Health department head notes 'baby boom,' asks county to upgrade paid parental benefits
- Charlene Sims, Journal staff
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
By Charlene Sims, Journal staff
MOUND CITY – Linn County Health Department Director Amanda Snyder met with the Linn County Commissioners on Monday, Jan. 26, to give a report on past and upcoming activities at the department. Snyder talked about a “baby boom” in the county and encouraged the commissioners to increase the paid parental leave for county employees citing advantages for both the workers and the county as an employer.
Snyder reported to the commissioners that she and her staff have had several meetings with the Northeast Kansas Healthcare Coalition about preparing for the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup event in Kansas City. Snyder said the teams have been selected.and now the state is really working on determining what countries people will be traveling from.
She explained that it was important to determine what the countries’ healthcare standards are, what they immunize against compared to what people in this area normally immunize against, and potential illnesses that could be brought to our area. So there’s a lot of planning there.
Snyder gave her monthly report for January. As of Friday, Jan. 23, the health department had 146 client appointments. Snyder reported on the monthly highlights for January:
Have had women, infants, and children (WIC) appointments in the office as well as at Blue Mound last week. She said there were currently 27 clients expecting and six babies have been born since Jan. 1. “We’re currently in a baby boom right now. As soon as somebody delivers we get a call that somebody else is expecting. So, keeping us busy, “ said Snyder.
Continued CPR and first aid training for the Jayhawk transportation staff.
Last week, we went back to Jayhawk school district and just kind of did a Q&A over car seats with their employees that transport children, not necessarily on a bus but in a transportation vehicle. These kids need to be in a car seat, so they had some questions and the department staff went over installing and what type of seats they should be in and when to move the straps and harness.
Still giving flu shots in the office.
Attended the regional nurses’ meeting a couple of weeks ago in Chanute and did some disease investigation training. She said, there was a really good presentation on rabies by the state veterinarian.
The health department’s WIC nutrition services plan was also accepted.
Snyder told the commissioners about upcoming events starting with a new prenatal class that they were putting together called “Expecting Together.” She said that this curriculum is being written by the Linn County Health Department and it will replace the “Becoming a Mom” curriculum they had been using,
She said that Danielle Casey, head nurse for the department, has been working really hard putting this together. Instead of having a six week class where people are required to attend every week for two hours, this will be a condensed class. It will be 2.5 hours long on Saturday mornings. She told the commissioners that there will be a lot of hands-on education as well as multiple people presenting the education and they were looking forward to that.
She told the commissioners that the aid to local grant applications opened this last month and are due by March 16, so she will be back probably sometime next month to have the commissioners sign off on those.
Snyder reported to the commissioners that on March 5 the health department staff have a public health emergency preparedness regional exercise where we will be doing a tabletop exercise. She explained that all they’ve been given is that it will be a communicable disease. They are not sure which disease it will be yet.
The department will be doing its seed starts for its nutrition nook garden in the next couple of weeks, and once the garden is not frozen the staff will be having the soil tested to see what else it needs.
Next Snyder talked with the commissioners about the handbook updates the commissioners had been working on. She said that she would like to throw in her two cents on the discussion about paid parental leave with some thoughts and suggestions.
“The current policy was put into place back when I worked in the county clerk’s office,” Snyder said. “It was something that myself and Cindy Holt had brought to the commission as at that time the state had implemented parental leave for their employees.
“At that time they (the state of Kansas) granted primary caregivers six weeks of paid leave and the secondary parent two weeks of paid leave. And our commission at the time wasn’t quite ready to adopt that policy so they chose to do three weeks of paid leave for the primary parent and eight working days for the secondary parent. So that’s kind of where it came from and when it was put into place. And I want to say that was probably 2016 when that was implemented.
“So currently the state of Kansas has increased what they are giving for leave. They are giving 8 weeks of paid leave to the primary caregiver and the secondary caregiver they are giving 4 weeks of paid leave. And also there is a bill out on the table –I don’t know if its been passed yet – to allow employees up to 20 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal appointments.
“So what I would love to see, and this is just my suggestion, is six weeks of paid leave for a primary parent and two weeks of paid leave for a secondary parent, and maybe possibly unto 20 hours of paid leave for pregnancy-related appointments.”
She explained to the commissioners that there were some stipulations before an employee could receive this benefit. They were that the employee had to be eligible for FMLA and it would run concurrently with FMLA; to be eligible, employees had to work for the county for at least a year; and they would not be able to apply to the sick bank for hours.
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law providing eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year for qualified family and medical reasons, including birth, adoption, or foster care placement. It requires coverage of health benefits during leave, applying to public agencies and private employers with more than 50 employees.
FMLA applies to unpaid leave only, and aside from requiring employers to continue healthcare benefits for those on leave, it doesn’t provide for pay other than accrued vacation, sick leave or compensatory time.
Snyder elaborated on the reason for 20 hours of paid leave for pregnancy-related appointments. She said that most women’s healthy pregnancy prenatal schedule is usually 12 to 14 visits. She pointed out that Linn County is in a healthcare desert as far as obstetricians (OBs) and there is not a hospital in the area that does deliveries.
Using her experience as an example, OB services are at least 45 minutes away, time spent in the doctor’s office for an appointment is about 45 minutes to an hour, and the drive back would cost the expectant mother over three hours of salary for each appointment resulting in approximately 40 or more hours for prenatal visits.
Snyder said that employees are traveling long distances to get the care they need. She told the commissioners that it would take an hourly employee five months of working to earn 40 hours of sick time.
Snyder listed why she thought the paid leave is important:
• Benefits parents, families, and children.
• Improved mental health for parents.
• Stronger parent and infant bonding.
• Better infant health outcomes.
• Long-term developmental health benefits.
• Six weeks of paid leave allow the primary caregiver adequate time to physically recover.from child birth or to adjust to adoption.
• Longer paid leave reduces postpartum depression, anxiety and burnout.
• Secondary parent having two full weeks supports the shared caregiving, improves bonding snd reduces stress on the primary parent.
•The first weeks of life are critical for attachment, emotional development and long-term health.
• Increased leave is associated with higher breastfeeding initiation and duration.
• Improved infant sleep and feeding routines.
• Babies benefit when both parents are able to participate in early caregiving.
• Early parental involvement supports emotional regulation, cognitive development and secure attachment.
She told the commissioners that these early investments reduce future health and social service needs.
She then listed the benefits she saw for Linn County:
• Competitive advantage in hiring.
• People in childbearing years are definitely looking for benefits.
• Improved employee retention, reduced turnover.
Increased employee moral and productivity.
• Alignment with the county’s values and public service mission.
• Updating the policy signals that the county values families and models workplace standards.
• Supportive leave policy fosters a healthier workplace culture.
• As a public employer the county sets the tone for community standards.
• Supporting families aligns with public health goals, child well-being and community stability.
• And a modern parental leave policy demonstrates leadership and commitment to employee well-being.
“Updating the county’s parental policy is an investment in employee health, well-being, workforce retention and recruitment,” Snyder said in closing. “The proposed changes move the county closer to the state standards while remaining fiscally responsible and aligned with our values as a public employer.”
.