KHI News Service
LAWRENCE, Dec. 13
Douglas County and Lawrence officials and the secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment were among those who paid tribute Tuesday to Kay Kent, the soon-to-retire director of the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department.
Kent, who took the helm
of the department in 1973, was the first non-physician health officer in Kansas.
Donna Bell, president of the health department”s board of directors, told the Lawrence Journal-World there are three candidates to replace Kent, but declined to name them. Kent announced last summer she would retire at the end of the year. She has been involved in finding her replacement. The new director could be announced yet this week, Bell said.
Kent “has been a leader in the public health field not just in Lawrence but in the state of Kansas and nationally, where her expertise has been sought,” Bell told the newspaper.
Kent also is on the board of directors of the Kansas Health Institute.