Nickell returns briefly

Betty Nickell, who retired in January 2004 after 28 years with the Marion County Health Department and Home Health Agency, is returning today, Oct. 1, to serve as interim administrator.
She agreed to return for up to six months after Administrator Joan Hynek resigned. Hynek’s last day was Sept. 25.
“It’s a wonderful department, with some very good people,” Nickell said of the health department. “It will be my job to maintain the current programs the way they are. They have some great programs. I will serve while they search for a replacement (for Hynek).”
During the 28 years Nickell previously served, the health department began numerous program, including the Women, Infants and children (WIC), well baby clinics, clinics for prenatal care, menopause clinics and at one time a dental clinic, she explained.
“Not all are still being provided,” she added. “Funding changed, and things changed. We expanded our environmental program and added a person. We expanded the types of educational programs and added more staff for that. We started doing flu vaccine clinics in the early years.
“After 9-11 we began community disaster preparedness,” Nickell explained. “Money was available, and John Hark was hired to do disaster preparedness while I was there. They have expanded on that.”
Since she retired more educational program have been added and the environmental program has been expanded, she said.
Nickell may have been ‘retired,’ but she has been very busy. As a volunteer she helped start the Hannibal Free Clinic, which is located space provided by Douglass Community Services at 711 Grand Ave.
In addition to continuing to volunteer there, she has done volunteer work at Hannibal Regional Hospital and with her church, Park United Methodist Church.
She is doing less volunteer work now, so she and her husband, Jim, can travel and spend time with their family. One son, his wife and their four children live in Cabot, Ark. Their daughter and her husband live in Creve Coeur. One son died shortly after Nickell retired, and his son and daughter  are college students in St. Louis. They also have two granddaughters in college, in Manhattan, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo.
Nickell is looking forward to continuing their travels when the administrator position is filled, explaining, “this is a time in my life I want to enjoy my family and spend time with them.”