed to hear wear protective gear.

Dianne  1:04:04  
Right. I would say everybody was in agreement. Yes, we're using it. Yeah. I understand.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:04:10  
And what about so they were the only department that you weren't looking at, like the fire department or some other department?

Dianne  1:04:18  
No, it was only those two, the water plant because of the loud noise over there. You know, okay, generator. Yeah. And I'd have them come to me at the village hall. Okay, good over there. It's too noisy, too noisy. And then it was at this this time that I joined about this time that I joined the Cook County Medical Reserve Corps, and that was just on my own that was a volunteer.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:04:43  
And what is what is that? What do you do for as part of the Medical Reserve Corps

Dianne  1:04:50  
actually is a resource. It's just to strengthen your communities for emerging disasters. And they would say that that probably came about after the anthrax scare in 2001. You know, we became and alot of the hurricanes, hurricanes that came in this, particularly in the south. I remember the one in Florida, that all of the Emergency Nurses and doctors, if they could went down there in order to service the area, so this was part of the medical corps at the time. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:05:32  
Okay. Did were you ever called into?

Dianne  1:05:35  
Yes, yes, yes, I was. And I do have that as one of my other projects. And I want to also want to say that I volunteered, I was on the executive board of the Meals at Home. And that was initially started in Evanston.  It now goes even up to Lake County. They had become, its not Meals on Wheels, but they did two years ago become Meals on Wheels, Eastern Area. So we existed with private funds and trying to exist on the the foot guy that has in Dr. Scholl, he used   to contribute to us. So it provided a hot meal at noon, we is all on volunteers that are in cars. And the meals were made at Evanston and St. Francis Hospital at the time. So you could also get low sodium diet, you know, if you were restricted, on certain. So the volunteer would come in their car, they would pick up on a route that was already set, and they get that many food containers, and they would take them to all the individuals in their homes, they could not, part of the description was that you could not go to the grocery, on your own. You were homebound. So a hot meal at lunch, and then a cold meal that you could eat for dinner. They've since increased that so that there's socialization. I can say that I probably wasn't as much for it at the time. I think, you know, you're either a social worker, you're not a social worker. So these were people who, but I think it ended up it they have it, I think I think it's socialization for the person that's there. I don't think they're, they're giving out you got to do this or that or, you know, getting. So it seems to have worked out. I'm not on the board anymore. I served for about eight or 12 years. And after that, why I still go to their fundraiser. So that's

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:07:48  
so I'm, I'm interested. So that's, that's really interesting. The so Meals on Wheels was not really serving the area adequately?

Dianne  1:07:57  
Meals at Home. 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:07:58  
So this was a this is a separate effort. 

Dianne  1:08:00  
Yes, separate. By a nutritionists who started in Evanston, okay. And she got all these volunteers, and she got set up who was going to make the food and it it was all really even the board was made up of professionals, and probably women who men who wanted to who maybe have retired and wanted to service the community in some way. And so it was all the function of the board to raise the funds to send out you know, we all get together in the fall, we make out all these envelopes, and we send out our requests for funds for the rest of the year. And whatever advertising, you know, we tried to do in the local papers on thing and let the social agencies know that, hey, we're here if you find a client that needs to have food provided. So I enjoy

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:08:54  
a wonderful service.

Dianne  1:08:57  
And it still is now they have more of an executive director who you know, and they have somebody a clerk and they have somebody who does the assignment of drivers and you know, so it's more complex, more involved. They're bringing in more money. I always wanted to have a party and have it as a fundraiser. Well, now they do Yeah.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:09:26  
It was a good idea that she was chiming in come right. Yeah.

Dianne  1:09:29  
Right. Yeah. As far as the medical corps there was. There was one time when I stepped up, and that was during the H1N1 swine flu. Oh, because we had given the flu shots. And then came this unknown strain, new strain. And we had to get the H1N1 flu vaccine. And so Cook County organized, the Medical Corps was assigned. Also all the schools were involved public private. I gave the vaccine at Highcrest Middle School. I also gave it to a daycare somewhere on Ridge Road. And then on my own I volunteered. Skokie is a full fledged Health Department. That's something I didn't mention before. We were never a recognized health department.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:10:34  
So what's the what's the what would Wilmette have had to do in order to be a recognized health department?

