NHPHA Annual Meeting Awards2020 AwardsThe Roger Fossum AwardThe Roger Fossum Award is a lifetime achievement award that is presented to a senior public health individual who has made significant contributions to public health throughout their career. Suz Friedrich, MBA, PMP, formerly of the Community Health Institute
Friend of Public Health AwardThe Friend of Public Health Award is presented to a person or to a group who has been instrumental in practicing and/or promoting public health in the state. Michael Apfelberg, President of Greater Nashua United Way Mike Apfelberg has truly represented himself and his organization as a friend of public health. Mike participates on the City of Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services Public Health Advisory Council (PHAC), the Integrated Delivery Network (IDN), the Nashua Area Interfaith Council, the Mayor’s Opioid Task Force (MOTF), My Brother’s Keeper’s Initiative and many other committees and boards in the area. In making this nomination, I see Mike as a person worthy of this recognition because since becoming the president of the United Way he has been extremely instrumental in promoting public health in NH. Mike was “bit” by the public health bug while engaged in several public health initiatives including the opioid response, addressing homelessness and issues related to social determinants of health, health equity and early childhood trauma. As a member of the PHAC and external partner during the DPHCS’s Emerging Leaders In Public Health Initiative (ELPH), Mike accompanied me to the NACCHO Annual Meeting. His participation as a partner of public health during this meeting was to discuss the work Nashua was doing as Chief Public Health Strategist to create a trauma informed community and region by addressing ACEs. Mike as the president of United Way has provided funding support to the DPHCS Greater Nashua Public Health Region’s Annual Meetings, CHA and CHIP efforts and has included public health as a partner in his Annual Homelessness Event. It was really impressive to see how he included an opening exercise in the event to help participants understand the impact of adverse experiences and trauma in early childhood, acknowledging this tremendous public health issue. Mike was the first to write an op-ed in the local newspaper on the impact of adverse childhood experiences focusing on the public health outcomes of substance use disorders, depression, suicide and chronic diseases. Mike advocates for public health support at the local and state levels and is a truly dedicated friend of public health. The NH Community Health Service AwardThe NH Community Health Service Award recognizes for-profit businesses making a significant contribution to improving the health of NH residents. It is NHPHA's intent that nominees outside the public health tradition be considered for this award. A nominee does not need to be a NHPHA member. New Hampshire Food Bank
The Rising Star AwardThe Rising Star Award honors a public health professional who has been in the field less than five (5) years and has both contributed to public health and has demonstrated significant potential - a rising star in the field! Angela Consentino, Epidemiologist, City of Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services (DPHCS) Angela Consentino has been an absolute phenom since her hiring at the City of Nashua in the position of epidemiologist in 2017. She has helped moved DPHCS forward in developing our culture of quality improvement and performance management to meet accreditation standards. Angela has submitted and been accepted to present on data–driven processes at several national conferences including the All In Data Conference in October of 2019 and the upcoming NNPHI Data Meeting in March of 2020. Angela is an emerging leader in public health practice and easily embraces functioning in the role of Chief Public Health Strategist as a part of the DPHCS team. She works well with our internal team and external partners leading us forward in data-driven work. Her significant contributions include analyzing data collected during our initiation of Safe Stations to evaluate the effectiveness of this program once it was launched. She was able to demonstrate the impact of this intervention as a response to the opioid crisis in the greater Nashua area. Angela participated in the Emerging Leaders in Public Health initiative over 14 weeks as one of the internal leadership team members of DPHCS. She developed the evaluation tool used to help the co-leads measure change in knowledge, growth and learning of the team during our engagement in this leadership development process. From this experience she was able to submit an abstract that focused on the essential use of data to engage partners in strategic data driven efforts to address adverse childhood experiences and creating a trauma informed community. I have been extremely impressed with her ease of developing tools that have been very instrumental for use at DPHCS and her willingness to step up and lead. Angela is the lead of our Quality Improvement Committee and co-lead of our Accreditation Committee. Angela participates on several other internal committees including the Strategic Leadership Team, Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan Committee. She is also on the Census Committee and the Integrated Delivery Network (IDN) Data Committee. Angela’s most impressive demonstration of her skills as an epidemiologist, with the love of statistical analysis to communicate and disseminate data, has been with the development of the DPHCS LiveStories Pages. She spent countless hours with this tool and has uploaded our CHA and CHIP data to allow for a user-friendly interface with data in our region. Angela is truly a rising star in the field of public health that is more than deserving of this recognition. Past RecipientsRoger Fossum Award2019 Audrey Knight, MSN, formerly of NH DPHS 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 Prior to 2003, the Roger Fossum Lecturer Award was presented to the chosen keynote speaker at the Annual Meeting held in April of each year. 