{"id":27925,"date":"2018-08-15T16:41:44","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T20:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2018\/08\/15\/publichealth\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:23:44","slug":"publichealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/08\/15\/publichealth\/","title":{"rendered":"These Local Public Health Graduates are the First in New England"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_18630\" style=\"width: 233px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/08\/Angie-Colon.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18630\" class=\"wp-image-18630 size-full\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/08\/Angie-Colon.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"223\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-18630\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angie Colon of Methuen is in the first class of students to graduate with an associate degree in public health from NECC.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Seven of this year\u2019s Northern Essex Community College graduates have the proud distinction of being the first in New England to graduate with an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/health\/public-health\/\">Associate Degree in Public Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Essex has the only program in New England and there are only 11 programs offered nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>Northern Essex began the program in the fall of 2016 in collaboration with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.league.org\/\">League for Innovation in the Community College<\/a>, an international nonprofit organization with a mission\u00a0to cultivate\u00a0innovation in the community college environment.<\/p>\n<p>The program supports students who want to pursue an entry-level career in public health and eventually earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in the field.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy providing health education and advocacy for patients, public health workers strive to improve health care outcomes,\u201d said Jacqueline Dick, coordinator of Northern Essex\u2019s Public Health Program.\u00a0 \u201cAs a result, we hope to have healthier communities which will eventually result in lower health costs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recent graduate Angie Colon of Methuen had been working full time as a phlebotomist while in the program, and, this summer, she\u2014along with three other graduates\u2014transferred to Regis College, which offers a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regiscollege.edu\/academics\/necc-courses.cfm\">bachelor\u2019s completion in public health<\/a> on Northern Essex\u2019s Lawrence Campus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really want to work in the community where I grew up,\u201d said Colon, who lived in Lawrence before moving to Methuen five years ago.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d like to advocate for patients, especially those who are Spanish speaking, helping them with referrals and appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18632\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/08\/Public-Health-Angie-and-Jacky.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18632\" class=\"wp-image-18632 size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2018\/08\/Public-Health-Angie-and-Jacky-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-18632\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angie Colon of Methuen, graduate of the Associate Degree in Public Health, and Jacqueline Dick, public health program coordinator.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Northern Essex offers a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/health\/community-health-worker-certificate\/\">Community Health Worker Certificate<\/a> in addition to its Associate Degree in public health.<\/p>\n<p>Individuals, who complete the\u00a0Community Health Worker Certificate Program\u00a0are trained to work in their communities to provide health education and outreach, assist with accessing health care services, and coordinate care. The\u00a0Associate Degree in Public Health\u00a0takes this concept a step further providing further classroom theory and field work experience- and\u00a0 prepares students to enter a Bachelors completion program in Public Health.\u00a0 Graduates can gain immediate employment with community health centers, hospitals, and municipal health departments.<\/p>\n<p>The two-year Associate Degree in Public Health is designed with hybrid courses for students who are working or have other responsibilities.\u00a0 Students come to campus one to two evenings a week and complete additional work online.\u00a0 Both the certificate and the associate degree require an internship during the spring semester of one day a week for 15 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>According to Dick, the perfect candidate for this program is someone who is interested in promoting health and wellness to individuals, families, and communities.\u00a0 The job outlook for health educators and community health workers is good with anticipated job growth of 16% between 2016 and 2026, which is much faster than average. * Several new graduates from this program are already employed in the field.<\/p>\n<p>The first group to graduate included Angie D. Colon of Methuen, Anyely C. DeLaCruz of Lawrence, Leah W. Gathogo of Framingham, Shaleigh R. McGonagle of Londonderry, NH, Jeanette Rosales of Lawrence, Cecilene C. Royal of Malden, and Doris A. Wleh of Lowell.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone interested in learning more about enrolling this fall, should contact Jacqueline Dick at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:jdick@necc.mass.edu\">jdick@necc.mass.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>NECC offers a variety of health care degrees and certificates that prepare students for entry level health care positions. These are offered days, evenings, weekends, and online. For a complete list visit NECC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/health\/\">health\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>*Statistics from Bureau of Labor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven of this year\u2019s Northern Essex Community College graduates have the proud distinction of being the first in New England to graduate with an Associate Degree in Public Health. Northern [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":27927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>These Local Public Health Graduates are the First in New England - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/08\/15\/publichealth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"These Local Public Health Graduates are the First in New England - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seven of this year\u2019s Northern Essex Community College graduates have the proud distinction of being the first in New England to graduate with an Associate Degree in Public Health. 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