DARLINGTON — Hannah McMunn has accepted the position as the Health and Well Being educator for the University of Wisconsin-Extension, coordinating between Green and Lafayette County.
McMunn, began her position May 1, and is still learning more and more about her job while working from home due to COVID-19 “Safer at Home” restrictions.
“This is quite the time to start a new job,” McMunn said. “But everything has been going well so far in this strange virtual society.”
A graduate of Verona High School in 2011, McMunn said she knew she wanted to be a teacher, but really liked the health field. After finishing her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, she decided to pursue her master’s degree in Public Health and enrolled in Des Moines University in Des Moines, Iowa, graduating last November.
“I focused on health promotion that is really community health and getting health education out to communities. That was a really good integration of my passion for education and health,” McMunn said.
She completed her internship for her master’s degree at the Blank Children’s Hospital in Des Moines, helping prevent childhood injury and working with parents and families on injury prevention and family safety.
For the last two-and-a-half years she has been working in substance abuse prevention and mental health promotion, doing much of her work last year working in opioid prevention.
“Now as the new Health and Well Being Educator, I’m excited to bring those experiences from the past few years,” McMunn said.
Her position will primarily be focused on behavioral health, while integrating in other health and wellness topics.
According to the extension website, the health and well-being program works to create a positive change in Wisconsin families through evidence-based programs focusing on nutrition, food security and safety, chronic disease prevention, mental health promotion, prevention of substance abuse and health insurance literacy.
The Health and Well Being position is divided between the counties, with 60 percent of her time in Green and 40 percent in Lafayette.
McMunn’s goal for the next few weeks is reaching out virtually to stakeholders within the two counties to discuss the health and wellbeing of the communities within each county.
“Especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m sure there will be a lot of work focusing on mental health and overall wellbeing,” McMunn said.
She and her husband Ryan are looking forward to moving to New Glarus in the near future and being closer to family members. McMunn can be reached via email at hannah.mcmunn@wisc.edu.