New Ramsey County public health chief brings Northside values to the job

By David Pierini staff reporter

Robert Hollie understood he would not see his daughter grow up. 

A relentless non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma infused urgency into the fatherly wisdom he dispensed in nightly talks with his little girl. Work hard. Get a good education. Remember where you came from and thank the people who helped you along the way. Always serve your community.

Sara Hollie lost her father before her 12th birthday, but not before he set her feet upon a path. She absorbed the advice of the father and of teachers, coaches and other relatives, not knowing that caring for community would one day put her squarely in front of a historic pandemic.

Sara Hollie’s North Minneapolis story guides her as she serves the public health needs of Ramsey County. Photo by David Pierini

Sara Hollie, who continues to live in the very North Minneapolis that raised her, was recently named director of Saint Paul-Ramsey County Public Health. The promotion, which took effect July 26, comes after she co-led a team to address impacts of COVID-19 on the county’s racially and ethnically diverse communities.

Now in her 17th year in public health, Hollie moves into a corner office with a large desk and a title that comes with a certain amount of power. But power is most transformative when it is shared with a team and with community members most impacted by county policies, she said. Leadership, Hollie’s kind, will not be done with a fist but with sensitive ears and a tender heart. 

“This is your health department,” Hollie said, referring to taxpayers. “I may be leading the health department, guiding it, figuring out how to get new ideas, encouraging staff to be innovative and engaging in difficult conversations. There’s a way of doing things that is more community centered, more community driven.

“I really want to make sure people not only understand public health, but also how they can own it,” said Hollie. 

The new director set her sights on a career in health care not long after her father’s cancer diagnosis. She asked questions each time he returned from doctors appointments, spent as much time with him as possible when he was hospitalized and observed the many health care professionals who helped with in-home care. 

Sara Hollie was always a part of the care plan, her mother, Donna Hollie said. 

She was inspired by her father’s gentle care providers and alarmed over relatives who shied away from doctor’s visits because of negative experiences. This put her in earnest pursuit of becoming a doctor one day.

Hollie graduated from North High School in 2000 and with the encouragement of teachers, like Natalie Rasmussen, excelled in the school’s Summatech program. From there,Hollie enrolled at the University of Minnesota. She majored in women’s studies, still with a plan to apply for medical school, and wrote several papers on women’s health, including reproductive rights. 

Noticing the pattern of subjects, a professor suggested she consider a career in public health. 

“I was still in a medical school frame of mind but I was really into policy change,” Hollie said. “I guess I was all about public health then but I couldn’t name it.”

She took the suggestion, earned a master’s degree in public health as a MacArthur Fellow and began her career with the Minnesota Department of Health in 2006. With the state, her work spanned spaces, including maternal and child health, health policy, community and family health and chronic disease and cancer prevention. 

In April of 2019, she was hired by Ramsey County to serve as Racial and Health Equity Administrator for the Health and Wellness Service teams, which included public health, social services, financial assistance services, veteran services and community corrections.

As the coronavirus gained a foothold in the U.S., Ramsey County recognized that COVID-19 could take a disproportionate toll on local ethnically diverse groups. The county responded by forming RECERT, the Racial Equity and Community Engagement Response Team with Hollie as a co-lead.

The team was composed of staff from across county departments to work with communities to identify needs, such as health care, housing and families and youth. RECERT provided information in at least seven languages over several platforms, such as radio spots, social media, printed materials and email blasts. More than 130,000 mask were distributed.

RECERT worked with Equity Action Circle, a team of 15 from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences to develop solutions for unmet needs. There were virtual town hall meetings, mask drives and when vaccines became available, the public health department teamed with local groups to organize vaccine events in friendly confines, like churches and a Juneteenth celebration. There was a trusted messenger and community connector program to deliver information about vaccine safety and address misinformation and distrust rooted in racism. 

Getting a unique view of this historic effort was Hollie’s mother.

“When (employees) got redeployed at home, she (Sara) was doing everything from setting up committees to making sure people got masks,” Donna Hollie said of her daughter. “I watched her sit in front of two computer screens. It was impressive, and these were not just eight hour days. After her son (Chase) went to bed, she would get back to work.

“She’s organized as hell and they (the county) recognized what she could do when they offered her this new position.” 

Her compass points North

Hollie briefly lived closer to her work in St. Paul but missed North Minneapolis and being around her large extended family there. She has a home in Willard Hay and KMOJ listeners should know her as the host of “Know Your Options,” a show that airs on Wednesday nights from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

Hollie’s Northside, in a sense, guides her work, much like a co-pilot. She grew up realizing North Minneapolis is full of unrecognized beauty and brilliance. Her home too often is viewed through a media lens that sees only pain, poverty and violence and this makes her aware of how such perceptions impact the health of like communities. 

Hollie knows from her hometown mentors that Ramsey County is equally abundant in unsung talent who know best what their communities need to be healthy. 

Her excitement for these relationships is palpable as she sits, not behind her office desk, but at a small nearby table surrounded with chairs. The people asked to sit in those chairs will have Hollie’s attention and respect.

“It’s a lot easier for me to never have that wall up around power,” she said. “It was instilled in me by my family. There was an expectation that you live your life as a person of integrity who exhibits empathy and care. They modeled that for me. My father was somebody in the community that people came to. He was a resource. My mom is such a strong woman who instilled in me that you can be strong and caring. You have a responsibility to your community to give back.”