As director of epidemiology and clinical services at the Peoria City/County Health Department (PCCHD), Katy Endress leads a team of nurses, disease specialists and other frontline workers on the epidemiological evaluation of health issues in Peoria County. She was integral to opening the Heartland Clinic within PCCHD in 2019, and now serves as the clinic’s nurse practitioner. She is also a preceptor and mentor to the next generation of nurses who are working to advance their education. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Endress has led contact tracing efforts for Peoria County—providing guidance on isolation and quarantine; assisting with outbreak mitigation efforts; and producing weekly surveillance reports to keep the community safe and informed.
Endress led efforts to obtain grant funding to prescribe medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorder, and she oversees the Narcan Advisory Group in assessing the burden of substance use in the Peoria area. She has been instrumental in prescribing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent the acquisition of HIV, and has successfully applied for multiple grants to support increased testing, surveillance services and care. She also helped organize Peoria’s first Community Baby Shower, providing resources to new and expectant parents and those experiencing economic hardship in an effort to improve maternal and child health outcomes.
For the past decade, Endress has been heavily involved in community service at Imago Dei Church, volunteering on the ministry team and serving meals to homeless families and individuals. She has served on the leadership team for the church’s mission efforts in Honduras, and she helped to create “Lady ‘Lympics,” an annual women’s event to raise funds and collect items for Heart House and its shelter services for women and children. A three-time recipient of Heartland’s Heart Award from Patients for outstanding performance in patient care, Endress was named Preceptor of the Year by the UIC College of Nursing in 2017 and received PCCHD’s Excellence Award in 2018. PM
