Janine Logan, the Public Health Community’s Voice

Janine Logan, the Public Health Community’s Voice

By Courtney File

              

Janine Logan, is a well-known name in the Long Island Public Health community. With multiple positions such as, Senior Director of Communications and Population Health on the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council and Director of the Long Island Population Health Program and the Long Island Health Collaborative, her impressive resume speaks for itself.

Hofstra University Public Health students had the privilege of attending a professional development seminar taught by Ms. Logan. During this discussion, Logan argued how important awareness of Public Health is. She even stated, “it never fails, awareness is the problem.” Communication is of the upmost importance in Public Health, “appropriately delivering a message to different audiences is crucial,” Logan emphatically stated.

The Long Island Health collaborative, which is made up of 22 different hospitals, first came together in 2013 due to a state mandate. After various county health assessments and data driven initiatives, the collaborative decided to focus on chronic diseases, like Asthma. As Director of Communications, Ms. Logan’s leadership was crucial in the development of the collaborative, and the decision to focus their initiative on chronic diseases.  

After meeting monthly, the collaborative launched their initiative focusing on fitness and nutrition. “As a whole region, we’re not eating as many vegetables as we should, but we were doing well in the fruit area,” said Logan. She continued to explain how fitness and exercise has always been the best way to combat chronic disease.

Janine Logan began her higher education studying communications and her journey led her to Public Health. She believes her background studies have served her well in her new position, especially with initiatives, because “communication is key.”  She further stated, “If organization “A” doesn’t know what organization “B” is doing that’s a problem, we have tried to close that gap and have been successful in getting everyone to come together.”

The current initiative promotes physical activity. Walking has been found to be the best, since it is economical and easy to do. Since all the organizations involved in the collaborative are competitors, promoting physical activity was a neutral way to promote the advancement of public health.

The collaborative is constantly questioning, “Are we really making a difference, are we seeing changes?” Janine Logan mentioned they are making progress, even stating, “there is a small uptick in our activity levels.” Along with promoting physical activity and nutrition, the collaborative helps to increase cultural competency, or knowledge about public health issues, by training public health providers and workers.

When the Governor’s budget was released in January the collaborative regrettably was not on it. However, after a continues fight led by Janine and her collaborative, the program has been funded until January 14, 2020. They will continue to focus on Chronic Disease Preventative Care and Management!

Janine Logan believes in her initiative and never gave up. Her dedication to improving Public Health on Long Island never wavered, even when she could have been found to be without funding. She will continue to hear the cries of the Public Health community and be their voice.