South Iowa News

In its Feb. 21 meeting, the Ottumwa City Council received an update from Wapello County Emergency Management Director Tim Richmond about the County’s response to the aftereffects of COVID-19 and the conditions that came with the pandemic.

Richmond discussed various highlights during the meeting and also provided information to the council in their packets.

“And some of this stuff in here is just kind of notes I kept along the way and I thought it would be nice to include to take you down that that road with us that we spent that 50 intense weeks managing public messaging information, taking it from the Department of Public Health and CDC, converting it, delivering it to our public, and all the different methods that we did it,” Richmond said in the meeting. “At the same time delivering PPE, at the same time having meetings with all of our local health care entities to figure out what our resources statuses were and what do we need for the next week. And that just went on for 50 weeks straight, working double shifts and seven days a week. It was pretty intense.”

The report showed some of the strengths and weaknesses during the pandemic, which included the strength of the coalition in the county. The coalition involves delivering health care in the county, hospitals, clinics, physicians and all 21 entities. The coalition met regularly before the pandemic hit to collaborate and develop a relationship, and Richmond said that paid off in the time of need during COVID-19. He noted that it was probably the biggest strength they had in the community. Richmond added that it helped them know who had what resources and how to delegate, and to ask for assistance around the county. It also showed strengths in the organization and supply management.

“Emergency management is our real core function, and that is managing information, managing expectations and managing resources,” he said. “And we did all these things.”

Richmond spoke about some of the areas they learned they need to grow or improve in, saying the department has done a great job and did so during the pandemic, but there are always areas for improvement. The biggest one, he said, is staffing, but that is something not unique to the county or the state.

“I have asked the commission for a little bit of help,” Richmond said. “It is hard to keep up with all the demands of the community. We are going to add an administrative assistant to keep up with some of my initiatives. And we were very calculated in doing a part-time position so we can keep some of those expenses down. One of those things we are very cognizant of is keeping the tax-asking as low as possible and still provide optimal services.”

There is a staffing shortage in health care across the nation due to population distribution, he said. This is due to generational goal and career differences as well as post-pandemic burnout. 

Another area is about improving communication efforts, and Richmond said they are working on a mobile communication app available for all jurisdictions in the county. It combines everyday information, emergency notifications and other communications to send to residents. He said the department has received grant money to take care of the app.

“That is just an everyday resource that citizens can go to to find stuff,” Richmond said. “So when we are in crisis mode they are used to that and they can go, ‘Oh. Okay, I can go here and figure out where to find “X”.’”