00:00:11,040	S1:
Welcome to Bismarck Insights with mayor Mike Schmitz, a transparent and engaging conversational dive into meaningful topics impacting local government in Bismarck, North Dakota. Bismarck Insights is dedicated to removing barriers between the city of Bismarck and the citizens we serve every day.

00:00:31,640	S2:
Welcome to Bismarck insights on Bismarck Mayor Mike Schmitz. And today we're focusing on Bismarck Public Health. And I have with me today, Kati Janki. Kati, tell us when you joined Public Health and a little bit about your background and what your role is.

00:00:48,360	S3:
Sure. So I'm the nutrition and health promotion coordinator for Bismarck. Really? Public health. I've been with the city of Bismarck since 2013. So over a decade here working in the public health space. I am a registered dietitian nutritionist, which just gives me the credential to kind of work in the nutrition space. And then a certified lactation counselor, which is a breastfeeding credential to support those breastfeeding moms. And what brought me to Bismarck was this job. And I have loved working in public health. I've actually been doing community nutrition work my entire professional career post college, and just really love working in the space to help people live healthier lives, and being in a community that strives to support their residents in achieving a healthier lifestyle. Sure.

00:01:36,060	S2:
Well it's wonderful. And your background, actually, my my wife's first undergraduate degree or her undergraduate degree was in as a registered dietitian. Um, she's not doing that any longer, but, uh, that's, uh, there's a connection.

00:01:58,020	So what? Where did you come from? And where did you come here right out of college? Or did you work somewhere else first? S3:
So I'm a Uned graduate. And in my clinical rotations, which you have to do to graduate, um, we had to do one clinical and one community nutrition. And during my clinical rotation, which was in a hospital facility, I did the work, but I didn't enjoy any of it because I just felt that going in to give nutrition advice to people that were already sick or dealing with something just wasn't. It didn't feel my passion, and I really wanted to be on the prevention side of things. And so during my community, my community rotation, I worked in extension at that time and back in my home county, and it was a lot of fun. Again, connecting with groups of people, different audiences, talking about healthy lifestyles. So following graduation, I did work a year and a half as an agent and training for Ndsu extension out of Grand Forks County. And again, it kind of set the stage for what I really wanted to do. I think the rest of my Career is working in the space of nutrition, education, health promotion and doing all those things, but not only focusing on nutrition. That's obviously my background and the part that I love. But what I love about the position here with Bismarck, Berlin Public Health and working in the city of Bismarck is I get to branch out into so many other spaces of health and wellbeing and support for healthy lifestyles. Um, that focuses on just the total picture of health. And that's, I think, what I truly love is the variety.

00:03:29,190	S2:
Sure. So let's talk about some of that healthy lifestyle in the programs that you specifically focus in. There's nurses obviously there and other providers that get involved. But let's talk about because you're talking about making changes to one's lifestyle that maybe helps them stay healthy and maybe not need something else.

00:03:48,670	S3:
Right. And that's really my focus is how do we keep them out of needing, um, the, the health care or the hospital visits? That's where I come in. And so it is nice working in the public health setting, because you can collaborate with those nurses in that clinic setting if needed. But I work in several different pillars, if you will, and thinking about the big picture of your built environment, and I think that's one of my most favorite parts, is in that space, I get to collaborate with a lot of departments within the city of Bismarck, and I think that's to a benefit of being a department in the city, is I get to work with planning and engineering and police department. When we think about that built environment and how it can create spaces that support health. I also get to do active transportation and work with kids and thinking about biking and walking, walking safely to school. And how can we create a better environment for them to want to be active. And so those are just a couple examples of where I get to branch outside of the nutrition focus. Um, granted, that's still a big part of my job, but just some other maybe non-traditional areas that I get to work in.

00:05:00,470	S2:
So from the nutrition education component that you are mostly focused on, what are the things that we are offering at Bismarck Public Health for our residents?

