Wyoming

Wyoming

Public health infrastructure within Wyoming consists of the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) in Cheyenne, two county health departments directed by Boards of Wyoming VideoHealth, and 29 public health nursing offices covering 23 counties.

Supported by Wyoming's Public Health Emergency Preparedness Program (PHEPP) Cooperative Agreement, individual contracts between the 23 county governments are established to create county-level Public Health Response Coordinator (PHRC) positions. Responsibilities of the PHRCs include, but are not limited to, writing local public health preparedness and response plans, providing assistance to the WDH during disease outbreak investigations, and fostering professional working relationships with local emergency planning committees, law enforcement agencies, healthcare providers, and political figures. The PHRCs are supervised by the local state-employed nursing manager and are under the direction of the state's Public Health Nursing Program.

Wyoming State Department of Health

Activities

In Wyoming, NWCPHP works actively with public health colleagues to design and implement specific training activities, assist in the development of a statewide workforce development strategy and support efforts to build greater capacity for public health education and training.  Examples include:

  • The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) produced a promotional video showcasing some of the programs, offices, divisions and facilities of the WDH as well as the unique landscape of Wyoming.  The video is used as a recruiting tool, as well as a morale booster for current WDH employees. Read more >>
  • WDH conducted the Wyoming Leadership Development Workshop in Lander. The workshop was attended by 47 public health professionals.
  • The NWCPHP Assistant Director worked with the University of Wyoming faculty to provide follow-up sessions for an Evidence-Based Practice course held at the Wyoming Public Health Summer Institute.
  • NWCPHP faculty, Dennis Stillman, taught a one-day workshop on Public Health Leadership.
  • NWCPHP has worked closely with the WDH in designing an assessment tool, analyzing survey data, and producing a statewide training needs assessment report entitled A Training Assessment of the Public Health Workforce on Bioterrorism and Emergency Readiness: State of Wyoming. This report summarizes statewide results from 879 public health workers, first responders, and mental health workers across the state.
  • NWCPHP's HRSA grant has assisted Wyoming in offering a broad range of public health and emergency preparedness training at events across the state.