On October 27, faculty from the Muskie School of Public Service and staff from the Catherine Cutler Institute attended and presented at the Maine Public Health Association’s Annual meeting in Augusta. Judy Tupper, Ben Greenfield, and Rachel Gallo represented USM at a display table, where they engaged in conversations with numerous alumni and community partners throughout the day.
The Catherine Cutler Institute’s Substance Use Research and Evaluation unit presented a breakout session entitled “Social Isolation and the Continuum of Care for Persons with Substance Use Disorders: Voices from the Field”. Mary Lindsey Smith, Katie Rosingana, Rachel Gallo, Tyler Egeland, and Sarah McLaughlin co-presented mixed-methods evaluation findings from their work with the Western Maine Addiction Recovery Initiative, Portland Public Health, and the Office of MaineCare Services.
Emilie Swenson, a Research Associate at the Catherine Cutler Institute, moderated a panel related to her work with several community partners: “Designing for Clinical-Community Integration: Supporting Immigrant Families Through a Hub and Spoke Model of Community Care”. Sanaa Abduljabbar, Sarah Lewis, Cristina Tusimbana (Maine Access Immigrant Network), as well as Angela Mowatt and Stephen DiGiovanni (MaineHealth) participated in the panel discussion.
The USM epidemiology team, comprised of staff from both Muskie School and Catherine Cutler Institute staff, had several posters on display at the meeting, including:
“Using Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and Infant Sleep Practice Data to Drive a Multi-Faceted Approach to Safe Sleep Education and Outreach in Maine” by Rebecca Bussa (Catherine Cutler Institute), Andrea Lenartz (Muskie), Kim Gosselin (Maine CDC), Stacey LaFlamme (Maine CDC), and Fleur Hopper (Catherine Cutler Institute).
“The Impact of Community and Family-Related Protective Factors on Risk Behaviors among Maine High School Students” by Pamela F. Albert (Catherine Cutler Institute), Hayley Pawlowski (Maine CDC) and Sheila Nelson (Maine CDC).
“Using Maps to Visualize the Impact of Obstetric Unit Closures on Maine’s Birthing Population” by Andrea Lenartz (Muskie School) and Fleur Hopper (Catherine Cutler Institute).
USM is proud to be an Alliance Member of the Maine Public Health Association. For more information, please see https://www.mainepublichealth.org/ or contact Rachel Gallo (rachel.gallo@maine.edu).