Kathy Karsting, RN, MPH, became the new School Health Program Manager for Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services on November 16, 2006. Kathy comes to DHHS with over twenty years’ experience in school and community health nursing, most recently serving for eight years as Health Services Coordinator for Lincoln (NE) Public Schools.
Kathy’s nursing background includes public health nursing, Peace Corps service, medical surgical nursing, hospice-home health, and public health administration, as well as school health. Kathy has a Master’s degree in Public Health Administration from the University of Minnesota, with an emphasis in public health nursing. In 1992-94, Kathy was health services director for Northwest Community Action in Chadron, followed by four years in rural northeast Colorado as nursing director for the Northeast Colorado Health Department In 1998, Kathy returned to Nebraska to work with Lincoln Public Schools. Kathy lives in Lincoln with her two daughters, Claire and Sara, aged 12 and 10, and husband Doug, a fourth-generation Nebraskan from Blue Hill in Webster County.
Kathy brings to the school health position a love for working with nurses; a commitment to policies, programs, and systems that support the well-being of all children and families; and a great appreciation for the role schools play in the lives of all Nebraskans. “I am thrilled to be part of the DHHS system in promoting perinatal, child, and adolescent health. The opportunities to advance the practice of school nursing in our state, to support school health programs, and to lend expertise to how schools provide healthy and safe environments to children, are tremendously exciting to me. I urge school nurses and others to contact me and let me know your views on what DHHS can do for you to help you make a difference in the lives of children you know!”