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Pam Kellogg-Marmsoler is clearly excited about her job in Health and Human Services as Mower County Health Services Manager. It is ironic that she says as a nursing student at Mankato State University, her courses in public health were not her favorites.

At that time, she didn’t have a clear idea of the broad spectrum of services involved in this area of work. Now she knows and appreciates the wide range of things covered in public health and she is very pleased to play a part in that. During her earlier years she loved providing direct services to clients and teaching them about health and nutrition. Coating the teeth of children on Medical Assistance with fluoride and teaching WIC clients about breastfeeding are among her many fond memories as she worked her way to her present position.

Now she supports a wide array of services, provided by Mower County, many of which are funded through grants. Much of Pam’s time is spent writing grant applications and then monitoring and reporting on the grant-funded programs. She also provides support for the supervisors over Public Health, Child and Family Social Services, and Adult and Waiver Social Services.

A list of the areas that she supports includes:

• Family Home Visiting- helping new mothers with parenting skills

• WIC -Women, Infants and Children- supporting good nutrition

• Long Term Care services- providing many kinds of help for those over 65 on medical assistance. (This is the biggest program with over 700 clients last year.)

• School Health- providing services for Pacelli School and Sacred Heart School in Adams

• Disease Prevention and Control – involving such things as finding cases of lead poisoning or active tuberculosis, and getting treatment

• Emergency Preparedness- recently involving all the work for the COVID epidemic

• Child and Teen Check -ups- regularly monitoring those children on Medical assistance

• SHIP- Statewide Health Improvement Partnership-  working with businesses and school s to maintain wellness programs like smoking cessation, nutrition, exercise

• Child Protection and Adult Protection- investigating problem situations concerning health and safety of all ages

• Waivered Services- coordinating services for those with disabilities to allow individuals to stay in their homes.

Pam greatly enjoys the variety in her work. Be it writing a grant to fund community health care workers, or researching a talk on monkey pox, she loves the job. When asked about her greatest satisfactions with her work, she lists her love of helping people and working with immigrants. Trish Herran, Mower County Administrator wrote to Pam, “I know you have done notable things your entire career, but these past few years, as we have navigated COVID, your work exceeds notable. You have led community health with intentionality and integrity and had to do things you likely never imagined when you chose public health as a career. Your strong and stable leadership as division manager for health and human services during this time has meant that I could sleep better at night.”

All of Mower County can sleep better at night because of Pam Kellogg’s work. Thank you, Pam!

For more information about the Austin Branch of AAUW, contact Sue Grove sue.grove@riverland.edu or Carolyn Bogott csbogott@gmail.com. The American Association of University Women, now AAUW, is open to anyone who has completed a two-year degree or beyond. AAUW welcomes men who support our objectives and there are student memberships available. AAUW has been empowering women since 1881. We support equity and education for women. Scholarships are offered, as well as help in litigation in cases dealing with sex discrimination. We are the most important and highly respected research and lobbying organization dealing with women’s issues such as equal opportunity and job equality.