Stories from Hertford County: How Public Health Shows Up Every Day

How do we build strong public health systems?

In rural Hertford County, North Carolina, the answer begins with people.

These stories emerged from community story circles, where neighbors gathered to share their experiences and listen to one another.

Through four personal stories, you’ll hear how a childhood vision screening changed one woman’s future, how a community health worker helps neighbors navigate care, why hundreds of residents lined up for COVID-19 vaccines, and how first responders work together in moments of crisis.

Together, these stories reveal that public health is more than hospitals or government programs. It’s the people, relationships, and public institutions that communities rely on every day.

Rural Narratives is a project of Narrative Arts, a nonprofit media and storytelling organization working alongside communities to share stories that deepen connection, expand understanding, and strengthen public life in rural America. Learn more at www.narrativearts.org.

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SPEAKER_04 0:00

It was the difference between I was a failing student that people thought just wasn't smart, and like being like, wow, I just can't see yet.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

A routine vision screening changed Catherine's life. And years before that, a school therapist had been there when she needed someone to talk to. Neither intervention seemed dramatic at the time. But together, they reveal how public health works through everyday moments of care and support. I'm Lena Hong. Welcome to Rural Narratives. For the past year, Narrative Arts has been traveling across rural North Carolina collecting stories about health. Many of these stories were shared in story circles, where community members came together to listen to one another and reflect on their experiences. Over the next several episodes, we'll share some of the stories we've heard across the state. And this week, we're in Hertford County in northeastern North Carolina, along the Chowan River near the Virginia border. Like many rural communities across the South, Hertford County has a long history shaped by agriculture, segregation, and generations of community leadership. Those histories continue to influence how people experience health and public institutions today. We'll hear stories from four people who call Hertford County home. Together, they reveal that public health is more than a single program or agency. It's the people, relationships, and public institutions that communities rely on every day. Catherine was born and raised in Hertford County. Looking back, she realized some of the programs she took for granted as a child helped shape the course of her life.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

Yeah, so I always say that I'm really proud to be from Hertford County. I'm a very proud Hertford County High School graduate. And I think there's a lot of really hard things in our community and a lot of hard things that I experienced when I was young. I couldn't see as a kid. I had terrible, I have terrible vision and did not know. And I was like failing, and they just thought it was because I I didn't know how to do these things. And in fifth grade, they did the eye screens, and that's such an underappreciated thing. But I don't know how long I would have been failing in school if that hadn't happened in fifth grade. Because after that, I became an A student. As an adult, Catherine began to see these programs differently. And it was literally something so basic that when I became an adult and started doing school-based health and like hearing conversations around the value of these programs, I was like, I can tell you the value of that program. It was the difference between I was a failing student that people thought just wasn't smart, and like being like, wow, I just can't see, guys. You know, like I couldn't see. Um and I grew up with no cavities, and I think those swish programs for that, you know, like lived for those swish days, right? Um, and those are the public health programs that I think often don't get appreciated, but I've as an adult really been able to reflect back. And if it was a small thing like a swish program or a bear care program when I really needed it, it changed my life. It made it it set me up to be able to be where I am today. With so many things on the chopping block and so many things being undervalued and underappreciated, I feel like stories matter even more to really lift up and say, like, no, it's not just an eye screening program, like it's life-changing for people. And it's not just a school-based program, it's not just bear care. It's like possibly the only care that these kids are getting. Because when you are in a family that's in a lot of struggle and no one can see it, but you feel it, but you're a kid and you can't name it, you know, like having that caring adult for even that brief moment like matters.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

And while Catherine's story began in school, Shannon's begins in the community, helping people find the care that they need.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

I am a certified community health worker. One of the things I do, um, and my goal in while I'm speaking is how important it is to be a resource, and that's what I am at my um job. How important it is to be a resource to our patients. So you have to break it down in their terms or their language or their understanding. And it's important to understand your patients, understand um the different cultures and stuff like that. I think that's very important when completing health screenings, asking questions. Um one thing I learned also the lack of access to transportation. A lot of people don't see the doctor because they're high transportation and for medications. A lot of patients say, Oh, it's too high, I just don't take it. And that's a big thing we have, especially with this area how blood pressure is big. So I played a role in basically communicating why it's important to do these things, why you should always do these things, and being a resource because a lot of our patients aren't aware of different things.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

