On March 6, 2020 Kentucky Governor, Andy Beshear, declared Kentucky a “state of emergency” due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.  Citizens of Kentucky and throughout the United States were asked to place their life on hold—mask mandates, social distancing and staying away from large crowds, capacity limits at businesses, restaurants, and bars. The pandemic overwhelmed health care providers and especially affected those in high risk categories, which included people over the age of 60 and those with chronic conditions, compromised immune systems (governor.ky.gov/covid19, 2020). For over a year, Covid-19 spread across the world and dominated the news and daily living. 

In 2021, the focus turned to ending then pandemic through vaccine distribution. Governor Beshear carried out a 4-phase vaccination distribution plan and slowly started to reopen the state (Ballotpedia, 2021). To date, approximately 49% of the state has received at least one dose of the vaccine (USA Facts).

During this time, FCS Specialists and Associates continued to develop and adapt materials related to needs associated with the pandemic and associated anxiety. Specifically, my statewide pandemic effort included recording 10 podcasts for the FCS Talking FACS podcast show (953 downloads; 20,460 indirect contacts as of 7/9/21), leading/co-leading 6 Facebook Live/Zoom webinars (455 live viewers and 12,340 indirect contacts as of 7/8/21), and organizing/co-hosting a 7-part grief series that indirectly reached 16,764 people (7,715 watched webinars on video Facebook posts or YouTube and 9,049 listeners tuned into the Talking FACS podcast series as of 7/8/21). Directly, the series reached 368 participants who watched/participated live on Zoom and Facebook Live.    

During this year, I also co-wrote a new FCS curriculum with Drs. Norman-Burgdolf (lead), Ashurst and Jones. The program is called, Kick Kentucky Cancer (KKC). It includes 5 published extension publications. We trained 20 agents to pilot the material.   A second project with Drs. Luecking and Jones and 2 extension agents, Angela Baldauff and Leslie Workman, includes writing a new holistic FCS Extension health curriculum, Pathways to Wellness. This series includes 4 new extension publications + curriculum and teaches health, individual and community empowerment. 

To further support my work across the pandemic, I wrote 20 new information releases, co-trained 60 agents on a new fall prevention program in collaboration with Western Kentucky University. Lastly, FCS Extension Specialist, Sally Mineer, and 55 FCS agents worked with the Alzheimer’s Association to re-boot the FCS collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association.   

References: 

Ballotpedia. (2021). Documenting Kentucky's path to recovery from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020-2021. Retrieved from https://ballotpedia.org/Documenting_Kentucky%27s_path_to_recovery_from_the_coronavirus_(COVID-19)_pandemic,_2020-2021

USA Facts. KY Coronavirus Vaccination Progress. Retrieved 7/8/21 from https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/state/kentucky