The Ripple Effect: How Kansas’s Investment in Public Health Workforce Wellbeing Benefits Communities
Success StoriesJade Ramsdel, Performance Improvement Director at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), explains how PHIG funding is being put to work — starting with the people delivering public health services every day. KDHE used PHIG to roll out Mental Health First Aid trainings using a Train-the-Trainer model, equipping staff to bring those trainings directly into district offices across the state. The goal: help prevent and remedy the burnout that PH WINS survey data has consistently flagged across the public health workforce nationwide.
The logic is straightforward — a supported workforce is better equipped to serve communities. That ripple effect extends to how KDHE engages Kansans directly: conducting surveys in multiple languages, holding community sessions in rural areas, and partnering with all 94 local health departments to understand what public health challenges actually look like in every part of the state.
Video Transcript
The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
How have you been able to use PHIG funding?
The public health infrastructure grant funding has been transformative in a number of ways. We’ve used it to support our internal systems, but also looking at the ways in which we can support communities across Kansas. The great thing about the grant is that it’s very flexible, and not only flexible, but I always like to say it’s kind of modular. You’re able to move it and shift in various ways based on the need. To be able to think across the board of the ways in which we can support not only the Department of Health and Environment, but of course, fulfill our mission to protect and improve the health and environment of all Kansans through this one grant is pretty phenomenal.
How are you supporting your workforce?
If I had to think of one measurable example where we’ve seen those improvements, it’s probably with some of the internal systems and trainings that we rolled out. Several staff are attending them – and they’re not just required trainings that folks are going to, they’re really signing up. An example of that has been with our Mental Health First Aid trainings. We’re using a Train-the-Trainer model, where various staff members are not only trained, they are then able to go out within our district offices and to provide the training helps ensure that our workforce feels supported.
How are you supporting your communities?
It’s important as a department to consider how our work is going to impact the individuals throughout our state. I mentioned before, our mission is to protect and improve the health environment of all Kansans. When we think about the ways that we can support our staff, that’s one way, of course. We want to make sure our workforce feels supported. We’ve seen through PH WINS surveys across the United States the ways in which folks within public health maybe don’t feel always supported or they’re burnt out and those kinds of things. So if we can put measures in place to support our staff, they, in turn, are able to support our community better.
But then also we know we have needs within our community, and the best way that we can go about supporting those needs is getting out there and talking to folks. Whether that be a survey, whether that be providing various different linguistic needs so we can hear from different populations and what their needs look like, or getting out there and holding sessions within our rural communities and talking to our local health departments – it’s really important to know what things look like in every pocket or every corner of the state. And so that has been something we take a lot of pride in and take very seriously.
Why is PHIG important for Kansas communities?
One thing that I would say with pride is: Come join us in Kansas. We would be happy to take you across the state and show you the impact of the work that we do. We have stories from our 94 local health departments in various different pockets of the state where this work has been transformative. We consistently think about scalability and sustainability, and we take great pride in being able to demonstrate that.