BANGOR, Maine – Bangor’s director of Public Well being and Neighborhood Providers will depart her place this spring. Patty Hamilton has served within the position for a decade, overseeing the division’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to many different challenges, together with homelessness and the rise in fentanyl use.
“I feel after I began, I do not know if I totally acknowledged that the complete inhabitants was my accountability,” Hamilton mentioned final month.
Skilled in nursing, Hamilton has centered her division’s efforts on offering sound healthcare. “My imaginative and prescient has actually been the well being of the complete neighborhood, from infants to adults… the entire spectrum.”
Hamilton shall be changed by Jennifer Gunderman, who presently directs the Maine Space Well being Schooling Middle, which helps enhance the variety of well being professionals in rural areas of our state. Gunderman has a level in public well being and has labored on this area for greater than 20 years.
For her, main Bangor’s public well being division means taking an strategy that addresses broader social points dealing with town.
“It is every part from working with a person to deal with the wants they’ve and recognizing that they’re doing one of the best they’ll, given the circumstances,” Gunderman mentioned Tuesday.
Enhancing circumstances for the homeless, addressing youth vaping and offering readability to the general public about what the division does are all issues Gunderman hopes to perform.
To perform this, Gunderman mentioned he plans to make use of the same outreach strategy as his soon-to-be predecessor.
“You need to sit down with individuals and perceive their expertise,” Gunderman mentioned.
Jennifer Gunderman will start her position as Bangor Public Well being and Neighborhood Providers Director on April 1.
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