TEACHING TOP DOGS New Tricks
Where do you go for an M.P.H. if you want the top job in public health? To the New York Medical College School of Public Health, of course. Two alumnae, who happen to be health commissioners of neighboring counties, exemplify the value in having an M.P.H. degree.
By Donna E. Moriarty
Joan Facelle, M.D., M.P.H. '03, Commissioner of Health for Rockland County, N.Y.
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Their counties may be back to back, but each of these health commissioners employs her own brand of leadership when tackling the public health challenges to be faced each day. Jean M. Hudson, M.D., M.P.H. '93, left, heads the Department of Health in Orange County, N.Y., while Joan Facelle, M.D., M.P.H. '03, is commissioner of health in neighboring Rockland County. |
Since being sworn in as health commissioner in January 2001, Dr. Facelle has had to juggle every kind of health issue imaginable. About the only time to catch up with her is during lunchtime - usually a working lunch, but at least she sits down. Asked to enumerate the tasks on her desk, she ticks them off: obesity, smoking, breast cancer, Lyme disease, TB, rabies, bioterrorism threats, and the dangers of new viruses such as SARS, not to mention environmental health issues like storage tank replacement and water quality. She has regular briefings with the county executive on the issues and problems her office is handling, sits in when she can on the state health department's weekly conference call on communicable diseases, and checks in for frequent updates with the emergency preparedness director on her staff. She is also working on a slideshow for an adult immunization conference. And after all that she has to balance her office's no-fat budget.
The buck stops
Right now Dr. Facelle is overseeing the gathering of information and documentation for a major county initiative, a community health needs assessment scheduled for next year. "There has been a lot of growth and change in the county population in terms of
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Dr. Facelle grew up in south central Pennsylvania. She graduated from New York University School of Medicine in1980 and finished her residency there in 1983. She and husband Thomas Facelle, M.D., joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve in North Dakota to pay off their medical school loans. In 1987 the family moved to Rockland County, where Thomas practices general surgery with Ramapo Valley Surgical Associates.
Population health
As a girl she was enamored with science, Nancy Drew mysteries and Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Facelle says, "I recognized that medicine has a lot of detective work in it. There is an element of a puzzle in diagnosis." It was her passion for problem-solving that led
"I recognized that medicine has a lot of detective work in it. There is an element of a puzzle in diagnosis." |
From 1996 to 2001 she served as a member of the Rockland County Board of Health, a voluntary position that allowed her to see how the county's health systems are run. "You give up the one-to-one relationship, but you become a problem-solver. I made [the decision to go into public health] more out of a desire to improve peoples' access to health care," she says. She goes on to say that part of what motivated her to pursue a career in public health was the chance to influence policy, so that people of limited means could find better public clinics with convenient hours, insurance they could afford and even transportation that would not result in a whole day of lost work to make a doctor's appointment. More than content with her current job, which gives her the satisfaction of accomplishing much yet leaving her time to spend with her family, Dr. Facelle confesses, "I'm happy where I am right now. I told my family that I'm done with [earning] extra degrees for the time being.
Jean M. Hudson, M.D.,M.P.H. '93, Commissioner of Health, Orange County, N.Y.
Although Jean Hudson, M.D., M.P.H. '93, has been Orange County's health commissioner only since early September, the diminutive, British-born extrovert claims she has spent only about half her time in the office. She likes to be out and about in the county, meeting with community leaders and visiting organizations such as Healthy Orange County, a program set up to improve access to health information and health care for low income families within her jurisdiction. During one of her first weeks in office she toured several area hospitals and paid visits to the Orange County Medical Society, the Republican Ladies Luncheon and the OrangeUlster Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). "I'm a hands-on person. I like to get out into the community, meeting individuals and visiting organizations to see how we can work together," she says.
Despite being relatively new to the job, Dr. Hudson has a major project on the horizon. In 2004, Orange County's health department - along with those of neighboring counties - must produce a comprehensive health assessment that is required every five years. The appraisal focuses on current and future concerns of the county, determining how well they are being addressed and offering solutions for areas in need of improvement. She and her counterparts, like Dr. Facelle, are bracing themselves for a significant workload as they prepare for the assessment, but one that will be more than worthwhile in terms of providing an upto-date picture of the county's population and its changing health needs.
Family needs
And that's not the only project on her plate aimed toward addressing the challenges of a growing county. The commissioner has a special interest in addressing the needs of young families, although her "topics to tackle" list also includes obesity, heart disease and environmental problems found in her county and, unfortunately, all over America. Jean Hudson was born in Essex, England, and entered medical school at 18. "This may sound precocious, but it's normal in Britain to start on the medical school track right after high school," she explains. She received her medical degree from Middlesex Hospital Medical Center in London in 1972. After six years of doing everything from general surgery to emergency medicine to pediatrics to family practice in London and Surrey, she and her husband Ron, now a risk management specialist with the state, moved to New York when he was offered a job there.
When one door opens
Dr. Hudson completed her residency in family medicine at SUNY Stony Brook in 1983, and the next year she began working as a family physician at the Open Door Family Medical Center in Ossining, N.Y. It was there she discovered her passion for public health. Throughout her five year tenure, she was urged to get an M.P.H. by several people, including the center's medical director and fellow Open Door physician Cathey E. Falvo, M.D., M.P.H., now program director for international and public health at the School of Public Health. Eventually Dr. Hudson conceded they were right. By the time she was made medical director, she had developed a knack for the administrative side of running a community health center. "I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the planning side," she said. "I had two young kids, I had done general practice medicine for 20 years, and I wanted to move further up the decision tree."
"I am a hands-on person. I like to get into the community, meeting individuals and visiting organizations to see how we can work together." |
Dr. Hudson says that while she plans to continue addressing her predecessor's initiatives, she is reluctant to mention any specific plans until she's discussed them with her team. Her modesty belies the current list of health department activities and services, which include public health nursing, long-term care in the home for their homebound patients, clinics offering diagnosis and treatment for tuberculosis, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases; general pediatric clinics emphasizing preventive care, communicable disease control, immunizations, sanitary inspections, engineering reviews, screening and monitoring services for at-risk infants and toddlers, early intervention and preschool special education services for children, community health outreach, injury prevention, health education, emergency medical services coordination, epidemiologic analysis, nutrition services, WIC (Women, Infant and Children's nutrition program), maternal support for newborn care; and provision of financial support for medical care of physically handicapped children and adult polio survivors.
Visible means of support
Both commissioners say they are indebted to New York Medical College for providing their careers with a crucial foundation in public health in the form of an M.P.H. degree. When the school received official word of its accreditation in late October, these words were uttered by the late Sheila M. Smythe, who was executive vice president and dean of the School of Public Health until her death in early November: "This new designation raises the bar for the university and recognizes our school's expanding mission to serve the needs and collaborate with the communities we served throughout the Hudson Valley. As the only school of public health in the Hudson Valley, we have a responsibility for the educational leadership in our region. It is an exciting time for us and for the field of public health in this country."
Perhaps that is how a new era in healthier communities and improved services will be ushered in - one committed, well-educated public health activist at a time.
Additional reporting for this article was contributed by Amy Wu.