West Central Reporter

Emergency Response Coordinator and Staff Nurse Robin Northup will be celebrating 28 years with the Brown County Public Health Department in June, an accomplishment due in no small part to the passion she puts into her work and the rewards she receives in return.

“My experience working at the Brown County Public Health Department is different every day,” Northup told West Central Reporter. “I get to work in a place where I get to see family and friends on a daily basis and meet new people. I not only get to teach people how to care for their health, about preventable disease and prepare for the unexpected emergencies, I am blessed to learn from them also.”

Northrup says it is the people, in fact, from her colleagues to patients to the community at large, who have made her three-decade tenure so rewarding.

Emergency Response Coordinator and Staff Nurse Robin Northup

“I get to work with great people,” she said. “Two other things come to mind as I think of the favorite part of my job. One would be the humble feelings I have when I realize I have really helped save someone's life. The other would be working with the kids. They are so spontaneous and inquisitive. 

Northup thoroughly enjoys playing an integral role in the success of something so vital to a community as the health department, and she continues to have aspirations for how to maximize the impact of her position.

"I want to continue to build relationships with emergency management, local leaders, business leaders, responders and volunteers who are there to help in times of need if disaster strikes in Brown County,” she said.

Northup was born in Macomb and raised in Versailles. She moved to Mt. Sterling 40 years ago when she married her husband, David. She attended Brown County schools from first grade to high school and graduated from Jacksonville District 117 School of Practical Nursing in 1977.

“I had always wanted to be a teacher,” she said. “It was about six weeks before graduation, and I was asked, ‘What are you going to do after you graduate?’ I thought to myself, 'I have to decide that now?' After discussing it with my mom, who said there were too many teachers, I decided on nursing. I guess I will always be a teacher in theory as I teach people every day about their health and how to get prepared in emergency preparedness.”

After graduating from LPN training, Northup worked at a nursing home in Jacksonville for one year. Prior to joining the Brown County Public Health Department in June 1991, she worked at St Luke Long Term Care and the hospital in Beardstown for 13 years. Northup holds many certifications including Infrastructure Disaster Management.

Northup is a member of IA Illinois Chapter of TTT Society, the Steering Committee for Brown County Against Cancer, and a member and an Elder at Mt. Sterling First Christian Church. She is a RSVP volunteer and volunteers with Brown County Emergency Management to help with Bridge the Gap in Quincy. She also used to volunteer at schools when her children were in school and plans to do that again as her grandchildren start school.

Northup loves spoiling her grandchildren, taking pictures, gardening, sewing and going for rides with her husband on his Harley.