DECEMBER MEMBER SPOTLIGHT!

Prevention 5 Member Spotlight: Jess Hyberger, Young Adult Librarian at Cresco Public Library.

Jess has been a Registered Nurse for 20 years, and has always had a passion for helping and empowering people to take an active role in their health and well-being. This interest led her to pursue a graduate degree in nursing focused on health advocacy.

After moving back to the area and looking for a change, Jess applied for the Young Adult Librarian position and hoped to find a creative way to connect her prior experience in healthcare and health advocacy with librarianship to serve the community and their health needs.

Since she began in March, Jess has been making a substantial, positive impact on the health and well-being of individuals through access to information, resources, and programs to address or remedy issues before extended care is needed, especially medical care.

Once Jess learned about Prevention 5, she knew it was the perfect opportunity to connect previous expertise and experience to her new role to further help those in Howard County. Through this partnership, Jess will make a positive impact on the community by creating a safe space for young people to exist, and helping them understand how their minds work, which could decrease the use of unhealthy coping mechanisms that can have negative impacts on their later lives.

The Prevention 5 Coalition is an excellent opportunity to connect and collaborate with engaged community partners to identify needs or potential issues, and to offer library services to one of our community’s most vulnerable populations - young people.

In her free time, Jess enjoys getting her hands dirty tending to her flowers and garden or taking her Miniature Pinscher Chihuahua, Dobbie, for a walk around town. Spending time with family, especially her 22-year-old daughter Grace, is her favorite way to spend time. Jess’s interest and talents in crafting and journaling have been especially helpful in offering library programs, which has directly led to the highest levels of young adult involvement at the Cresco Public Library in over 20 years. A Cresco native and Crestwood graduate, Jess is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the community that she grew up in.