00:05:10,950	S3:
So a couple of areas that I would look at doing is thinking about social connections as one. So a lot of my services, outreach or different programs, that is often a foundation is how can we bring people together to connect. So I um, one example would be I go a lot to the Age Well Center, formerly the Burleigh County Senior Center, and work with them to again provide education opportunities through nutrition presentations. But also how can we connect socially for that group? Um, doing things in the community. I collaborate with the library quite often. Currently, we're doing something as simple as just a walking group. So bringing people together to walk, to move their bodies, but also to connect socially because we know the impact that has on mental health and physical health, and that social connection is actually a number one driver of health. When we think about the detriment that isolation can have on somebody. And so especially as we age, that is really important. And so creating opportunities for social connection. I'm a big advocate for physical activity. I try to implement movement as often as I can into whatever I'm talking about. And that's not I'm not talking physical activity, like, you have to run a marathon or you have to go to the gym. It's just regular, regular daily habit. So parking further away at the grocery store or having a walking meeting if you can, at work, um, taking a walk after meals, just prompting things that are realistic for the audience that I'm talking to. And so if you live a busy life, it's like, if you have five minutes, take those five minutes, that matters. It's the daily movement that's really important. And then thinking about, again the built environment. So how we can collaborate with other partners in the community, whether that's internal, within other departments or across other organizations. So I work with Bismarck Public Schools a lot to do bike buses as one example, how we can then support kids biking to school. So we bring in the police department to provide additional safety if we can. But it's really about just bringing kids together socially. Get them moving a little before school and just teaching them a little bit more about being safer on the roads if they are wanting to bike to school.

00:07:24,960	S2:
Do you have programs with the school age kids in the public school system or private school system? I guess it could be either right that where you are going there and providing educational opportunities for them, or how does that work?

00:07:37,800	S3:
Sure, I do collaborate with the school nurses that are in Bismarck Public schools for some nutrition ed BS does have their own dietitian on staff, so she does touch on that, but she's only one person too, so I kind of help fill the gaps and work with the schools when needed. Whether that's talking about I go on and talk about handwashing and just staying safe during those winter months. Again, safety and thinking about biking and walk safety. I've done healthy snack presentations or even if classrooms have food allergies, how can we like? Why is that important? And so sometimes it is nice hearing from somebody else in those settings than the nurse. So I collaborate quite a bit with them. And that's what's really great about working with public health is the partnerships. And you start to build the relationships with these other groups. And I mean, I've been here well over ten years, and some partnerships have taken by plus years to really build and have that ability to reach out and, you know, have that comradery again with one another to just support and know that I'm gonna bring education to the table and I can trust you. And so that takes time too, which is.

00:08:48,260	S2:
So you mentioned partners. What other partners entities are you partnering with through public health? Besides obviously schools. One would be one and and the library and and so on. But like are there are other organizations you're reaching out to to help make sure they have access to whatever. Absolutely we can provide.

00:09:06,210	S3:
So like I said, the ADL center, I am um, of common. Sometimes I feel like I'm there more than I'm at my office, but they really do value what we bring. I work with the Dream Center, and one of the things that we do there is with their food pantry that they have, we come in and put together food bundles. So using the pantry items that they are, they have, we bundle them into bags so that it's like a take home meal, if you will. So it's the ingredients for a recipe. So instead of them maybe just taking a can of beans home, we pair that kind of beans with something else pasta maybe sauce to create a meal so they have a better idea as to how they can turn that into something at home. Um, sometimes people struggle with how to prepare foods or what to do with it to make it more nutritious for them. And so that's been a really positive partnership with the Dream Center. And they find a lot of value in those meal bundles. Um, Parks and Rec is a huge partner of mine too. We've done some really fun things with them. Um, of course, anything physical activity related. But I would say one of the most recent projects that was completed that took a lot of partners was the Expressway Tunnel project, the pedestrian tunnel that was recently installed with a mural. And that was a project years in the making. I think this has been talked about for a handful of handful of years. Parks and Rec has had to, um, consistently repaint over some vandalized station that has happened in that space. And it just kind of came out during, um, the riverfront development conversation, stakeholder meetings that this connection, this tunnel, was such a great asset to our community. But often people felt unsafe or just they would get to that spot and turn around. And so we really felt that we want to connect the both sides of the, the river and with those great paths and parks and rec was a great, um, connector with that and moving things forward. And the artists that we work with, I mean, this has been her idea from the beginning. And so it really came down to funding. Sure. And fortunately, the timing was right and grant funding fell kind of all came together in different ways. And partners really pulled together. And that was done with community buy in, as we did paint parties. And so community members also had a part in it. And so that with projects like that, they find more value, they take ownership, take pride in that. And that way they also it brings health to your community in that they when they go through it, they're like, hey, I contribute it to that. And it's just that really sense of pride and belonging in a community. And so that was a really great project that we got completed this summer of 2025. And I actually just went over there the other day, um, just kind of check it out and walked through it. And it really does change that space dramatically. Um, Public Works was great. They replaced the lighting, which was an issue too. It was a pretty dark area. And so a lot of people came together and, um, made that project happen. And it's something great that I think our community should be proud of, or.

