The current county health department building in Franklin is crowded.
Filing cabinets line the main hallway, on top of the cabinets sit boxes of supplies. Other boxes are scattered throughout the rest of the building, fitting on whatever surface is available. Employees often have to share office spaces or use common areas to work.
The Johnson County Health Department suite at 460 N. Morton St. in Franklin was always meant to be a temporary space the county rented until the department could get its own building, said Betsy Swearingen, health department director. The health department has occupied the suite for five years now, and it’s outgrowing it.
“We’re bursting at the seams,” Swearingen said.
Change is coming soon though, as the county recently designed plans for a combined health department and coroner’s office building at the corner of Drake and Hospital roads in Franklin.
Discussions about getting the health department its own building date back to 2008, Swearingen said. Back then, the department was located in the basement of the Johnson County Courthouse West Annex, and it flooded during the 2008 flood. It flooded again in 2017 and after that the health department moved to its current location.
“There had long been talks about, you know, building us a building, or, finding us a location,” Swearingen said.
The current space was a good temporary solution at the time in 2017 because it was larger than the basement. But it was soon outgrown, as the health department’s services grew and workloads increased.
Johnson County continues to grow in population. The health department is charged with a number of tasks dealing with public health, from septic system inspections to restaurant inspections to administering required vaccinations. They also provide other public health services, such as HIV and Hepatitis C testing,
When more people live in the county, the need for those services increases, Swearingen said.
“The health department’s constantly growing as the county grows,” she said.
The health department also spent the last two years leading the county response to the COVID-19 pandemic — distributing health guidance, and administering COVID-19 tests, vaccinations and boosters.
Inside the current office, the 25 full-time employees don’t fit into the space. Health inspectors are doubled-up in offices, two nurses at the location share an office, the office clerk sits in the common hallway, and the new school liaison and her staff share a nursing area, Swearingen said. The IT employee sits in the back corner of the building, surrounded by stored equipment, with a fan to keep air flowing.
When the health department received shipments of personal protective equipment, and then vaccines and the equipment that goes with those, they had nowhere to put them. Boxes are stored along the main hallway, in offices, and other spaces. The conference room was turned into a makeshift clinic.
The filing cabinets are also in the hallway for space, which can make it difficult to maneuver past if someone is actively opening a drawer. The health department stores several types of records, including vaccination records, death certificates and birth certificates.
Plans for the new health department will almost double its current space. The current plans include five general office spaces, three nurse offices, two exam rooms and multiple storage rooms for vaccines, medical supplies and records.
Not only will the new space allow the department to continue to provide its services more efficiently, it will also allow room for new services and growth.
Swearingen hopes to also turn the health department into a county government employee clinic, where employees can come to receive basic health services, instead of going to a private provider.
“I just know that the new space will help us expand into new program areas, and have the ability to add staff and just be able to come up with more ideas and services for the people of the county,” Swearingen said.
Swearingen is overall looking forward to having a “home” for the health department.
“We work together as a big family. So it’s nice to have a work home, to have the adequate space we need to better serve our citizens,” she said.
To read more about the shared county building click here.
To read more about the coroner’s office space needs click here.
