By Natela Cutter
Trying to get an interview with the busiest person at the Presidio of Monterey can be daunting, especially if that person is in charge of all COVID-19 data that leadership depends on to make important decisions, almost like the White House depends on their surgeon general.
Maj. Jodi Brown, the chief public health officer at CALMED and epidemiologist by trade. (Photo by Natela Cutter, DLIFLC Public Affairs)
“I am the chief of public health and assistant public health emergency officer and an epidemiologist by trade,” said Maj. Jodi Brown, sporting a big smile as a text message interrupted her thought process. A patient texted that her COVID-19 test was negative. Brown is happy.
Being interrupted by texts, phone calls and hundreds of emails per day, intertwined with meeting upon meeting, has been Brown’s modus operandi since the beginning of the pandemic last March. When the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center implemented distance learning for all students and faculty, Brown suddenly found herself responsible for the tracking of about 6,000 people from the Presidio of Monterey and all active-duty personnel in Monterey County and broader. The grand sum number is more than 10,000 people.
While most people would have panicked and hid their head in the sand twelve months ago, Brown jumped into the fray. Now that vaccines are beginning to roll out, she takes that in stride, too, calling it a light at the end of the tunnel. “No more 16-hour days and calls over the weekends, after hours and during the holidays,” she said.
For more than a year now, Brown has been the primary person representing DLIFLC and POM at the City of Monterey COVID-19 meetings, has consulted with local experts, and gathered official guidance. Once she interprets the information, Brown then advises the DLIFLC Commandant, Presidio of Monterey Commander and surrounding military communities.
“I love data. I like to be able to track data about COVID. That’s the most interesting thing. I love numbers, tracking the trends, and its exciting to me every day to see that downward trend and that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” she explained.
It is her love for data that has made Brown quite an irreplaceable asset.
“Maj. Brown has given amazing support to our service members and families. Commanders throughout the county, including Fort Hunter Liggett, Camp Roberts, NPS (Naval Postgraduate School) and DLI, resoundingly highlight how important she is to their mission,” said DLIFLC Commandant Col. Gary Hausman.
Yet data collection and interpretation has not been Brown’s only COVID tasking. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she has been responsible for keeping an eye on all coronavirus cases, or potential cases for DoD personnel within Monterey County and surrounding areas.
“Contact tracing and investigation is the most time-consuming. It’s a 24-7 job. We never know when those cases are going to come up… I monitor everyone in quarantine, they have to check in daily about symptoms, and if there are none, and they meet all the criteria, I can release them after 14 days,” Brown explained.
For those who contracted COVID, Brown is in contact with them every day. If they don’t call her, she reaches out to them in the evening. “It got tricky around Christmas,” she said, when the service members went home for holiday break. Many of them got sick over the break, but were able to stay at home, until the symptoms subsided. “Right now, it’s not as bad, but at one point, it took me at least four hours per day to get through everyone.”
As vaccination begins in Monterey County and on the Presidio of Monterey, Brown is confident that the future is looking brighter. “We just all need to be diligent to get through the end of this thing, an eventually get back to normal. I can’t wait!”
