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HEALTHCARE HEROES OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Congratulations
Helen Caulton-Harris
on receiving the
2022 Healthcare Heroes
Lifetime Achievement Award The Staff of the Springfield Department of Health & Human Services
Caulton-Harris
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there are many that she and her department are addressing as the landscape continues to change and evolve.
“Today, we’re dealing with the legalization of marijuana; cannabis is legal, but we still need to educate people about it,” she noted. “Also, gaming and problem gambling. We also have an opioid crisis, which
is different than other substance-abuse matters because of fentanyl and the cheap way in which individuals are getting their products and how it escalates and has such an impact on our young people and our communities as well.”
While there have been many accomplishments during her lengthy career, she considers the biggest to be the merger of the Health and Human Services departments into one entity.
“They should not be seen as separate — they flow together,” she said with clear conviction in her voice. “I describe public health as a social- justice movement rooted in science. And Human Services really is about social justice.”
For all that she has accomplished during her life and career, and
for the manner in which she has worked to improve the health and well-being of all those living, working, and doing business in the City of Homes, Caulton-Harris is a true Healthcare Hero.
A Life’s Work
When asked if she misses the regular weekly press briefings that came to symbolize the early months of the pandemic, Caulton-Harris flashed a wide smile and said simply, “not really.”
“I describe public health as ”a social-justice movement rooted in science.
Those briefings, which also featured Sarno; Dr. Mark Keroack, president and CEO of Baystate Health; and Dr. Robert Roose, chief administrative officer at Mercy Medical Center, were conducted to keep city residents informed about what was happening and what to possibly expect next, and provide up-to-date statistics concerning cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and more.
She doesn’t miss them because they came to symbolize the very worst days of the pandemic in a city that was hit extremely hard by COVID. But also because, while Caulton-Harris, as noted, preaches
the importance of information and education and still makes regular appearances on TV, she prefers not to be in front of the camera. Instead, she would rather be working behind the scenes, advocating on behalf of area residents and providing a voice for those who struggle to make their voices heard.
It has been that way since her early days in the broad realm of healthcare, working with women on the issue of reproductive health, a subject which has, to a large degree, come full circle with the recent Supreme Court vote to overturn Roe v. Wade (more on that later).
“I would talk to them about the choices as far as pregnancy, whether that was to continue the pregnancy, terminate, or adopt,” she said. “So very early on in my career, I became an advocate.”
Later, while working at what is now the Mason Square Neighborhood Health Center, she was influenced by several role models, especially African-American nurses, who showed her that there were career paths for young people like her.
“I got an opportunity to see what the possibilities were for my own career,” she said. “There were individuals from my community who were making a difference in the lives of others.”
In 1994, Caulton-Harris would become executive director of the Area Health Education Center at Springfield Technical Community College, one of six such facilities in the Commonwealth, a role that enabled
her to work with young people who were interested in careers in healthcare.
“I got to mentor and nurture them in a way that was very special to me,” she said, adding that, while she was in that post, she was approached by Albano about being the first commissioner of the
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2022 HEALTHCARE HEROES