ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Geovannie Gone has worked with many entities and community groups and coalitions throughout her career, and now, she will be able to add another one to her résumé.
Recently, Gone was named to the Governor's Council on Wellness and as she tells it, the opportunity to work with the council is another great one after all the other work she has been able to accomplish.
“Prior to working with the Immunize Kansas Coalition and now this Council on Wellness, I worked in the healthcare field for 18 years. I started in 2011, which was before the implementation of KanCare. I was hired by United Healthcare to help implement what is now known as the ManageCare organization in about 32 counties at the time,” Gone said. “Throughout the years, my territory expanded and by the time I transitioned to other employment, I was overseeing 64 counties, so it was a lot of work. KanCare was implemented in 2012, and I worked with United Healthcare doing community outreach and helped develop several trainings and helped with many new initiatives while working hand in hand with the state. After that, I transitioned to working at Genesis Family Health as the Chief Administrative Officer for the clinics in Western Kansas, where I helped implement the community health worker team and helped expand the community outreach.”
That work led to Gone beginning her tenure with the Immunize Kansas Coalition, a statewide organization that focuses on protecting Kansans from vaccine-preventable diseases and working with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and those epidemiologists to ensure the isolation of diseases.
“Another major goal of that coalition is making sure we're identifying any outbreaks and making sure every community has the tools and support they need to help stop the spread,” Gone said. “Because of that organization, I'm also able to participate in national coalitions and national meetings with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and even the U.S. Department of Health and Environment, so I'm able to see what other states are doing and assist in regards to the initiatives they've put together to help the more underserved populations. I was appointed by Gov. Kelly to serve on the State of Kansas Nursing Board, which I've been part of for more than four years now, and I'm also part of the Kansas Hispanic Latino American Affairs Commission.”
Gone said the appointment to the Governor’s Council on Wellness was rather surprising.
“I had no idea there was any open position, I was actually recruited for it. I'm guessing my name came up in some conversations, and I was asked if the council was something I was passionate about and wanted to support, and I said 'Absolutely,’” Gone said. “There is a need for services to be shaped and targeted to the more underserved populations, especially with refugees and immigrants, and that was missing from that group. I was extremely excited for the opportunity to be part of this council. Many of the people on these sorts of councils are people who are very qualified and have a vast knowledge of the population(s) they serve as well as whatever field(s) they've studied. To be able to serve on the Governor's Council on Wellness has truly opened up opportunities for me not only to learn, but also to advocate for people I'm very passionate about working with and serving.”
Being one of a handful of new members, Gone said there are a few goals she would like to reach while on the council.
“One main goal I have is to become more acquainted with some of the programs statewide used by different organizations to promote wellness across their respective communities. I was able to attend a conference earlier this year where the awardees for the wellness awards, and they were all such amazing people,” Gone said. “There are several clinics doing great work to help address healthcare within their cities with mobile clinics and other similar work. I love seeing that work happen across the state and how those organizations are truly committed to coming up with programs to help their communities become more active not only physically but also educationally in regards to learning how to stay healthy, so I definitely want to learn from other individuals throughout Kansas. Another major goal I have is to network and learn how the school system is working in regards to nutrition and how the students are keeping physically active and how the school meals are being aligned to meet nutritional needs and guidelines. Many people don't necessarily think about that stuff, so I want to be part of those conversations as well. I also want to help make sure we're being inclusive and addressing those cultural nutritional concerns that come up and how we can help with that.”
Gone added the council is already doing a lot of great work in a few different areas at this time.
“Right now, the council has identified three main priorities. One of them is relying on data and keeping up with the Kansas Health Rankings and making sure we're working with the Kansas Health Institute and collaborating with different organizations in communities throughout the state to make sure everyone has all the resources they need,” Gone said. “We're also coordinating information about physical activity, healthy diets and tobacco use prevention, so we're working with organizations on promoting combating childhood obesity, chronic disease prevention and other issues like that. We're also working to garner private and public sector support for those issues and working those statewide programs to recognize individuals and groups that support good physical health and tobacco use prevention.”
Gone said she is excited not just to be on the council, but also to be a voice for the Southwest Kansas area.
“I'm very excited to be able to work with everyone on the council and everyone we'll ultimately work with throughout the course of everything. There are also several events I'll be attending that will be highlighting and awarding people doing great health-related work in their communities and remaining engaged,” Gone said. “I'm excited to hear a lot of different perspectives and gain a lot of new knowledge so we can all come together and create something great for the state. I'm also excited to be able to see how we can expand our representation on the council to be able to reach the more rural communities, because that's very key because while programs can be run really well in the larger and more urban communities, it's important to not forget how the exact same work is going on in the smaller and more rural communities that also needs support and access to resources and services. It's a big responsibility because I do love Southwest Kansas and I feel we have many people who are very qualified and doing great work, and there's a lot of good happening there that might not be highlighted as much as the work going on in Eastern Kansas. A big example of that is the Liberal Area Coalition for Families, they're always doing great work and doing so much for that area, and they deserve all the recognition. It's important for Western Kansas to have an advocate, so being on this council will let me be at the forefront of what's going on in the state so I can help designate some resources toward that part of the state so all of that good work can continue.”
Overall, Gone said, she is ready to work.
“It's important for people to know they have the opportunity to be involved in this process as well, so if anyone has any questions or comments or concerns, they are more than welcome to get in touch with me by phone at (620) 521-1832 or by e-mail at
