Approximately 100 people from various Carbon County agencies gathered Friday for the 11th annual Carbon County Human Services Priorities Breakfast.

The event, held at Whispering Pines Banquet Hall at Penn Forest Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 in Jim Thorpe, was held again after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hosted by the Carbon County Collaborative.

This year’s theme was Carbon County Resiliency and how agencies handled the pandemic and how they are setting their future goals.

Speakers included Lisa Perla, director of Heritage Hills Senior Community in Weatherly; Jennie Serfass, manager of the behavioral health services and rural residency program for St. Luke’s University Health Network; John Rushefski, superintendent of the Jim Thorpe Area School District; and Jill Geissinger, administrator of the Carbon County Children and Youth Services.

Carbon County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein, who is a member of the collaborative and organizer of the breakfast, served as the emcee for the event.

He welcomed everyone and spoke about the importance of this breakfast, which has covered many issues faced in Carbon County, from early education, drug and alcohol legislation, the courts, mental health and more.

“COVID for the last two-plus years has presented us with a very challenging part of our lives,” Nothstein said. “It has taken so much from us and our ability to interact with each other on a personal level. We have been quarantined, isolated from each other, restricting us and the way we do business and build partnerships.

“Although we have lost many friends and relatives with this deadly disease and endured the hardships created, we have changed how we went about doing our lives. We learned how to make it work virtually and work remotely and improve our technology to accomplish these tasks. We have formed partnerships through virtual meetings.” Nothstein added that through focus groups with county, state and federal agencies, as well as hospital networks, Carbon County has been able to work together to provide the things needed to continue education, health care, mental health services and more.

He also noted that while there were successes, there were also strains, including increases in drug uses, suicides and depression.

Each of the speakers spoke about their entities’ experiences with COVID and how it affected their business, their professional and personal relationship and their plans on moving past the pandemic based on what was learned the past two years.

Perla gave an emotional speech that showed the hardships that not only Heritage Hills faced with the pandemic affecting its residents and staff, but how it reflected in all nursing and personal care homes.

Serfass outlined what services the health care provider was able to better through the pandemic and how it is growing Carbon County’s health care system into the future.

Rushefski, representing not only Jim Thorpe, but all Carbon County school districts, spoke about what schools were able to accomplish through technology and how they were helping students continue to learn virtually when in-person studies weren’t available.

Geissinger, who presented on Carbon County agencies as a whole, said that while her department has seen an increase in child abuse cases, the various groups have worked together to provide expanded services to the residents.

Following the speakers, Nothstein presented the Excellence in Service award to Mindy Graver, who has been instrumental over the years with not only the collaborative, but also Penn State Extension, Safe Kids (now known as Kid Zone) and various other children-related programs without Carbon County.

Graver, who was surprised by the acknowledgment, said she was thankful for it.

“It is good to be back and see so many people that I have not seen in a long time,” she said. “It has been an honor. I started my career many, many years ago and I got to meet so many wonderful people over the years and so many organizations. It has been a blessing that I was able to help.”

The next Human Services Priorities Breakfast will take place on April 21, 2023, at Whispering Pines.