Thompson honored by Chamber

An unexpected announcement followed by a career change thrust a longtime New Rockford resident into the forefront of the community's COVID-19 response efforts. And it got her recognition as the Chamber's Employee of the Month for November.

When Lisa Thompson started her new part-time job at Eddy County Public Health in early August, COVID-19 cases were near zero. The Transcript reported on Aug. 10, "As of August 6, Eddy County had four active COVID-19 cases."

"It looked pretty good," Thompson recalls. "Danette was handling it all herself." Of course, she's referring to Eddy County Public Health Nurse Danette Schmid, who began offering weekly testing about that time.

A few weeks later, the case numbers started to rise across North Dakota, and Thompson's role shifted to focus on the coronavirus. In early September, Eddy County had 21 active cases. The novel coronavirus hit staff and students at NR-S school, then public officials at the county and city levels. In the weeks since the county has had as many as 82 active cases at one time, and four residents have died with the virus.

Dr. Jill Louters, Superintendent at NR-S School, nominated Thompson for the award. "Lisa is new to her position and in the middle of a pandemic and other needs, is orienting to a new job in a very stressful situation. She is professional and patient with requests and needs," Louters wrote.

Louters' nomination highlighted the fact that public health agencies have been thrust into the limelight due to the pandemic. "Right now there's just a huge need for what we are doing in this office," Thompson said. "We literally are dealing with life and death." Nearly every day she and Schmid are performing important work related to COVID-19.

Thompson said she also has plenty of "routine" assignments to keep her busy. Her primary responsibility is filing claims for vaccinations with private insurance providers, Medicaid and Medicare. Eddy County Public Health administered over 500 flu shots in October, and claims need to be filed for each one. She is also responsible for digitizing the paper immunization records of the past.

This new role has been quite the adjustment for Thompson. She was in her 30th year working at G & R Grain and Feed, a business her dad started in 1978, when she was told that her boss Chet Pollert was retiring and that she would be out of work by the end of the month.

Born at the New Rockford City Hospital, Lisa is a New Rockford native, as well as the daughter of an elevator man. Her dad, Ted Gathman, was an employee of Peavey Company, who moved around a bit to fill management roles at different Peavey facilities before purchasing the New Rockford site.

Thompson obtained her accounting degree from University of Mary. While in college, she did bookwork for her father. Then it turned into a full-time, permanent position.

"It really was my life," Thompson recalls.

"I came from a financial world," Thompson said. "Those business stresses are so different from this human stress," she said, noting that she often worries about community members and sees firsthand how many people are hurting and scared.

Seeing and hearing what she has about COVID-19's impact on residents, Thompson said, "I'm gonna be one of the first ones in line for that vaccine." The first doses of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to be delivered within the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, Eddy County Public Health will begin offering COVID-19 testing twice weekly, with events scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 1 and Thursday, Dec. 3 from 9 - 10 a.m. at the north entrance to the Brown Memorial Auditorium. Residents who wish to get tested should call 947-5311 and make an appointment. Each day the office can administer up to 50 tests. Results typically come within 2-3 days, but on occasion, it may take up to 4 days to receive results.

Do you know someone who goes above and beyond to take care of customers? If so, tell the New Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce about it! Nomination forms and cards are available at the Transcript office, in the table tents at local businesses and online at cityofnewrockford.com/chamber. Nominations can also be emailed to [email protected].