Penelope (Penny) Funaiole has been appointed as Acton’s new Health and Family Services Director, replacing the recently retired Sheryl Ball. Her most recent experience was as the Prevention and Outreach Manager for the City of Medford for eight plus years. Prior to that position, she held the position of Mystic Valley Regional Opioid Prevention Coordinator.
Q. Could you go over your educational background?
A. I initially received an Associate Liberal Arts degree from Middlesex College and then went back for anatomy and physiology. From there I went on to get a Bachelor of Science in Community Health from UMass Lowell and continued at UMass Lowell to get a Master of Arts in Community Social Psychology.
Q. What experience will you be bringing to your new position?
A. I will bring my experience in meeting facilitation, project management, coalition building, and public health to the newly formed Health and Family Services position. I come to Acton from the city of Medford where I served for over fifteen years in the Health Department with increasing responsibility. My primary role throughout my career has been as a Prevention Specialist. I view high quality prevention as a process rather than a series of programs. This means that to address community-based issues, the work will require an approach that starts with assessment in order to build capacity and to develop a strategic plan for implementation, all while working to evaluate effectiveness. Additionally, focusing on strengths-based solutions affords me the joy of bringing health and wellness to the forefront of my work. I have been lucky to work on a variety of different public health topics such as positive youth development, substance use prevention, opioid prevention and response systems, social service navigation, and climate change with a specific focus on social resilience and emergency preparedness. Most notably, my role during the pandemic was what catalyzed me to apply for this position. I was able to support the Director of Public Health by managing operations and acting as the community-based organization liaison for the city. I helped the nursing department build up and train a team of contact tracers; managed case distribution; and acted as a contact tracer. I worked with the Senior Center to implement the Health Department’s “Are You OK?” program where we called 11,000 seniors and spoke to over 5,000 through a coordinated volunteer response. We were able to set up teams for food delivery, medication/supply delivery, and companion-calling for isolated seniors.
Q. Did you have frustration with the way that the state was communicating and their desire to be first in vaccinations rather than local health?
A. I think the whole thing was turned upside down, to be honest. I agree that it’s good to have more access to private facilities such as CVS and other pharmacies. But on the other hand, Health Departments were prepared and were frustrated that local emergency preparedness plans weren’t implemented.
Q. Can you speak to grants you applied for or received?
A. In my career I have primarily applied for and operated grant funding. I have supported, designed, and/or written over $4.9 million in grants. These grants have been in many cases written to support other municipal departments with funding, such as police, fire, schools. And, more recently, grants to support the concept of an interconnected resiliency network of local community-based organizations and municipal departments collaborating to make Medford a more welcoming environment for all who live there. These partners include: Recreation, Senior Center, Library, Planning Development and Sustainability, Health, Office of Prevention and Outreach, YMCA, Mystic Community Market, West Medford Community Center, and Medford Family Network. Additionally, a large portion of the funding was to lead substance use prevention and opioid overdose prevention at a regional level, supporting six other cities and towns.
Q. When you interviewed for this position how did you present yourself?
A. During the interview, I tried to speak from my heart, to be genuine. Hopefully that was a key factor during the interview. I noted my qualifications as a community organizer and a coalition builder, and my expertise in facilitation. I spoke to my focus of working with five departments that are unique and to start looking at ways together to create efficiencies and collaborations and expanding outreach to Acton residents who are not currently engaged in local government.
Q. Do you feel that you’re able to build on the partnerships at Town Hall and those at the offices at Sudbury Road?
A. I love it here because obviously there are a lot of departments to work with: Veterans, Council on Aging, Nursing, Community Resources, and Land Use. There are a lot of different people to see and chat with and pick their brains. I do like being at Sudbury Road as it’s a direct connection to the community, and at Town Hall there are many partnerships with other departments that will help develop innovative ways to support Acton residents by expanding the scope of local public health in Acton.
Q. Are you identifying other partnerships within the town organization or outside the town organization?
A. Yes. My previous experience has been as a community liaison to nonprofit organizations. I will be identifying local partnerships and designing grant applications that make sense to this community. A large portion of the work the department will be doing will require partnering with the town’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion office, as Health Equity is a priority. We shouldn’t be doing anything without an equity lens before we start initiatives. I’ll also partner with the Economic Director as she is charged with overseeing resource protection, healthy land management, better infrastructure for pedestrian and bicycle transportation, and a decreased carbon footprint.
Q. Do you understand the budget impacts of the override, or not getting the override, to your department?
A. Not yet. It will be one of my first goals to understand the budget implications going forward. I need to meet with Human Resources and Finance to get a sense of the operating funds available. Whatever budget we’ll be working with, I’ll try to create a collaborative community amongst the departments providing health and human services.
Q. Can you express what your initial goals will be as Health and Human Services Director?
A. Initially, I want to understand the changes that put this department together and develop planning around the basis of those changes. I want to develop plans that identify short term, intermediate, and long-term goals that are result oriented. I want to make sure that the health department is leading the conversation and not just waiting for the conversation to come to us. I will do this through a data-driven approach to addressing community needs. I think of data as both numbers but also as interactive events, interviews and focus groups or listening sessions. Why is something happening, and why here? Local solutions are usually the best way to start a movement of health and wellness.
DK Halley was Acton Health Director from 1987 to 2015. He is now a volunteer writer for the Acton Exchange.