00:12:30,710	S2:
They should really help connect the North to the South.

00:12:32,950	S3:
Yeah.

00:12:33,710	S2:
You know, from the from the zoo down to south, correct. South of the expressway.

00:12:38,270	S3:
And structurally or at like the engineering piece of it, it doesn't drain. Well, that's kind of out of our control. Um, but even we had to work with the state to get permission because it's under state highway. And so all of these things that you don't think about behind the scenes, but it all, everyone kind of pulled their own weight and it it got accomplished, which was really exciting.

00:12:58,660	S2:
Sure. So if someone's got I'm going to kind of maybe try to I don't know, maybe I'm changing gear too much. You tell me if I am, but.

00:13:05,660	S3:
No, I'm good.

00:13:06,260	S2:
I can see somebody.

00:13:07,300	S3:
All.

00:13:07,420	S2:
Over the place to learn how to eat healthy. Can they call you? Do you have. How do you teach that? Right. Um. How do we get that information to.

00:13:20,020	S3:
Yeah.

00:13:20,580	S2:
So, general citizen.

00:13:22,060	S3:
If people people can meet with me one on one, I can come into your organization, your worksite, your classroom. I can do both of those things so I can meet with you privately in, like, the clinic setting to kind of talk through, um, your own personal eating habits. I will say, because I've been in the community nutrition space for so many years, I it's a more intricate medical nutrition therapy is probably beyond my scope, but that's where, again, we could connect or refer to someone that's probably a better fit. I have the background and the science knowledge to to set the foundation, but if it's a more extensive, I just want to would want to make sure that we're getting the best care. Um, but if it's nutrition and meal planning, um, just meal ideas even like working with families and, you know, picky eaters and things like that. Um, absolutely. They can reach out to me, they can call my information's on our website, but they can call our office and just connect. And you work with me directly to schedule all of that. So I'm here for our employees. I'm here for our community, and that's my role in the community. So I'm happy to do that.

00:14:33,000	S2:
And it's mostly I want to make sure people understand what it's not that you're going to give the, you know, somebody who's got a significant weight issue one side or the other.

00:14:40,480	S3:
Absolutely.

00:14:41,000	S2:
Too low to little weight, too much weight. That's probably a little bit outside of what you can provide.

00:14:46,220	S3:
And they could.

00:14:46,700	S2:
Always, but it's more that general. Yeah. Here's some healthy habits to develop.

00:14:52,780	S3:
And as a registered dietitian I am qualified to do that. But again, I just don't work with it enough. So that's where we could meet with me. Let's find out what you need, and let's connect you with the right dietitian. That could then support you for your care. And that's what to what public health is, is sometimes it's like, sure, you can come see us, but we'll get you the best care, connect you and find someone that can. So if you don't know where to start, start with us.

00:15:18,420	S2:
So as we think of that community living and talk obviously a little about nutrition, but you did touch about, you know, with the connection of the expressway tunnel, the active lifestyle and transportation. What is it that you are able to do and help our community achieve? I'm not sure if I'm asking that as a great question, but, you know, we have sidewalks, we have biking, we have other transportation. We live in a seasonal environment where it gets really not very nice out and then some really nice times.

