Author: Ryan Hill
DHHS employees Darian Burwell, Martina Moore-Reid, Carlotta Dixon and Rashonda Turnage
April 28, 2018 — Employees from across the NC Department of Health and Human Services recently participated in the Fourth Annual Women’s Health Awareness Day, held at North Carolina Central University in Durham.
The conference provided free interactive health education workshops, healthy living presentations, health resources and wellness screenings to underserved, uninsured and under-insured women and their families.
“We hope bringing health education, environmental awareness and literacy to women will help develop healthier families, environmentally safer homes and communities,” said Carlotta Dixon, Program Compliance Section Chief for the Division of Social Services.
Experts from across North Carolina spoke at the April 7 conference, sharing information on topics that included diabetes and cancer, as well as cardiovascular, environmental, behavioral and Latino health. The conference also featured research booths, providing information on body weight, puberty, reproductive effects and Alzheimer’s disease.
This year’s theme, “Transforming Communities by Enhancing Women’s Health,” was based on the philosophy that when women are motivated and empowered to take care of their health, they will, in turn, take care of their family’s health, producing a healthier community in the process. More than 1,100 women and their families attended the event.
Among the DHHS employees who participated in the conference were Phillip Gibson, N.C. Radon Program Coordinator for the Radiation Protection Section of the Division of Health Service Regulation, and Darian Burwell, Raleigh Regional Center Manager for the Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Others included:
Division of Public Health
- Sandy R. Allen, Program Consultant, Immunization Branch
- Sandra C. Boyd, Sickle Cell Program Supervisor
- Norma Marti, Minority Outreach Public Health Consultant
- Debi Nelson, N.C. Cancer Prevention and Control Branch Head
- Brittney M. Sala, Breast & Cervical Cancer Control Program Consultant
- Tara Owens Shuler, Perinatal Health Unit Manager
Division of Social Services
- Carlotta Dixon, Program Compliance Section Chief
- Rogelio Valencia, Latino Ombudsman, Privacy and Repatriation Coordinator
The conference was a result of a partnership among NCDHHS, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Health, North Carolina Central University, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Duke Hospital and UNC Hospital at Chapel Hill.