By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD, Ill. -- Michele Westmaas never hesitates to speak out for a cause close to her heart.

Now she'll be speaking out on health-related issues to help her fellow residents as director of the Pike County Community Health Partnership.

Westmaas already was working as downstate advocacy coordinator for Family Support Network, but the travel involved was hard on her family. She wasn't looking for a job, but she jumped at the chance when she heard about the partnership's job opening.

"It was an opportunity to make a difference, but to do that right here in Pike County rather than spreading myself throughout the state," Westmaas said. "To be right here in town, to be closer for my children and still have a job that makes a difference is wonderful."

PCCHP steering committee chair Jan Bleich said several people were interviewed for the part-time, three-day-a-week job, but Westmaas stood out.

"She has a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of skills that we were looking for in a coordinator. She's familiar with the community," Bleich said. "She has a lot of good ideas about how to pull people together."

That's a goal of the partnership, formed in 2007 to align collective community health goals, increase access to services, promote healthy lifestyles and find solutions to the county's most pressing health needs.

A $26,026 grant to the Illini Community Health Care Foundation, the partnership's financial sponsor, and a pledge for additional funds by the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and its Rural Health Initiative will help fund the project.

Community partners -- Mental Health Centers of Western Illinois, Pike County, University of Illinois Extension, Pike County Health Department, ICHCF and Illini Community Hospital -- also provided financial contributions or in-kind services including office space or supplies with more support coming from the University of Illinois Foundation.

As director, Westmaas will be responsible for implementing community wellness activities. "What we'll really focus on in the next year is developing a strong strategic plan," she said.

Westmaas' first public event in the new job will be Thursday's Pike County Health and Resource Fair, scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Crossroads Center, 125 W. Jefferson in Pittsfield. But she's already been busy behind the scenes helping with meeting facilitation and organization and becoming more familiar with the partnership.

"I've been in Pike County for 15 years. I'll always be a transplant, but I understand the county. I know the people. I raised my children here. I plan to be here for a good long time," she said.

Skills learned in the past also will help with the new job.

"I've had a little bit of grant-writing experience, and I'll hone that skill here," she said. "I've got computer skills, organizational skills. It's just a matter of working together with everybody to make things happen.

"I'm just really excited to be working with so many great people right here where I live and being in a position to try to really make things happen. We have a lot of potential to do some good things."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379