Over fifty representatives of statewide CHNAs (Community Health Network Areas), members of hospital community benefits committees, and a variety of agency staff from across the Commonwealth, gathered for the Fourth Inter-CHNA Gathering at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton, MA, on June 30, 2015. The event provided the occasion for people to honor Cathy O'Connor on her last day before retiring from the MA Department of Public Health were she guided the development of CHNAs over the past twenty-three years. Keynote Speaker Zach Dyer, Chief of Community Health for the Worcester Division of Public Health, then described the cross-sector work that he has been doing to bring together over one hundred organizations to create a County Health Improvement Plan. He was followed by a panel that included Barry Keppard of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), Colleen Leger of the Arlington Youth Counseling Center, Marcia Picard of Greater Fall River Partners for a Healthier Community and  David Aronstein of the Boston Alliance for Community Health who described their cross-sector work. Click here for a 2-hour-19-minute video of the presentations. Click here for photos and video of the InterCHNA gathering in Canton in October, 2014 and links to the two other gatherings. For further information about the statewide Inter-CHNA organization, contact David Aronstein at 617-279-2240 ,or Wendy Garf-Lipp at 508-324-7900, Ext. 103.

(Top row) A participant talks with sign in with DPH Southeast Regional Health Office Director Ron O'Connor before signing in with Marcia Picard and Angie Bras of Greater Fall River Partners (Partners) before helping themselves to lunch as Kenote Speaker Zach Dyer and Panelist Barry Keppard greet each other. (Row two) DPH Director of Community Health Planning Cathy O'Connor, who is retiring the next day, is awarded a plaque by David Aronstein of the Boston Alliance for Community Health (BACH) that reads "To Cathy O'Connor, on her retirement from MDPH, for her extraordinary leadership in building healthy communities across Massachusetts from her CHNA colleagues and friends, THANK YOU!" while Wendy Garf-Lipp of Greater Fall River Partners listens from behind. (Row three) Following a standing ovation for Cathy, Zach Dyer, Chief of Community Health for the Worcester Division of Public Health, gives the Keynote Address on Cross-Sector Community Engagement. (Row four) Zach responds to questions from Michael Coughlin of  the DPH Office of Health Planning and Charlene Mancusi of the North Shore Community Health Network. (Row five) Panelist Barry Keppard, Manager of the Public Health Division at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), describes how his organization does cross-sector work with community development agencies in more than 100 Massachusetts communities before taking a question from Ellen Freedman, Community Benefits Manager at Milford Regional Medical Center. (Row six) Colleen Leger, Director of the Arlington Youth Counseling Center, talks about cross-sector work in CHNA 17 before School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard of Greater Fall River Partners for a Healthier Community begins to describe how she works with and within the school system. (Bottom row) David Aronstein of BACH describes a cross-sector work in the Dudley Square area before he and other panelists take questions from Tina Grosowsky of the Central Massachusetts Tobacco Free Community Partnership and Bill Bradshaw, Community Benefits Manager for Hallmark Health Systems.