Public Health System Transformation Update Newsletter
May 2024 | View all system transformation newsletters

Commissioner Tarryl Clark of Stearns County: What does system transformation mean to you? 

Like many elected officials, I entered public service because I wanted to find ways to connect with others, to help strengthen families and create vibrant communities.

And, like many elected officials, my work was supporting community health long before I knew to call it public health or population health.

We “electeds” might not realize at first that the work we do is very much public health-focused, but it is: Like our public health partners, we’re about connecting, leveraging ideas, finding the right person or group to make a difference.

As electeds and public health professionals partner to build strong communities, we have to help our colleagues see they already play a role in building health, and they don’t even need to change much of what they’re doing.

We can help them have that “aha, wait a minute!” moment, where they see their work connecting back to health—that public health isn’t just vaccines and emergency response, which are very important, but that public health is also about making sure kids are ready for school, using data to drive watershed management, fighting social isolation, soil and water conservation, maternal and child health, working for safe and affordable housing, helping fill food deserts in rural and urban settings. And, of course, partnering and building relationships with people in similar or different positions from our own, empowering our public health workforce, and helping community partners make a difference.

If we can help our colleagues see how their existing work supports public health and keep building connections, we can move forward together so that everyone has the opportunity for good health wherever they live, regardless of their zip code.

Commissioner Tarryl Clark was elected to serve Stearns County in 2018, representing the county’s first district on its board of commissioners. Commissioner Clark chairs the State Community Health Services Advisory Committee (SCHSAC), and serves as a SCHSAC representative on the Joint Leadership Team. Her favorite place to be in Minnesota is on a lake with her grandkids, listening to the loons and taking in each season's beauty.

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