00:15:53,170	S3:
So my approach is really how can we use the spaces and the the time of year to our fullest advantage. So if it's winter, obviously if it's colder okay. Not everyone loves going outside walking. Can we move inside? Can we? What are some clothing tips that we can give you to be able to move outside? Um, how is the environment around you supportive of your health? Do you do you not have sidewalks in your area? Um, and that's obviously a bigger thing within the city. But even just thinking beyond that, like, um, what I try to work with you or the community to think about the bigger picture is how can we support health? Um, that can just help prompt or nudge people in the right direction. Um, and so a lot of my approaches are to environmental change spaces when we think about, um, how can we make spaces more enjoyable for people to be in? How can we use them to connect with one another? And that's where like that space activation can come in. Um, in in the past couple of years, we've done some black parties with like AARP as a partnership and just taking a park that already exists, working again with Parks and Rec and taking a park that we have in our community all the time, but let's activate it and make it more engaging just so that we can maybe see those spaces differently. And it gives us some excitement to maybe then use that space in the future. Um, placemaking and design of a community really can be a difference maker. And I think we're doing a great job here in Bismarck. Um, we have great people working in those departments that do create those spaces.

00:17:44,690	Um, but how can we activate that? S2:
And that becomes part of what you indicated with the the partnering with our other departments for planning?

00:17:52,490	S3:
Yes.

00:17:53,050	S2:
Would be part of that. And obviously Parks and Rec, which is a separate governmental body within the city of Bismarck, but we work together. Right. Um, public health is kind of the center to some of some of those things when it comes to activities and planning. So that's when when we look at new development, you're are you brought into that conversation? If they're talking about parks or.

00:18:19,650	S3:
With the current revision of the land development code that is actually going on? And I know this, um, planning is seeking feedback. I was brought on just from a sense of are we continuing to create spaces? So, um, neighborhoods, places that is conducive of supporting health, and how can we be mindful of that? Um, my. I have a very small stay, if you will. But it's just so that we remember these things that public health matters, and we can't just create developments way far away and expect to connect people with resources. Grocery stores, getting kids to school, walking like, we have to think of all those things that when we create a city, when we have a city, how do those support health? And it is sometimes about access, walkability, um, and just what is around us that is positive, even just green space that is supportive of health and public health, really, when you step back and look at it is part of so many different things that go on. It's part of economic development, it's part of building it. It's part of safety through fire and PD and we are just little pieces. We're typically behind the scenes. You don't really think about us. Um, but we're there. And that's where I think I come in when we think about the health promotion pieces. What is going on in our community and is it supportive of health? And that's where I kind of get involved in different situations. And again, I might be just a very small piece of it just listening in. Just being mindful so that I'm aware of things that are going on so that when I have the opportunity to do something that can maybe enhance that space, activate that space, bring it to light, that I'm kind of aware of the background or how we got here.

00:20:07,180	S2:
Sure. Okay. Let's talk about, you know, nutrition and food. And, you know, we certainly have individuals in our community who may be lacking enough food at times, maybe frequently.

00:20:24,500	So what's the access and how do you help that role? S3:
Food access is a very key part of public health and that can be a few different areas. So I'll kind of touch on some of the things I'm working on currently. We can think of food access in the lens of local foods. And so I do work with Farmers Market Promotion. One of the projects I'm currently part of is in partnership with strengthened NDI, which is a statewide organization. We are working on a pilot for a mobile farmers market, and people might think, well, we have farmers markets. Why do we need that? Not everybody goes to farmers markets and it's because of lack of transportation. Or it could be cost. There's a few different barriers that could prevent them from getting there, but they should be able to have the access. So we are bringing in essentially a farmer's market to them. So working maybe with, um, lower income neighborhoods or again, older the senior center the age will center older adults and bringing the farmer's market to them. So that is a pilot that we're working on. We launched last year. We're looking to expand still very much in a pilot phase as we kind of, um, we're kind of building our market as we go, but Local Foods is one area that I really love. And again, it's that's a positive for our community when we think about economic development too. I also work in the space of farm to school. So Bismarck Public Schools, we partner a lot with them in getting farmers and producers and food into our school system. And then the other piece is with Great Plains Food Bank, and they have been instrumental in, um, doing with some of the work that I've been doing. I'm very grateful for that partnership. We have an in clinic wellness pantry that is for the clients that we serve. Um, so if they screen for hunger, they can access our in clinic while they're there for health services. But then a really great thing for the community is our mobile food distribution events. And Great Plains Food Bank brings food in. And then we funnel, um, we do a drive through and funnel food through cars as they come through our garage. So nobody has to get out of their car, which is great all seasons of the year in that garage space that we have on the back of our public health unit has been super instrumental for not only other like vaccination clinics or different things that we've done, but also for something like this where people can come pick up food for themselves and for other households. So too, if they have somebody that can't get there, um, or we've had even some of our nurses for their clients they serve come through, pick up so they can bring it to their clients that can't get out. And that's been a really great partnership. And that happens every other month right now. So we actually just had one yesterday out of our facility and we served 120 households.

