Kayla Bebout will resign as the county’s health director effective July 16, she told members of the Christian County Board of Health at their meeting Monday night.
Devin Brumfield, the health department’s administrative services coordinator, will serve as interim director while the board conducts a search for Bebout’s replacement, board member Charles Turner told Hoptown Chronicle.
Bebout is one of six health directors in Kentucky who are retiring or stepping down, Kentucky Health News reported in a story that cites pandemic stress and fatigue as a factor in their decisions to leave.
“I feel the personal need to step away mentally, spiritually, physically for little bit, and to get refreshed,” Bebout said in the KHN story. “I have intentions of hopefully coming back to public health, but at this moment, I’ve got to do what is best for me, personally and professionally and that is to step away for just a little bit.”
Bebout joined the health department as director in January 2017. Previously, she was the finance administrator for the Pennyrile District Health Department at Eddyville. She earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Bethel University in 2016.
During the pandemic, Bebout worked with state officials to establish a drive-thru COVID-19 test site at the Stadium of Champions. Later, at the James E. Bruce Convention Center, the health department was one of the first in Kentucky to provide a regional vaccination site.
In her role as the county’s lead public health official, Bebout was the subject of both praise and complaints related to the department’s response to the pandemic. Many commended the convenience of the testing and vaccination sites. Others were critical of COVID-19 restrictions on individuals and businesses.
In one case, the health department had to negotiate a compromise with a local restaurant that did not follow COVID-19 restrictions and served customers in a parking lot tent that was not ventilated according to state regulations.
State officials singled Bebout out for recognition. In April, she received a Meritorious Service Award from the Kentucky Public Health Commissioner’s office.
Bebout has not publicly announced where she plans to work next.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
