Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program (KHDSP) Staff
Promoting National Wear Red Day, February 5, 2021, during a January zoom meeting.
Pictured top left, Bonita Bobo, David Davis, Sheryl Meador, Lonna Boisseau, and Karen Cinnamond.
KHDSP Staff
The Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (KHDSP) Program in partnership with the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force is leading the collaborative effort to transform our state’s cardiovascular health approaches and practices. This is accomplished by utilizing collaborative workgroups to turn knowledge into behavioral change and to increase the use of evidenced based guidelines for health systems change.
Programs Categories of Work:
1) Surveillance and epidemiology
2) Health systems improvements
3) Community-clinical linkages
These efforts are supported by core public health activities such as partnership engagement, workforce development, guidance and support for programmatic efforts, strategic communication, surveillance and epidemiology, and evaluation.
The 2020 CDC focused strategies for KHDSP are to promote reporting of blood pressure and, as able, initiate activities that promote clinical innovations, team-based care, and self-monitoring of blood pressure; to promote awareness of high blood pressure among patients; to increase implementation of quality improvement processes in health systems; to increase use of team-based care in health systems; and to increase use of healthcare extenders in the community in support of self-management of high blood pressure.
Bonita A. Bobo, RN, HHS
Program Manager
Bonita is the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (HDSP) Program Manager at the Kentucky Department for Public Health. She started her nursing career at Kosair Children’s Hospital in the NICU. In 1995, she made the move to public health working at the local level with mothers and babies. Advancing with her local experience, she moved to the state level in 2001 and switched to the adult population. In 2006, she accepted her current position and has spent the last 14 years coordinating and overseeing the implementation of HDSP Program activities, coordination with both internal and external partners, development of materials, and day to day operations. Bonita is also responsible for identifying systems and policy changes to meet heart disease and stroke needs statewide; developing quantitative measures of program effectiveness; and participating on various state and national chronic disease committees.
Lonna Boisseau
Task Force Coordinator
Lonna Boisseau began her career in public health in 2006 with the Kentucky Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (KDPCP). Her primary roles focused on working with the Kentucky Diabetes Network, a statewide coalition, were she was active in the planning and promotion of the quarterly meetings and provided extensive support to the four established committees. Lonna also worked with the information technology department to develop a statewide diabetes database and resource directory. Seeing a real need to be able to determine that the appropriate educational courses were occurring as directed, Lonna developed an educational tracking system to monitor requirements for the participating local health departments that offered diabetes self-management education classes.
In 2013, Lonna joined the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention (KHDSP) Program and currently serves as the KHDSP Task Force Coordinator. Her responsibilities include the day-to-day oversight of the Task Force and its committees. She provides technical assistance to the KHDSP Task Force Steering Committee and participates in the development, revision, evaluation and interpretation of program policies, procedures and federal grant objectives. Lonna works closely with statewide partners and local health departments to clarify program protocol whenever needed. She also manages and has direct oversight for the Cardiovascular, Assessment, Risk Reduction and Education (CARE) Collaborative program, a statewide blood pressure awareness and education program. She travels the state to provide training and guidance to ensure the integrity of the program remains intact. Lonna works directly with the CARE Collaborative Coordinators and the Coaches at each site and helps to develop community outreach projects. She assists the Coordinators with the interruption of the monthly data reports and offers improvement recommendations.
Lonna and her husband, Brian, live in Frankfort, KY. She enjoys spending time with her family and six grandchildren. She is an active member of Southland Christian Church and serves on the Care Team and the Contribution Counting Team. Lonna also enjoys being a part of a Community Fitness/Running Women’s Group.
Karen Cinnamond
Program Evaluator - CHES Solutions Group
Karen Elizabeth Waddle-Cinnamond, PhD, MSW, completed her PhD in Social Work in 2016 after 20 years of community social work practice, specializing in program development and program evaluation. Her dissertation work was an evaluation of vocational rehabilitation services to Latinx populations in the southeast compared to the southwest over an 18-year period. Her interest in public health prevention and chronic disease management services is inspired by more than ten years of applying a Community Health Worker/Promotoras de Salud model in the non-traditional environment of vocational rehabilitation with a US Department of Education grant in Central Kentucky. Karen works with the KHDSP as an integrated external evaluator providing support for its CDC funded projects through CHES Solutions Group.
David Davis
Communications Coordinator
David has been with the Department for Public Health since 2016. He currently serves as the Communications Coordinator for the Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program as well as a supporting role for the Chronic Disease Prevention Branch. His areas of emphasis include oversight of the KHDSP Task Force’s communications, website, and social media accounts.
David has been in State Government for over ten years and has previously served as the State’s Earthquake Program Manager as well as the State’s SARA Title III Program Manager. David has a B.S. in Education from the University of Kentucky and formerly taught 5th grade in Lexington.
Sheryl Meador
Administrative Assistant
Sheryl D. Meador, is an Administrative Assistant in the Department for Public Health, Chronic Disease Branch with the Heart Disease & Stroke Program. Sheryl has been with the branch for three months. Sheryl takes minutes for our meetings, orders materials for our HDSP programs, keeps up with our inventory and sending out materials as needed. Sheryl helps throughout our branch.
Sheryl is a native of Franklin County. Retired in 2014 from state government with 28 years of service with a background in safety and last 12 years of her career was a Field Rep in the office of Vital Statistics. Sheryl loves to give back and to see people happy. Sheryl is a big Louisville Cardinal fan and her passion is cooking. Sheryl is involved in her church and God is the center of her life. Married to her high school sweetheart, and has 8 grandchildren.
Christen Walker
Program Administrator
Christen Walker graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. During her young career she has worked in banking, accounting, and administration. She currently serves as the Health Program Administrator for the Kentucky Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention program with a focus on data collection, training, and quality improvement. Christen is married to her high school sweetheart, Geddy. They live in Lexington, Kentucky. They both enjoy playing and watching sports and spending time with friends and family.