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Date: 8/30/2023
AGAWAM — Lauren Kennedy is the new public health director in Agawam after previous director Michael Theroux moved to Vermont to become a food safety inspector.
“It feels good to be here,” Kennedy said. “I’m definitely grateful for the opportunity because of Mayor William P. Sapelli and his administration for their support thus far.”
Sapelli stated, “Lauren is very knowledgeable, committed and energetic. She’s a young lady that’s really passionate about all the responsibilities and duties that are involved with being the director of health for a community like Agawam.”
Kennedy has been a resident of East Longmeadow for more than 20 years. She did her undergraduate work in environmental studies. After college, Kennedy took an environmental health specialist position with West Springfield’s town government. Once she began that position, Kennedy enjoyed learning the codes and having that exposure to what a public health department does. She told Reminder Publishing it seemed like the perfect place to be able to advocate for public health, especially because she knew there were other people out there like her who didn’t know everything that a town’s health department does and the inspections it provides.
She became the sanitarian in West Springfield for four years, then took a similar position in Agawam in January 2022. She said she is grateful to West Springfield for supporting her as she began her career, and she is happy to be where she is now.
“Being here in Agawam for a year, I enjoyed getting to know the town,” Kennedy said. “It was pretty similar in makeup to West Springfield, there being a lot of food inspections and a lot of housing. I advanced into my role getting all of my certifications and my registered environmental health specialist credentials. I saw the health director [position] as the natural next step.”
She continued, “When Michael left, I had the certifications to be able to do the job, as I had been inspecting for the past year. The department needed someone to be able to continue to do the work after he left, so that’s when I came into the acting position. Things have been going smoothly in the past four months, and the mayor offered me the job.”
“I was very impressed with her to the point that I thought she was the one to fill that permanent spot,” Sapelli said.
Sapelli cited Kennedy’s work ethic and interpersonal skills, which he said is something that people don’t realize is very important with a health director. Her role includes conducting inspections of restaurants and overseeing the nurses in the town’s public schools. She also works with the town’s senior citizen population, scheduling vaccine clinics.
Kennedy hopes to continue advocating for the Health Department’s roles in the community and making those visible. She also hopes to promote people taking pride in their homes, whether they are renters or owners, to reduce the number of blighted properties in town. Right now, Kennedy said caring for people’s mental health has been a challenge in public health. It comes up in the work she does when she’s visiting people’s homes, seeing the challenges they’re having and being able to connect them to the right resources.
One challenge Kennedy said she will have to face is hiring the nurses and other health workers as openings arise in her department. The COVID-19 pandemic created a shortage in candidates in the medical industry. Kennedy hopes the pandemic inspires students to pursue studies in public health, bolstering the workforce.
Kennedy also mentioned that though the COVID-19 state of emergency has ended, there are still many people that need to keep coronavirus and communicable disease awareness in mind, especially those with risk factors for COVID-19 and those who were unable to take the vaccine. The federal government and the state will be working on what kinds of boosters are going to be offered. Kennedy noted that with the end of the state of emergency, the state and federal government no longer provide free COVID-19 test kits. Unless insurance companies decide to offer those for free, people will have to buy them from pharmacies or online.
So far, Kennedy has been busy working on inspections and the various inquiries that come through the office. She has new staff members and is getting them acclimated and out in the community. She recently hired Emily Lao as the town’s new sanitarian, starting Sept. 11. Lao will focus on food and restaurant inspections, freeing Kennedy to take care of other Health Department business.
“Starting in a new town, I have enjoyed getting to know Agawam and the neighborhoods and businesses that I visit,” Kennedy said. “I have also enjoyed getting to know the other department heads and staff here. I’m looking forward to years of working for the people of Agawam.”