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Community Recognition Award Presented to Martha Dale, Executive Director of Leeway, Inc. and '80 M.P.H. (Health Management Program)Martha Dale, ’80 MPH and Executive Director of Leeway, Inc., Connecticut’s
only AIDS-dedicated subacute care facility, received the School of Public
Health’s Community Recognition Award at a reception held at Leeway
on December 5.
“The Community Recognition Award acknowledges… that the community plays a vital role in many of the student practice opportunities, ongoing projects, and research proposals initiated by the School of Public Health,” says Dr. Michael Merson, Anna M.R. Lauder Professor and Dean of Public Health, and chair of Epidemiology and Public Health. “There are not many opportunities to make tangible how important the community is to the University. The EPH Community Recognition Award… is such an opportunity because it honors specific individuals who have been important in advancing educational-community based partnerships.”
Following a welcome from Gerald Spignesi, President of Leeway’s Board of Directors, and remarks from Elizabeth Bradley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Public Health and Director of the Health Management Program, Merson presented the award to Dale before a large audience of Leeway residents and staff, and EPH faculty. In presenting the award, Merson said that it recognized “the critical role Martha has played in forging partnerships with many organizations serving the HIV/AIDS community in New Haven.” Merson stressed that Dale has been a leader in keeping pace with the ramifications for patient care of advancements in HIV/AIDS treatment, saying that Dale “has carefully studied the dynamic shifts occurring in the treatment and care of people with HIV/AIDS and has educated the staff, the board and the community-at-large about the necessary adaptations that institutional and community sectors must make…. As HIV/AIDS moves from deadly infectious disease to debilitating chronic disease, Leeway has had to respond rapidly.” In addition, Merson noted that Dale “has also been one of our most important alumnae mentors- sponsoring student interns, serving as a preceptor to community projects, and lecturing in a number of health management courses each year.”
In accepting her award, Dale stated that it was “dedicated to those people around me who day in, day out, provide me with inspiration.” She thanked Leeway’s residents, staff and board of directors, the leaders and staff of community agencies, her classmates in the EPH classes of ’79 and ’80, elected officials who work to ensure access to needed services, students and her family. She noted that her Yale degree has given her “the capacity to work in a variety of settings- from big corporate hospital business to this unique, urban health and social service agency.” She gave her listeners a glimpse into the daily challenges and rewards of her work, stating that “the role of non-profits is to fill the ever widening health and human service gaps and provide for basic human dignity and needs.” After Dale received EPH’s award, two Leeway residents presented her with an award from all of the residents. One resident spoke of his appreciation of the warm treatment he has received at Leeway. Leeway opened in 1995, and was Connecticut’s first skilled nursing
home dedicated to the care of people living with HIV/AIDS. It has 40 beds
and provides subacute, respite and terminal medical care for those who
need 24-hour nursing care. Leeway and the professional and volunteer organizations
it works with provide a variety of services and activities so that its
residents may lead active, productive lives. Because of advances in the
treatment of HIV/AIDS, Leeway also prepares those residents who are able
for return to the community. In addition to its inpatient facility, Leeway
has an outpatient clinic and is developing a supportive housing model
that will promote greater living independence for medically stable, chronically
ill AIDS patients. -Story by Christy Gordon. Sources:
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