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Tweten Retires After Over 30 Years With The County

Valley County Health Department registered nurse Ella Tweten said "see you later" to the community and county staff on March 2 after working over 30 years for the county at the Health Department. Throughout the years she has seen many changes in public health, including the changes in technology, jargon and even increased coordination with the hospital. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she also had to put in the various trainings she has had regarding pandemics, and learned a lot from the experience. When reflecting upon her career, she admits she will miss most is the contact with the public stating "I'll miss the contact with the people, the babies, moms and dads. I'll also miss my co-workers and the day-to-day contact."

Tweten grew up in Havre and attended nursing school in Bozeman for four years. Growing up, being a registered nurse wasn't completely her first choice as a career, as she also contemplated being a teacher or social worker. "I wanted to be a teacher, but being up in front of people, I almost didn't like that," she explained. Healthcare was in the family line with Tweten's older sister choosing the nursing career as well as her aunt, who worked in the emergency room as a nurse in Havre. "Healthcare has always interested me, with stories about people, something happening to them, how they survive or just if they've gone through a hardship, especially in the health care. I was always interested in that. And just helping people be as healthy as we can be," she explained.

She graduated from nursing school in 1978, and worked with children for a couple of years, before taking her first position as a registered nurse at St. Vincent's in Billings. "I worked different shifts, nights, weekends. When this opportunity came up, it was a good fit for me. I have always liked community health, prevention and teaching. Though it has had some hard times, I have enjoyed my role at the health department," Tweten said. "Here [at the Health Department] we get to work independently, but have health officers that oversee what we do. I have liked that, mostly, until you get into a pickle! We have had great people working with us over the years."

She reflected on the COVID pandemic and admits working in public health, she was more shielded compared to those working in clinics and the hospitals as her primary role during this time was to help with the everyday operations. "We just tried to continue our daily routines. When we do trainings on pandemics, the question is always when it will occur. We did have things in place, but they did not work. There was no magic formula, we just kept going forward with what we could," she stated. "The information we did have at the time was the best information at the time and we tried to make it work for as many people as we could."

The Valley County Health Department held a retirement party in February to thank Tweten for all of her years of service. When looking into the future, Tweten has some projects and plans but nothing is set in stone. "I'll certainly get more sleep and do less driving!," she laughed while stating her husband jokes now she will be able to help with calving. Tweten is looking forward to spending time with her grandkids and traveling, while growing her hobbies of reading and cooking. "My husband also jokes he will get more home-cooked meals," smiled Tweten. She also wants to stay physically active by continuing with clogging and hopes to be able to improve on the sport. She also plans on deep cleaning her house, sorting through things and completing home projects that have been put off. "It's been a really good journey and it's been really fun. It's truly a different choice for everyone when it's the best time to retire but I'm ready in a lot of ways," reflected Tweten.

With Tweten's retirement, the Valley County Health Department has welcomed back registered nurse Jan Kaiser who will take on Tweten's job duties.

 

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