Public Health Month is celebrated by

The Springfield Department of

Health & Human Services

By Marjorie J. Hurst

Started in the United States in the mid 1800's, the system of public health emerged out of the social justice movement and was created around access issues that were rooted in science. A pressing health need of the time was to figure out what to do with raw sewage in order to prevent the deadly spread of communicable diseases and to make sure that Western European epidemics like the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death, did not have the same devastating effect on America's young population. Thus, the system of modern sanitation was created.

Fast forward two and a half centuries to the outbreak of HIV/AIDS and threats of bioterroism and, although the threats may be different, the underlying mission is the same: dealing with population-based strategies to create systems in order to prevent the spread of disease and to keep people, in general, and the poor and underserved, in particular, healthy.

Under the leadership of Helen R. Caulton-Harris, the Springfield Department of Health & Human Services (now one of six departments of the newly-created Division of Health & Human Services) is made up of a staff of 55 and boasts a diversity of programs that are geared toward health education and prevention. With an operating budget of 3.3 million dollars, 1/3 coming from the city's general fund and 2/3 coming from the awarding of competitive grants, the department is involved in every major initiative in the city that has to do with the environment, pollution, sanitation, hazardous chemicals, disease and health care.

The department also engages in community partnerships that help to broaden its scope and reach. From the issuing of burial permits, licensing and inspecting stores, massage therapists, restaurants, caterers, etc. to providing health services for the homeless and preventive education for children, youth and adults to advocating for a clean needle program to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, the department's work is to respond to the public by making sure that the community stays healthy.

A tireless and prominent advocate for the work of her department, Helen was tapped for the position of director of Health & Human Services by former Mayor Michael J. Albano when he merged the Public Health Department and the Department of Human Services in 1996. Kept on as director under the Ryan administration, she was just recently promoted to head the Division of Health & Human Services ,which will oversee the Library & Museum Association, the Massachusetts Career Development Institute, the Hampden County Employment & Training Consortium, the Department of Elder Affairs, the Veterans' Service Department and her own Department of Health & Human Services.

Asked what she is the proudest of during her 9 years as director, Helen quickly responded that she is proudest of her staff. Supported by two deputy directors, Barbara Stanley, who oversees the human services side, and Betty Anderson Frederic, who is in charge of the health side, and a staff of committed individuals, the department functions like a well-oiled machine. Although the enormity and importance of their work is lauded throughout the community, public recognition is not what drives these people. Their primary concern is with making every effort to ensure that the community stays healthy--physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.

Sometimes, people in the community join them in this work. In order to recognize their efforts and to say thank you, Helen created the Luminary Award, which is given each year in a ceremony that marks the beginning of Public Health Month. According to Helen, "the recipient of this award must have made significant and positive contribution in raising awareness about the health status indicators and has worked to have Public Health/Primary Health Care issues placed on the City's work plan."

Since many of our health challenges are behavior based, the department concentrates a good deal of their efforts in the area of education and prevention. Some of the health education and prevention programs they run include:

l HIV/AIDS Mobile Outreach to IV drug users

l Youth Against AIDS Coalition - young people conducting aids prevention education.

l Springfield AIDS Council - advocates raising awareness about AIDS.

l Substance Abuse Prevention

l Program - A speaker's bureau of women who are former drug abusers.

l Violence Prevention Task Force and Trigger Lock Give-away Program.

l Tobacco Control Unit - enforces tobacco control laws, runs smoking cessation programs and education programs, and 

      promotes a ban on smoking in restaurants.

Other programs include:

l Area Health Education Center - after school career-exploration programs for teens.

l Mayor's Office for Citizen's with Disabilities - advocates for physically and mentally challenged citizens.

l Mediation training to provide volunteers to help resolve disputes in the public schools and neighborhoods.

l Child Maternal Health Commission - volunteer health professionals who have volunteered to help reduce infant

mortality.

Any of the above programs and many more services not listed can be accessed by calling the Department of Health & Human Services at (413) 787-6741. They will be happy to direct you as needed. As we celebrate Public Health Month, we each need to take a hard look at our own habits and behavior and those of our families and commit to leading healthier lifestyles or we too, could wind up saying, "I used to be just like you."