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Kenosha County Wisconsin - State DHS secretary designee visits Kenosha County Job Center 18 December 2023 ( news )
Kenosha County , state Wisconsin ( By Press Release office)
Dec 18,2023
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When it came to getting a firsthand view of human services agencies working collaboratively to serve the people , Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary - designee Kirsten Johnson needed to look no further than her hometown .
Johnson , a Kenosha native , toured the Kenosha County Job Center on Monday , meeting with county officials and hearing the details of several programs that have seen success locally .
“It’s very clear that Kenosha has been working together for a long time , ” Johnson said , following a rundown of ways in which various offices within human services come together to provide for a one - stop shop for clients .
Human Services Director John Jansen said there is a long history of collaboration , dating back to when what were several separate departments consolidated under one Human Services Department in the 1990s .
“We have a large umbrella that has everybody underneath it , ” Jansen said .
One of the operations under that umbrella is Kenosha County Public Health and its laboratory , where Johnson and others on the tour saw clinical screening that was purchased recently with opioid settlement funds .
Another function is the Aging and Disability Resource Center , where the group toured the loan closet — operated in a contract with Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc . — which offers the use of specialized medical equipment and supplies to those who need it . Most of this equipment comes in the form of donations from the public , noted county Division of Aging , Disability and Behavioral Health Servies Director Kari Foss .
“It is the community helping the community , ” Foss said .
Johnson also heard about the county’s relatively new contract with Lake Behavioral Hospital in Waukegan , Ill . , Wisconsin ' s first out - of - state reception facility for Chapter 51 mental health detentions . This , Foss said , provides a cost - effective alternative to detentions at the state’s Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh , and it also keeps patients closer to their family supports in Kenosha County .
Other topics covered in the tour included a look at the Kenosha Overdose Response Initiative and the Families First and Long - Term Support programs in the Division of Children and Family Services .
Angie Moran , human service area coordinator for the state Department of Health Services’ Southeast Region , said Kenosha County has made one front door for people seeking services , with divisions that communicate clients’ needs among each other as needed .
“It’s a unique way of doing business , ” Moran said . “And I do always say , ‘Come to Kenosha . It truly is one front door . ’”
Johnson , a Bradford High School graduate , was the commissioner of health for the City of Milwaukee Health Department and director/health officer for Ozaukee County and the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department before Gov . Tony Evers appointed her secretary of the state Department of Health Services in February .
Johnson said she’s struck by how Kenosha County’s human services functions work together , that “there’s no wrong door” for people accessing services here .
“You have a lot to be proud of in Kenosha , ” she said .
Others on Monday’s tour included state Reps . Tip McGuire and Amanda Nedweski , and County Executive Samantha Kerkman , who told Johnson of the county’s ongoing work on a new Human Services building in the Sun Plaza shopping center at 3500 52nd St .
“That will bring all of these services into the heart of the community , into to the center of some of our most challenged neighborhoods , ” Kerkman said . “We look forward to further enhancing our services as we make that move in 2025 . ”
More information about the Kenosha County Department of Human Services and its various functions is available at
www . kenoshacounty . org/150/Human - Services
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