Washington County Recognizes Outstanding Public Health Efforts

For Immediate Release: Friday, April 06, 2012

On Thursday, April 5, as part of National Public Health Week, Washington County Department of Health and Human Services recognized an individual and an organization that have made significant contributions to the public's health and well-being.

Award recipients were honored at the Tenth Annual Public Health Recognition Awards ceremony and reception at the Charles D. Cameron Public Services Building auditorium in Hillsboro.

Paul Hudak was honored as the developer and director of Terra Nova Community Farm in Beaverton, a project he initiated in 2008.

A teacher at Terra Nova High School, Hudak worked to convert an unused baseball field at the high school into a productive student farm. Since that time, the farm has become an official Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA), whereby people invest in the farm at the beginning of the season and receive a share of farm-fresh produce throughout the growing season.

Under Hudak's leadership, the students who operate the farm have learned about healthy sustainable agriculture; made it possible for the community to have better access to fresh fruits and vegetables; and have grown to understand the importance of community and knowing where their food comes from.

According to Hudak, "Part of the reason this program has been as successful as it has is because the students have really latched on and taken ownership over it. They believe in growing healthy food for themselves, the community through our CSA and for so many kids in the Beaverton School District."

For the first time in the award's history, the organization being honored was actually a collaboration between two groups. Coffee Creek Correctional Facility and Community Action Early Head Start developed ways to improve the health of pregnant inmates during incarceration. Examples include prenatal and postpartum support groups and classes as well as a breastfeeding program that allows women to pump and store breast milk for their newborns.

Now any inmate who wishes to pump breast milk for her newborn can do so. The mothers can also enroll in the Early Head Start program at the facility and breastfeed their infants several times a week when they are together in the program. The nutritional and psychological benefits for both mothers and infants are significant.

"It's an honor for us to receive this award with Coffee Creek," says Lisa Brown, Director of Development & Community Relations at Community Action. "Providing incarcerated mothers with the chance to play an active role in the early development of their infants is what the Early Head Start program at Coffee Creek is all about, and this endeavor is a wonderful example of what is possible when we work together to bring about positive change."

According to Kathleen O'Leary, Public Health Division Manager for Washington County, "Our vision, 'healthy people, thriving communities' can only be realized through effective partnerships and shared work. These recipients are shining examples of how to focus on prevention and good nutrition to build life-long good health."

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