Level 2: Funding from 2002-2007
Lead Agency
Office of Health and Disability
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
250 Washington Street, 4th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
http://www.state.ma.us/dph/fch/ohd/index.htm
Phone: 617-624-5969 Fax : 617-624-5990 TTY: 617-624-5992
Maureen.Foley@state.ma.us
Director: Maureen Foley M.P.H., R.N.
Epidemiologist/Evaluator: Monika Mitra, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Disability Access Project: Donna Nadeau
Program Assistant: Gabriel Shapiro
Collaborating Agencies
- Northeast Independent Living Center
- Boston University Schools of Public Health and Social Work
- Center for Health Policy and Research, University of Massachusetts Medical School
- Massachusetts Highway Department
- Office of Statistics and Evaluation, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Center for Health Statistics, Research and Evaluation, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Office of Health Communication, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Women’s Health Network, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Nutrition and Physical Activity Unit, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Diabetes Prevention Program, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Cardiovascular Program, Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Center for Tobacco Control, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
- Bureau of Substance Abuse, Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Project Goal
The mission of the Office on Health and Disability (OHD) of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) is to promote the health and well-being of people with disabilities in Massachusetts.
Major Program Activities
- Disabilities Access Project
The goal of our primary CDC-funded project is to prevent secondary conditions among people with disabilities by increasing facility and service access through policy and systems change. The Disabilities Access Project involves both increasing access to mammography and substance abuse service sites across the state as well as improving access to preventive health services. - Increasing physical activity among youth with disabilities
This project involves identifying and/or adapting Safe Routes to School initiatives that address the needs for youth with disabilities in Massachusetts. - Reducing overweight and/or obesity among 16-22 year olds with disabilities
This program involves developing, adapting, implementing and evaluating an after-school program for overweight/obesity prevention that addresses the needs of 16-22 year olds with disabilities. - Determining barriers and facilitators to successful transition from mature adult to senior among people with disabilities
OHD will convene facilitated discussion groups and arrange key informant interviews among mature adults with disabilities in transition to retirement to determine barriers and facilitators to successful transition.
Evaluation and Research
Evaluate activities of the Disability Access Project and other activities and interventions conducted by the Massachusetts Office of Health and Disability.
Surveillance
Current OHD research activities include: (1) promoting systematic dissemination to encourage use of disability surveillance to key stakeholders; (2) enhancing state surveillance and programmatic data systems for disability data across the life-span; and (3) better defining impact of disability, including impact of secondary conditions among persons with disabilities through analysis of survey and administrative data.
Materials and Publications
Other publications and documents are available at this web-site:http://www.state.ma.us/dph/fch/ohd/index.htm.
Journal Articles
Meyers A, M. Mitra, D. Klein Walker, N. Wilber, D. Allen. 2000. Predictors of Secondary conditions in a sample of independently-living adults with Spinal Cord Injury, Topics in Spinal Cord Injury, Volume 6, #1.
Brawarsky, P., D. Brooks, N. Wilber, R. Gertz, and D. Klein Walker. 2002. Tobacco use among adults with disabilities in Massachusetts. Tobacco Control. 2:2.
Wilber N, M. Mitra, D. Klein Walker, D. Allen, AR Meyers, P. Tupper. 2002. Disability as a public health issue: findings and reflections from the Massachusetts Survey of Secondary Conditions.Milbank Quarterly 80:393-421.
Mitra M, MC Chung, N Wilber, DK Walker. 2004. Smoking Status and Quality of Life: A Longitudinal Study among Adults with Disabilities. American Journal of Preventive Medicine27(3):258-260.
Mitra M., N. Wilber, D. Allen, D. Klein Walker. 2005. Prevalence and Correlates of Depression as a Secondary Condition Among Adults with Disabilities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.
Reports
The Office on Health and Disability: Strategic Plan 2002, 2002 (PDF, 15 pages, 194 KB) (Download PDF)
A Profile of Massachusetts Adults with Disabilities, 1998-2000: Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, November, 2001 (PDF, 81 pages, 243 KB) Includes information on the prevalence of adults with disabilities, their health risk behaviors, health care access and utilization, quality of life, and health status. (Download PDF)
MDPH Americans with Disabilities Act Compliance Project, September, 2002, Publication
MDPH Policy Statement Regarding Publicity and Accommodations for People with Disabilities(PDF, 1 page, 85 KB) Report from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services Department of Public Health on new use of statements and graphic targeted to people with a disability who are deaf or hard of hearing when advertising public events. (Download PDF)
Directory of Licensed Mammography Facilities in Massachusetts, November 2004. A collaborative project of the MDPH Women’s Health Network (WHN), Radiation Control Program (RCP) and the Office on Health and Disability. Includes a listing of Licensed Mammography Facilities in MA as of March 2004. These entries were compiled from a survey questionnaire mailed to all licensed mammography facilities. The survey was developed by the WHN and theRCP. The staff of the OHD, who performed on-site visits to assess disability access, obtained information for the Mammography Access Project.