The 2017 Iowa Public Health Heroes Award was presented to three leaders in the field on Wednesday.

By Julia DiGiacomo
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Three Iowa leaders in the field of public health who have devoted themselves to bettering the health of Iowa had their work honored for its positive effect on health across the state.

On Wednesday, Linda Kalin, Julie Stephens, and Denise Wheeler were recognized as the “2017 Iowa Public Health Heroes” by the University of Iowa College of Public Health.

The event celebrated the field of public health and featured speeches from each of the honorees. Afterwards, the three professionals held a panel discussion and answered questions regarding various relevant public-health topics.

“This is an event we’re always really excited about,” UI Clinical Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Tanya Uden-Holman said. “I think it shows the diversity of public health and the range of ways that we make a difference on a daily basis.”

Uden-Holman said the Public Health College established the Public Health Heroes Award to recognize practitioners who may fly under the radar.

“Too frequently, these contributions are overlooked or taken for granted because when public health works, it’s invisible,” Uden-Holman said.

One of the honored professionals, Wheeler, is the Iowa Department of Public Health family-planning coordinator and Title X director. Her work focuses on family planning and reproductive health.

“It’s humbling to be acknowledged for something that you love to do, and it’s what I’ve loved to do all my life,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said she has been tremendously privileged to serve women and families during some of the happiest moments of their lives, and some of the saddest moments of their lives.

“Recognizing that our family structures are changing by choice or by circumstance, we are all nevertheless all affected by reproductive health and family planning,” Wheeler said. “Where I stand, reproductive health is not controversial nor should it be. Reproductive health is about health promotion regardless of the pregnancy intention.”

As executive director of the Iowa Poison Control Center in Sioux City, Kalin works to keep Iowans safe from poisonous threats. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

The center provides free emergency information and advice regarding poisoning 24/7 across Iowa. It also has a large role in working in response to Iowa’s opioid- and heroin-overdose crisis. 

Kalin said 90 percent of the poison center’s calls are about a child under 5 who inadvertently swallowed some medicine or a household chemical. Ninety percent of those are handled in the home. She said the other 10 percent regards other issues, such as drug overdoses.

“I worked closely for a number of years with the Injury Prevention Research Center, so thank you for nominating me,” Kalin said.

Stephens of Cedar Rapids is the public-health emergency preparedness and disaster recovery specialist at Linn County Public Health. She used her expertise extensively during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and the 2008 and 2016 floods in Linn County.

“For those of you entering the public-health field, look at the preparedness opportunities that you have now,” Stephens said. “In every community, there is something.”

“Public health accomplishes its mission of ensuring conditions in which people can be healthy thanks to the organized and collaborative effort of individuals working in a wide variety of settings and situations,” Uden-Holman said.