Guthrie County Public Health is making technological advances thanks to a grant from the Guthrie County Community Foundation.

The department received $7,200 during the Foundation’s 2020 grant cycle to purchase 15 new laptops, software, and for setup labor. Public Health Director Jotham Arber says this was the first time he had ever applied to the Foundation, and the total cost of the project is around $14,000. Arber explains that in 2016 the department moved from a paper-based filing system to an electronic based one, in compliance with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and to better integrate and collaborate with local physicians. Arber says the new operating system will be quicker and easier to navigate in maintaining health records for their clients, “And that will go a long way. The speed of the computers will be greater so that means that when we’re in a client’s home or out in the community we’re able to access that stuff faster and get that information quicker. So that we can deliver care quicker and more appropriately and that we can speed the process along for the collaboration piece between our providers and our home health.”

Arber thanks the Foundation for their support, and he anticipates the new computers to arrive in early July.