Interview with Erin Cronn, September 29, 2021

Partial Transcript: [John]: So Erin, let's start with some background, um, where and when were you born?

Segment Synopsis: Erin Cronn, Public Health Nurse for the Cudahy Health Department, gives background information about her life in St. Cloud, Minnesota. She talks about her parents and her siblings, and talks on her fun experiences in the small town she grew up in. She talks about her High School experiences, talking about her interest in psychology, but her anger interest in her extracurriculars.

Keywords: Background Information; Childhood; High School; Parents; Siblings

Subjects: Career; Family; St. Cloud, MN

Partial Transcript: [John]: But, after you went to High School, you-go-you went to college as you said your degree is in psychology, where did you go for your undergrad?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about her Psychology/Criminology undergraduate degree at UM Twin cities, but realized after being done with school found a passion working with children and adults with special needs, pivoting her previously thought career path. She then eventually decided to become a public health nurse, coming to Wisconsin for Nursing School to be closer to her family. She decided on Public Health because she didn't want to work in a hospital.

Keywords: Profiler; Psychology; Reasturant; Special Needs; Undergrad

Subjects: Alverno College; Career; College; Nursing; University of Minnesota Twin Cities

Partial Transcript: [John]: And so-so what attracted you then like, why, other than not wanting to be in the hospital setting, what about Public Health made you say "That's my lane"?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about why she decided to go into public health, other than not wanting to work in a hospital. She believes it to be the "foundation" of nursing, where she gets to educate and promote health, as her family taught her much about diseases. She also gets to use her creativity in what she considers to be the "proactive" side of health.

Keywords: Disease; Hosptial; Public Health Nurse

Subjects: Career; Creativity; Health; Proactive; Public Health

Partial Transcript: [John]: So, you work at the Cudahy Health Department now. After you got out of school, this isn't exactly, this wasn't the first stop in your career.

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about her first internship in nursing school at the Milwaukee Health Department, working at a call center then working on the H1N1 Immunization front, as it had just impacted the community. She talks about how it was difficult to find a job, as availability was low due to people staying in their jobs for long periods of time. She stayed on with the Milwaukee Health Department for a while, eventually getting a job home visiting first time mothers, then becoming a manager of a mom baby program, detailing many other jobs that eventually led her to where she is now at the Cudahy Health Department. she now works as a "generalist," working with many different areas within the department.

Keywords: H1N1 flu; Hepatitis C; Immunization; Internship; Nursing School; Public Health Nurse

Subjects: Career; Disease; Nursing; Public Health; Vaccination

Partial Transcript: [John]: Um, let's kind of switch gears to COVID-19 stuff. Um what is your first memory of COVID-19? What do you remember about the "early days" of the pandemic?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about her first memory of COVID, talking about the first inklings to the first case (in March of 2020). As the volume increased, changes needed to be made regarding care. She also talks about the complications of testing, as they could only test those who were hospitalized. She goes through the processes and the difficulties once the number of cases became too large.

Keywords: COVID; Cases; Pandemic Response

Subjects: 2020s; 2021; COVID-19 Pandemic; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: [John]: As far as, so that's like part of your professional life, what do you remember about your personal life during this time? Or how did your professional life influence your personal life during the pandemic?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about how her personal life was affected by COVID as well as her job. She describes how "coping mechanisms" were taken away or changed. She talks about working weekend hours and tough situations, as traditionally, Public Health as a field is not immediate unless a disaster strikes, which it very much did.

Keywords: COVID; Pandemic Reponse; Personal Life; Public Health Nurse

Subjects: 2020s; 2021; COVID-19 Pandemic; Career; Life; Nursing; Pandemic; Public Health

Partial Transcript: [John]: Y'know, so you talk about the first case being in March of 2020, were now in September of 2021, what do you think the biggest challenge has been this entire time?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about her biggest challenges with her job dealing with the COVID pandemic, claiming that it was not only unexpected that the pandemic itself happened on such a wide scale, but that there were so many "not doing the right thing", defying the protection of the Health Department with widespread disinformation. She has had to deal with those genuinely terrified by the vaccine not only because of fears of needles but because of that misinformation. Once the vaccine came out, they focused more on that then the contact tracing and investigative work that they did before.

Keywords: COVID; Misinformation; Pandemic Response

Subjects: 2020s; 2021; COVID-19 Pandemic; Conspiracy; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: [John]: Let's kind of back up just a little bit, because you were talking about how you contact tracing you have to call people and tell people that they tested positive and then figure it out, y;'know. What are those calls like for you and-the other people on your team?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn talks about the calling procedure for those with COVID and those whose family members are in the hospital. She talks about how as they learned more about the disease, they were better able to ask questions to figure out whether or not someone might be positive. She also talks about the difficulty talking to families of those who tested positive or even died from the disease, and talk to them about quarantining or other complications with COVID. She talks about how her experience was a "really interesting" journey.

Keywords: COVID; Call; Contact Tracing; Pandemic Response; Positive Cases; Quarantine; Symptoms

Subjects: 2020s; 2021; COVID-19 Pandemic; Fear; Pandemic; Vaccine

Partial Transcript: [John]: Have gotten a sense of any uniqueness about this time in Milwaukee?

Segment Synopsis: When asked about if Milwaukee is unique as a metropolitan area when it comes to COVID, Cronn talks about how as a whole she does not know much about how on a large scale life it is different, but there are a few metrics to apply to that it does better or worse than others.

Keywords: COVID; Pandemic Response

Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic; Milwaukee, WI; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: [John]: Um maybe just a few wrap up questions, so what have you during this entire pandemic, what have you valued most?

Segment Synopsis: When asked what she values most during the pandemic, Cronn says that addressing mental health, especially in the midst of quarantining for COVID, was especially important for her professionally and personally. She talks about their efforts in helping people through making a "luminary walk," and trying to promote mental health as best they can. She claims a good thing that cam out of the pandemic was that she began to appreciate and enjoy the outdoors more.

Keywords: COVID; Pandemic Response; Quarantine

Subjects: 2020s; 2021; COVID-19 Pandemic; Mental Health; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: [John]: So we're uh, at the Historical Society we put on exhibitions with artifacts and things like that. If there was going to be an Erin Cronn, something in the museum, what would the object that would be on display for you be?

Segment Synopsis: Cronn answers that an object that would describe her covid experience would be either some mental health materials her team made or "fun" band-aids and masks to spread joy during her shots and the pandemic.

Keywords: Artifact; COVID; Mental Health; Pandemic Response

Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic; Museum; Pandemic

Partial Transcript: [John]: One more big picture question, is, y'know a hundred years from now, the somebody is studying COVID-19 in Milwaukee, the United States, and the world for whatnot, what do you hope people will understand for this time?

Segment Synopsis: When asked about what people studying COVID in the future will learn from this time, Cronn talks about how leadership that puts value in people is very important. She also talks about how people do and should rely on each other to help one another.

Keywords: COVID; Learning; Lessons; Memory; Pandemic Response

Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic; History; Leadership; Pandemic