Dianne  1:10:42  
probably 12 pages of answering questions and proving who you are, what you do. One of the things was to have a lab. We don't have a lab. Okay, that was probably the biggest obstacle okay. You have five in the area of Chicago other than Chicago, it's Cook County, Stickney, Evanston, Skokie, and Cook. So those are your five that are recognized that have laboratories that have doctors, you know, the nurses sanitarians. Evanston got rid of their public health nurses. It was a time. I don't know whether you were here when Mike Earl decided we would have an agency meeting with Evanston the new two factor that came in at that time. And that was at the time that all the nurses and I think they were looking at the budget, and they have nursing homes, so that they have to license those nursing homes. So there is a particular person that does that. They probably have a senior  omsbudsman person that takes care of seniors. And then you have to get your restaurants checked. So they had the sanitarians. So I, I'm not familiar with that what the nurses did over there at the time. Skokie has a physician, they have a head nurse, I think they had two other nurses. And they were able during the H1N1 to bring only those who are recognized could bring in the vaccine, you will also had to be able to provide refrigeration, which most people don't have that much room for all this vaccine. I don't recall I remember talking to the director and how she as able to doctor how she was able to get all that vaccine in. I went over and helped them give all firemen the vaccine, our firemen. I also went to where the firemen need, over on Patriot and you know, have demonstrations on fires. Right, right. And there was a lot of firemen over there. And there were a few of our nurses who went over there and gave the shot. And then there was two clinics over at the park district in Skokie, that great big building that sits over there, the Centennial Building over there. And we gave shots to the public. They could not restricted to because this was federal funds. That was federal vaccine. You couldn't restrict who came and who didn't. So it was an open clinic for anybody that that heard about it and came in, so was very instrumental, you know, we were able to cut down the H1N1 spread in a very short time.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:14:00  
Yeah, so interesting story.

Dianne  1:14:02  
Yeah. So we practiced. I mean, we would have meetings, where we would do, let's say, operations, there was a, like, invasion of some particular like smallpox and how we're going to take care of it. And then we'd have people who acted as patients, we had people as professionals and giving the vaccine and, you know, the fire, the police was there, how are we going to condone off everything, you know, all those things were taking place prior to the COVID situation that way. So there was a plan there. Right, you know? Yeah. So

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:14:45  
So are you still involved with that medical group?

Dianne  1:14:49  
No. Yeah. No, I decided that if I was going to retire, I was going to retire

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:14:56  
this. That makes sense. That makes absolute sense.

Dianne  1:14:59  
I'm not sure where We are,

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:15:02  
well, maybe you just you know, so. So you've told me a lot about you know how your job has changed over the years, and about some significant projects. Is there anything else that you want to add to any event that I haven't asked you about? Or you haven't mentioned already?

Dianne  1:15:22  
I want to mention some other happenings involving the health department or myself. Yeah. I'll go back to 1982. And I came in at 81. We had a series of seven poison deaths from the tampering of Tylenol. Oh, you remember that? Remember that? Yes. It was potassium cynadine. Cynadine, not cyanide. And it actually presents, prevents the cells from taking up oxygen. So that's how people is a very, not very good death. Yes. Very cruel. And I checked all the stores for make sure that they didn't get them get Tylenol off their shelves. I mean, they were all told to do that. And no one was ever found or charged on it. So it's still sort of a mystery who did that?

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:16:13  
And was this, to remind me to, was this throughout the country? Or was this just 

