Park County Forms COVID-19 Incident Management Team

Park County is taking a stronger hand in its response to COVID-19.

A new Incident Management Team has been established to counter the growing threat and spread of the virus. Park County Public Health Nurse Manager Bill Crampton and Park County Director of Homeland Security Jack Tatum are serving as Unified Commanders and they are buffeted by representatives from several Park County health and law enforcement agencies.

The team is seeking input from, and assisting many entities in Park County including Cody Regional Health, Powell Valley Health Care, Heritage Health, Northwest Community College, all school districts, City of Powell, City of Cody, Town of Meeteetse, Park County Commissioners, Powell Police, Cody Police, Park County Sheriff, several volunteer organizations, and others.

Objectives are being defined. The Public Health Order that was implemented across Park County last week was one of the first major objectives accomplished by the Team. Another was identifying a group of volunteers who will specifically identify and provide special assistance for Park County’s elderly population – the most vulnerable group. These volunteers will help the elderly with public tasks that would otherwise leave them susceptible to infection, such as grocery shopping.

In addition to the Unified Commanders the current team includes: Park County Fire District 2 Administrator Jerry Parker serving as Planning Section Chief, Park County Public Health Response Coordinator Kimball Croft serving as Operations Section Chief, PCFD2 Fire Marshal Sam Wilde serving as Safety Officer, County Treasurer Barb Poley serving as Finance Section Chief, PCFD2 District Training Officer Rick Fleming serving as Logistics Section Chief, Deputy County Clerk Hans Odde serving as Documentation Unit Leader, County Chief Information Officer Mike Conners serving as Communication Unit Leader, and Russ Wenke serving as Public Information Officer.

Since it is expected that an Incident Management Team will be needed for longer than the current team members can commit, they will be identifying and recruiting replacements.