00:23:11,410	S2:
That's amazing. And it's only probably touching a small piece of of that need. Thankfully we have people like the Dream Center and other other not for profit organizations that are helping support that. Um, so, you know, health and healthy communities and what kind of things that we need to do to make sure we continue those improvements as we go into the future. Um, that you can help make sure are at the front of mind. Maybe for for a developer or for our own community development and planning department, or just as individuals. Um, even in your own neighborhood, maybe there's things that they can as a community. Neighborhood can do. Uh, what kind of things should we do to make sure we have healthy improvements ongoing? Because they don't just happen.

00:24:01,750	S3:
They don't just happen. And I think the first thing to remember within, I think the city of Bismarck. But public health is partnerships and collaborations are instrumental in making and making things happen. I don't do any of this work alone, I am. It's not just me. I have so many people that I can reach out to that support the work that I do, and I support their work too. And so when we come together, that's really when the things happen. Um, like I said, the expressway tunnel is a perfect example, um, of all of the partners that were involved. Um, But when you think about how we can continue to create a healthy community here in Bismarck, it is being mindful, I think, to as an individual organization that when we say public health, we truly mean public health. And it's such it's the big picture and that we exist to support you. And so if you have a question or are looking for something, reach out and we can talk through it. We're not going to say we're going to make a decision for you, but just to be mindful that there are ways that we can make the community more livable for everybody. Um, and that looks different. We have a vast variety of people that live here. And so how can we, um. What makes sense for me might not make sense for you, but that's where the public health lens and framework that we kind of work under and is kind of our foundation for how we, um, make decisions or projects that we work on. It really does come down to a partnership level, and I think open communication is really key. And just having those discussions. Um, I was told when I started with the city of Bismarck that some things will take six months and some things will take six years, and that has held very much true. And it's just because some things are really quick and easy, but some of the really big things that are going to make huge impact take time. And it really comes through just having those relationships. And that's, I think one of the best things that I love working about working in public health is the relationships that I've made as to how we can collaborate on different, different areas and all the pillars that I work into.

00:26:17,870	S2:
So I think, you know, you mentioned the partnerships and that's that's a critical component. And also as we develop or make sure we can stay healthy, whatever that needs to, I think, understand about what public health's whole goal is, is, is to generally make sure we as citizens of our region, are healthy and don't have to necessarily rely upon the medical providers to go get services, because we take care of ourselves a little bit more. And that's that's part of the mission of public health is to keep everybody healthy so you don't have to go to the hospital or the emergency room and incur a cost that maybe isn't necessary.

00:26:55,180	Does that make sense? S3:
Yeah, absolutely. We are really prevention is our focus. And then we also then it's maintenance. So we have some programs. It's not areas that I work in but within our public health unit we have programs that just help support you where you're at. But so that you your health doesn't decline. And that's also part of it. And so we are here to make sure that you can live healthy. You have access to healthy things in the community that we can nudge you to make the healthier choice. A lot of times you here, um, make the healthy choice, the easy choice. And I know it's like a phrase that gets tossed around a lot, but it's truly the work of public health is we want to create spaces and environments and places and ways that we can give you education that just nudges you to naturally move. A perfect example is if you have a wonderful bike path or sidewalk in your area where you live, you're probably more likely to maybe go for a walk versus if you're on a busy freeway, um, you're probably not going to go out. And so it's little things like that that just in our environment nudge us to, to do that. Even if you have a farmer's market in a green space in your neighborhood, what are the odds that you're probably going to head over there? They're pretty high, versus if one is maybe way north or way south from you? Yeah. Um, and so those are some of those things are intentional when we think about location and placement and who are we targeting with our audience. Um, and that can look differently for the different outreach and programs and things that kind of funnel through or that I might work on.