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 The Rising Star Award2019 Kelley Gaspa, Assistant Director and Director of Behavioral Health Initiative, Partnership for Public Health 2018 Friend of Public Health Award2019 Sally A. Kraft, MD, MPH, Vice President for Population Engagement, Dartmouth-Hitchcock; Medical Director, High Value Healthcare Collaborative 2018 Jeffrey Fetter, MD Chief Medical Officer, NH Department of Corrections New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence 2016 Mary Anne Fergusen Monadnock HEAL and Healthy Monadnock 2020 Eric Adams Laconia Police Department 2015 Timothy Soucy, MPH, REHS City of Manchester Public Health Department Neil Twitchell Division of Public Health Services, NH DHHS 2014 Healthy Monadnock 2020 Cheshire Medical Center/ Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene 2013 Lindsay Dearborn, M.Ed, MPH Former NHPHA Secretary and Policy Member Retired 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2005 2004 2003 2002 2000 1999 President's AwardThe PRESIDENT'S AWARD is given at the discretion of the President to honor an individual who has provided exceptional service to the Association. 2018 2017 The NH Community Health Service Award2019 The Union Leader NHPHA presented The Union Leader, New Hampshire’s biggest daily paper, with the 2019 NH Community Service Award for their commitment to solutions journalism which serves to engage readers towards greater awareness and deeper understanding of challenges to our health and wellbeing and potential solutions. The Union Leader secured philanthropic funding to support two solutions-focused beats, each with a dedicated full-time reporter. “Silver Linings,” a year-long initiative, supported by the Endowment for Health, led by journalist Roberta Baker, focuses on issues of the state’s aging population. “Beyond the Stigma” explores the substance abuse and mental health crisis, with funding from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, NAMI New Hampshire, and private individuals. The series has detailed the relationship between mental health and addiction while uncovering examples of behavioral health treatment and prevention models that are actually working. Reporter Shawne K. Wickham leads this work. Solutions journalism tends to heighten people’s sense of agency — "problems can be solved, and I can play a part "— in ways that change the quality of their news consumption. They spend more time with solutions stories, and they share those stories more often with friends and family. The willingness of the Union Leader to engage in this style of journalism, to provide civic value fostering public understanding and discourse around these complex social issues is commendable. It has helped to catalyze meaningful discourse, exploration of innovative solutions that have worked, and positive change in our communities. Past recipients include: 2018 2017 |
Susan Friedrich, MBA, PMP, worked for 35 years to strengthen health care and public health systems through training, technical assistance, evaluation and quality improvement with a focus on underserved populations in New Hampshire, nationally and internationally. Suz was the first Director of the New Hampshire Community Health Institute founded as a public-private partnership of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and JSI Research & Training Institute. Starting in 1995 with two JSI staff and co-located staff of the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care, the CHI grew under her leadership to over 40 staff members today. In collaboration with the New Hampshire Public Health Association, Suz was the team lead for the Turning Point Initiative, a multi-year strategic planning process funded by the Robert Wood Johnson and W.K. Kellogg Foundations’ to develop sustainable and innovative strategies to improve public health capacity in the State of New Hampshire. In 2000, she drafted the Public Health Improvement Plan for the State of New Hampshire which served as the basis for public health improvement efforts in the state for the next decade. Suz also served four years on the NHPHA board including a term as President in 1998.
The NH Food Bank has been instrumental in improving food security throughout the state of NH. Whereas many states have multiple food banks, NH has just one although it does the job of many. NH Food Bank been a longtime partner and now grantee and we have been inspired by their work, particularly as it pertains to what they are doing to help food insecure families in Coos County. Together with the North Country Health Consortium/Littleton Regional Hospital, we provided a $60,000 grant to host a series of mobile food pantries to be held during the winter. Executive Director Eileen Liponis strategically ensured that part of the funding would go to source the fresh food, deliver and distribute with volunteers that could be supplied by the hospitals. Each mobile pantry was held at the end of the third week of a month as that is typically when SNAP recipients have exhausted their monthly distribution. In addition, the source of some of the food was from the North Country Farmers Co-op as purchasing product in advance of the growing season creates a positive relationship with local farmers. This is a win not only for the recipients of the fresh food, but clearly for the North Country farmers whose food was purchased. Food Bank-affiliated North Country pantries also received new refrigerators, which allows the pantries to potentially double or triple the amount of fresh produce and other non-shelf stable food they offer. Our Funders
