By Katie Curley, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
Jul. 10–NEWBURYPORT — The city has created a staff position for a public health nurse in an effort to save money and expand health programs.
The move means the city will cut ties with Home Health VNA and its parent organization, Home Health Foundation, the agency that has provided the nursing service to the city for many years. The new position will report to the Director of Public Health.
Judy Anderson, who works for Home Health Foundation and has served as the city’s public health nurse for the past 20 years, will be replaced by Linda Gibbons of Amesbury on July 21.
According to Mayor John Moak, Public Health Director Jack Morris initiated the change, submitting his recommendation to the Massachusetts Board of Health that the city hire its own public health nurse.
“Linda will be a hands-on public health nurse and there will be more interaction with the public than by using an agency,” Moak said.
Beth Dimitruk, a spokesperson for the Home Health Foundation, the parent organization that includes Home Health VNA and Merrimack Valley Hospice, said the decision was unexpected.
“Judy Anderson is a well known and highly respected nurse,” Dimitruk said. “We were very surprised by the decision.”
For the past 20 years, Anderson’s job has included things such as implementing clinics and the annual flu vaccinations.
In a public letter to be run as a paid advertisement in The Daily News in coming weeks, Joan Stygles Hull, chief executive of Home Health Foundation, says the organization was notified on June 24 that the city will no longer contract with the company to provide public health services. The letter apologizes to those residents who had planned to attend this month’s clinics.
Anderson will continue to run the federally-funded Wellness Promotion Clinic at the Newburyport Council on Aging through September, but all other public health services, such as the regular flu clinics, must now go through Gibbons at the City Hall office.
Anderson will continue to serve as the public health nurse for Newbury, West Newbury, Salisbury and Georgetown.
Under the new structure in Newburyport, Moak said there will be some cost savings as money is re-directed towards the city position and the city becomes eligible for some reimbursements through Medicare.
“Its still only a part-time position — 18 hours,” Moak said. “But we felt we had some strong criteria for having control of our own nurse and we will have our own clinics and medical resources.
“Overall we will just have more benefits by having our own nurse,” Moak said.
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