By Chris Spangler
A woman who was handpicked as the potential future head of the Jefferson County Health Department has been named its interim director/health officer.
Elizabeth Chilsen, who has served as the county’s Public Health Program manager for three years, will lead the department in an interim role when longtime Director/Health Officer Gail Scott retires on Jan. 21.
“Elizabeth has served as our Public Health Program manager for us since 2019,” Jefferson County Administrator Ben Wehmeier said. “This role serves, in essence, as a deputy role in the Health Department to include certain staff supervision and program oversight.”
He noted that prior to her arrival in Jefferson County, Chilsen worked at the City of Milwaukee Health Department from 2013-19. Her areas of specialty ranged from diabetes prevention and immunizations to cervical and breast cancer, communicable diseases and home visitation.
Chilsen graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in nursing, with a minor in psychology, from Alverno College in 2012. She then went on to earn a Master of Science Degree in nursing from Purdue University, with a concentration in executive leadership, in 2018.
“Elizabeth also recently graduated from the Local Government Leadership Academy sponsored by the University of Wisconsin,” Wehmeier noted. “This is a program the county has used to help in succession planning and prepping future leaders in the county organization.”
Scott, who is retiring after four decades at the Jefferson County Health Department, including 31 as its director and health officer, said that when she first interviewed Chilsen for the Public Health Program manager position in 2019, she already was planning to retire in a few years.
“I was acutely aware I needed to have a successor who could be successful in the position of director/health officer. She really impressed me with her interview and her experience at the Milwaukee Health Department,” Scott said of Chilsen. “Right after she left my office, I contacted County Administrator Ben Wehmeier and told him that I had found my successor.”
Chilsen did not have much time to learn her new position before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Scott noted.
“She was tossed into a new and complicated pandemic response with the rest of the Health Department and proved to be a competent and trusted manager,” Scott said. “Her skills in organizing and carrying out mass immunization clinics and training the new staff were amazing.”
Scott acknowledged that again, Chilsen will be learning a new position during the pandemic, but added, “I assure you she will do it with intelligence and due diligence to perform the job well.
“I will miss working with her as we have the past few years, but she will successfully carry the department successfully into the future,” Scott said.
Wehmeier noted that Chilsen’s selection as interim director was made in consultation with Jefferson County Board of Supervisors chairperson and both the Board of Health’s chairperson and medical adviser.
Her qualifications were reviewed with the state Department of Health Services’ regional office to ensure that she meets all statutory and administrative rules qualifications as overseen by the state.
He explained that when a permanent appointment is made to the Health Department’s directorship, it will require a confirmation vote by the entire county board and a final review from DHS.
Meanwhile, Scott, 64, is a Fort Atkinson High School graduate who studied pre-nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She then earned her nursing degree at UW-Milwaukee.
She worked as a certified nursing assistant and then staff registered nurse at Fort HealthCare, as well as a registered nurse in pediatrics at the Watertown Regional Medical Center.
In 1981, Scott started her career with the Jefferson County Health Department as a public health nurse. She was promoted to public health supervisor in 1985 and then director/health officer in 1990.
Public domain photo.
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