NACCHO is pleased to announce that we have recently hired three fellows to work on our Health and Disability Program. The fellows started work March 3, and will stay with NACCHO through June 30. The fellows are all graduate-level students or post-grads who have demonstrated knowledge and passion in the field of health and disability.

Our three fellows are:

• Kendall Leser, who is currently a PhD candidate at The Ohio State University’s College of Public Health with a specialization in Health Behavior and Health Promotion and a minor in developmental disabilities;
• J.P. Mahoehney, is in his final semester in the Masters in Public Health program at the University of Minnesota where he studies health promotion for individuals with disabilities. J.P. has also worked as a Community Health Specialist with the Hennepin County Human Services Public Health Department; and
• Anuradha Jetty, a recent Master of Public Health graduate from George Mason University, where she specialized in epidemiology. Anuradha has experience working with children with Autism.

NACCHO’s Health and Disability Program promotes the inclusion and engagement of people with disabilities in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of preparedness and health promotion programs, products, and services. Through this fellowship project, NACCHO and the fellows will be working on a few projects designed to increase public health practitioner knowledge of and access to tools and resources that make inclusion of people with disabilities easy. Some things that we will be doing over the next few months include:

• Providing 50 hours of technical assistance to health departments around inclusiveness of emergency plans and policies;
• Developing a guide to inclusive planning and delivery of public health programs, policies, and products;
• Developing a Health and Disability Toolkit in NACCHO’s Toolbox;
• Developing a list of community partner agencies that work with people with disabilities; and
• Conducting an analysis of current levels of funding, staffing, and programmatic activities focused on or inclusive of people with disabilities at state and local health departments.

These projects will build on previous work done by the Health and Disability Program at NACCHO. For more information about these programs, or to find out how NACCHO can help you be more inclusive in any of your programs or policies, contact us at [email protected].

Would you like to gain professional experience in public health? NACCHO recently announced two new summer internship opportunities on the Environmental Health, Pandemic Preparedness, and Catastrophic Response team. View the openings and apply now.

About Sarah Yates
Sarah Yates serves as the Program Analyst for NACCHO’s Health and Disability and Public Health Law portfolios. Sarah engages with local health departments and disability experts to increase inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of public health practice. She also works with health departments and legal advisers to increase understanding of how the law impacts public health, and how public health can impact the law.