KINGWOOD — The Preston County Board of Health unanimously approved Kendra Barker as chairperson after she was chosen to replace Jim Fields who was recently appointed to fill Sheriff Paul Pritt’s term.
Fields will continue to serve as a member of the board.
Preston County Health Department Director V.J. Davis said the health department’s Diabetes Education and Support Group Program is growing. He said registered nurse Jennifer R. Nestor, who runs the program, was recently selected as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of West Virginia for 2024 By Women We Admire.
Nestor is the chief nursing officer of Mon Health Preston Memorial Hospital. She is also serving as the president-elect for the West Virginia Organization for Nursing Leadership.
Nestor recently earned credentials to become a certified diabetes care and education specialist. She said now that she is certified, future program expansion and growth could involve additional diabetes care team members and developing a curriculum, quality metrics and program requirements to achieve a certified Diabetes Care Program.
“We recently began partnering with Vandalia/Mon Health System to offer a program called Farmacy. This grant-funded program targets diabetic patients with an allowed enrollment of 15 patients that meet weekly for 15 weeks. Topics include a variety of diabetes education and healthy cooking topics. Farm fresh vegetables and fruits are provided to participants every week, which helps those with food insecurity issues,” she said. “We participated in the first class this past year and just started the second class beginning the end of June.”
Nestor said the WVU Extension Service is partnering to provide educational topics. She said regular diabetes classes are held at 6 p.m. the third Wednesday of every month at Preston Memorial Hospital. For more information about diabetes meetings call 304-542-7950 or email jennifer.nestor@vandaliahealh.org.
In other business, board members voted to put $15,000 aside designated for the septic system revolving loan. Davis said the money would be used for septic system repair or to install new systems. He said to qualify for the loan the individual must be denied a loan by all other sources.
“This program is modeled over Mon County that has been doing this for years, and are self-sufficient,” Davis said. “It’s difficult to get a loan on a surface discharge septic system.”
He said the borrower has 10 years to pay back the loan. If it isn’t paid, a lien can be placed on the property.
The next meeting of the Preston County Board of Health will be 1 p.m. Sept. 12 at the WVU Extension Services office.