And taking that extra care and time to really understand a patient goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

You know, they feel hopeless, they don't feel like there's in there isn't anything for them. So I get the research and finding stuff for them, um, send it to them, and the way they light up and the way they say, Oh my god, thank you for calling me. What's your name again? I gotta call you back. I have so many that just they look for me. So being that resource and being that tool and being helpful is is really, really, really big in this community in this rural area.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Our next story comes from Caroline. She grew up around public health and now works in the field herself. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped organize vaccination clinics that depended on careful planning and the trust of the community they served.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

My dad was a health director, so I've always been immersed in the health department. I currently do environmental health, so mostly in restaurants and things like that. Well, when COVID hit and everything went haywire, the restaurants weren't seating people, so we weren't doing inspections, all that jazz. And they recruited all of us that were available to do like the mass vaccination clinics. And so in the past, I have done preparedness, so like I was like, oh yeah, I've practiced this, like, this would be great. COVID was such a questionable time. People believed some stuff they read, didn't believe, and like when the vaccines came out, it was you know all up in the air. And the first clinic that we had at the amphitheater, and when I came to work that morning, and the the cars were down the bridge, lined the street down the bridge, lined the street toward the hospital. And I was just so proud of Hertford County because I was so worried people wouldn't come, I was so worried people wouldn't get vaccinated. And I was still working and I was going home to my son. So it was it was like a really big deal, and it's hard to see public health in on like on a bigger picture, and that day public health was like broadcasted in the best way, and I was I was really excited, and I felt really hopeful in that moment when I saw those people. And she says it wasn't just local people who showed up. I don't get a lot of thank yous on my side of public health, but that day everyone in the cars were just thank you so much for being out here because we did it in the snow, we did it in the rain, we did it in the sleet, and you know, and people were coming from Wilmington, they were coming from Virginia Beach, they were coming from hours and hours away because we were offering it and other people weren't. And our community was there and other communities were there, and it was it was really important, I think, to take that moment in public health and to remind people like what that does for the state, for the community. I was just excited to see that progress.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

For Caroline, those long lines weren't just about vaccines, they were about trust. Our final story comes from hope. She's lived in the same house her entire life, and over the years, she's witnessed several serious crashes on the highway outside of her home. One incident gave her a new appreciation for the coordinated work of first responders.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

I probably am one of the older people in the room. I have lived in my parents' house and lived in the house all my life. And four times uh I've heard a particular sound that has disturbed me. The first time it happened, I was probably six or seven years old, and it was a drunk driver that ran into my father's car that was parked in front of the house. Three times in the last two years I've heard that sound. And each town, each time was a car accident, and each time that car accident was directly in front of my house, not on the street that I live, but on the highway, which is across from the street where I lived. I was asleep. Uh, and and so at 11 30 I hear this noise, and I sit up and I think, is that my furnace? It wasn't one of the dogs. What was that noise? And so I sat there probably 10-15 minutes until I heard ambulance, or at least sirens. Later, I got up and went to the front of my house, and I saw the fire department, law enforcement, ambulance, um, highway patrol, I don't know who else. My point here is that their response to the accident that happened was in less than 15 minutes. And I stood at my carport door from 11:40 until 10 minutes to one watching the services that the first responders were giving to the accident victims, and thought to myself, this is wonderful. It poured down rain, and I felt sorry, but everybody nobody stopped, everybody kept working. Just a coordinated activity of taking care of individuals and saving lives, to watch the work that was being done and to think back over the number of years I've lived in that house. Um, at one point it was only law enforcement that responded to different incidents. And then at some point, Murfreesboro had a volunteer uh rescue squad. And here all these workers were coming in from all over the county, I'm sure, uh, and other places to actually deal with this incident. But I want to congratulate the first responders that have been on the scene and done their job, and how much is it it is appreciated to know there are people that work through all types of weather to take care of the lives of the survivors or the victims of any particular accident.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Today's stories from Hertford County show that public health becomes visible through everyday moments. Whether it's a vision screening that changes a child's future, a community health worker helping someone navigate care, neighbors lining up to get vaccinated, or first responders arriving together in the middle of the night. And behind each of these moments are people, organizations, and public institutions working together to support their community. In the next episode, we'll continue sharing stories from rural communities across North Carolina. I'm Lena Hong. Thanks for listening to Rural Narratives.