00:28:38,220	S2:
Sure. And I didn't really cover this or we haven't. But, you know, some of the some of the things we work on in community health and getting things done is accomplished with grants. And the grants are. Maybe we're the flow through to help somebody else get something done.

00:28:57,700	Do you have any examples of things that you've worked on with that grants? S3:
Some days I feel like that's all I do. It's grants. Um, whether they are, um, federal funneled through the state to our department or if they are private application. Um, one example is like the, ah, AARP Community Challenge grant. That's like a private grant that I could apply. Um, that is a funding source that paid for the expressway tunnel as an example. So I applied and we would be kind of like the fiscal, um, management of it. I funnel some of the, the costs and work, but we're supporting other people. And so grants are how I get most of the things that I do. Done. Um, working in public health. We don't have a large budget for some of these things, and fortunately, we do have the grants that come through federally and through the state that we can target some of those things. But you get creative. Um, a little goes a long way in a lot of the work, too, that we do, because, again, the partnerships come together. And so you really don't need a big dollar amount. Um, and even with the mobile farmers market, that is a collaboration that I'm doing, um, right now, the dollars to kind of move that forward are coming from the other entity and through grants that I helped write. Um, and so it just looks differently and how they are. But grants are a big part of public health, and a lot of the work that gets done are grant driven.

00:30:23,450	S2:
Sure. Lastly, uh, as public health continues to adapt to. Its an ever changing world and the needs change. What do you see are the roles that you will play in that, and public health will play and just keeping us as a community healthy.

00:30:41,990	S3:
You know, I'm excited to see where the future of our community here in Bismarck and how it helps propel us forward to a healthier community. Like I said, we're doing great things here in Bismarck. I, we do like a lot of looking at other communities or on webinars that I sit on hearing from other places around the nation that are doing different things, and we are doing great things here. So I think that's something that we should be proud of, being in Bismarck. Um, but the opportunity to do different connections with groups, even outside of Bismarck, to how can we expand the work that's being done in Bismarck, even into the rural or into the region? Because, yes, I work for the city of Bismarck, but it our work expands so much beyond that. And I often share and we talk a lot in public health and we share different ideas across, um, how that how can we improve the health of our state? Because I think, again, as a rural state, what impacts us here in Bismarck might be in Fargo or Grand Forks and things just look differently. So I, I love the partnerships that are created at the state level, um, and how they can trickle down then to us locally here. But it's really about I'm excited for the spaces that are being created or looked at here in Bismarck and how we can use those to prompt healthier, healthier actions. Um, and whether those are new green spaces or just it's a new sidewalk or it's a new bike path, or it's that new farmer's market that might pop up. Um, working with the groups and promoting that to them. And how can we Encourage these healthy things, and really it's just getting in front of groups and talking to them, like, what? What works for you? Or how can I support you? And again, remembering that everybody's an individual out there and it looks different for everybody. And that's true where I think building that relationship with them as a group or an organization. But then when it gets down to the individual level, like, I'm happy to support you and work with each individual too. Um, and that's like I said, that's where I'm at with at public health and people can reach out and I'm happy to sit down and talk through or if you have an idea, um, and you would love to do something in your own neighborhood just as a collective, um, reach out for ideas, because I probably have thought about it. I probably have done it in some way, um, and can help you kind of think through some of those things. So.

00:33:14,390	S2:
Well, Katie, thank you for sharing today and thank you for being with me on Bismarck Insights.

00:33:18,230	S3:
Thank you for having me.

00:33:30,740	S1:
Thank you for watching Bismarck Insights with mayor Mike Schmitz. If you have specific topics or questions you'd like addressed in future episodes, email Schmitz at Bismarck gov.

00:33:44,340	S1:
Or call the City of Bismarck at (701) 355-1300.

00:33:48,700	S1:
To learn more about the City of Bismarck, visit Bismarck, N.D. gov. Or follow us on a variety of social media channels by searching Bismarck. Indigo Bismarck Insights is a collaboration between Dakota media access and the City of Bismarck. You may find Bismarck Insights episodes on government access channels two and 602, as well as on Roku, Apple TV, and fire TV devices on radio access 102.5 FM and on demand at Fretboard.