Dianne  1:16:17  
no local Local Chicago. Yeah. I don't think it hit the suburbs, I think it was within within the city. I got afraid that all the Tylenol who I didn't know where it was coming from, right. So they took it all off the shelves, interest. And then in 83, we had a measles epidemic. We had measles is a, if you get the measles vaccine, it's very protective it's one of the best vaccines that you can get probably 89% effective, if not a little bit more than that. People have been afraid of it there was a physician a long time in, in England that did a study but his study was very flawed, flawed, but in that he associated autism with the vaccine. And it wasn't forgotten. And it's always been sort of a bugaboo. You know, with getting the vaccine. So you do have these epidemics that occur at times. This one in 83 was a 73% uptake with those kids that were less than five years. 41 cases, and you had 23 cases 43% In less than the 16 months. So this was just due to a low rate of immunity in a preschool and school aged children. It came back in 89. And we had over 2000 cases in Chicago. And this was nearly 75% unvaccinated and Illinois was 10 times higher than the US incident. So this outbreak was traced back to Bradley University at Easter time. And the kids got it there. And then they brought it home and then it spread. And we got, I got many calls. Because this was that teenager, early 20s. And so what did my, did I get a measles shot when I was in high school?  Did I get one at St. Francis today? You know, 

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:18:32  
so it was like people were calling you asking you 

Dianne  1:18:34  
Hey, right. Yeah, right. I want to know whether I'm protected or not. My mom lost the records. We don't have records here, you know. So that shook things up for a little bit. And then in 01, we had the anthrax scare. And these were the spores started arriving in media companies and some of the senators received them. But then our own staff got afraid of sorting and distributing the mail downstairs. So we started putting gloves on, we started putting a mask on and somehow the mail got delivered to all of us. And this marked the first time that public health came to be considered central to emergency response and national security. They put it into the health department and how public health officials were working without adequate resources or training to understand the types of attacks, we began having public health preparedness. So when we go to a conference, it would be on public health preparedness. Everybody was getting ready and then we went back to the 50s where we hid in those shelters in ground shelter. And then we started getting packs of what we need. Then we needed started telling people you need this, this, this in your house in order to sustain an attack, you know, so and I already talked to you about the 09 swine flu and in 06 and 12 we had pertussis and this caused a school wide panic at New Trier High School. 30 cases were reported in 06.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:20:21  
And this is another this is,  there's a vaccine for this, is that right? 

Dianne  1:20:26  
Yeah. And they changed the vaccine a little bit, also. So there were new vaccines that were given that weren't, not everybody was up to date with. And in time, Cook County came in, and they ran a vaccination clinic in the school for students and staff. And then it appeared again in 2012. And you need to get this vaccine every 10 years. So you know, even us sitting here, we need to do that. new strains are all the time evolving, just like with COVID. And one of the primary reasons to vaccinate is, you don't start infants until they're two months with pertussis, the DPT. So you've got the babies that and they're not fully they go 2, 4, 6  months, 18 months, and then four years. So you really need those first three doses and if not the fourth dose in order to make sure that the babies are okay. And don't pick this up. Right. So I think that's all the other

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:21:34  
Yeah. Okay. Wonderful, wonderful. Now, you know, when you, after you left, my last question is, after you left, at some point, the village abolished the health department. And given the current pandemic, do you have any thoughts on that change? I. Yes, or anything else you want to say about that change in general?

Dianne  1:22:06  
Well, I do a little lesson to you with it's sort of the elimination is sort of consistent with data showing that since 2010, spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16%. And by 18%, locally, and this was a study that was done by KNC and Associates Press with an analysis of government spending on public health. At least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession, leaving a skeletal workforce for what was once viewed as one of the world's top public health systems. On a larger scale, our nation's underfunded system was unable to protect the nation's health during COVID-19. This hollowed out state and local health departments were ill equipped to respond to the COVID 19 pandemic. Pandemic, public health ranks low on the financial priority list. Always Yes. Since 911, CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program has partnered with state local and territories to prepare a plan for emergencies. And that's what I was talking about earlier. That Cook County Department was the leader in Public Health Preparedness seeking a collaboration with other first responders. The public health, the police and fire departments strive to work together and did formulate an emergency preparedness plan for the New Trier Township. I'm sure that this was useful during the initial COVID 19 pandemic. I respect the decision by management to close the Wilmette health department. It appears only reasonable that the health department would have been most helpful during the COVID 19.

Kathy Hussey-Arntson  1:24:21  
All right. Well, thank you so much. Diane, this is lovely to talk to you and hear all about your career and hear about different health issues over the years and Wilmette. So thank you very much.

Dianne  1:24:36  
Okay, you're welcome.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai