Princeton Regional Health Commission
Borough Hall, One Monument Drive
Princeton, NJ 08540

Telephone: (609) 497-7608
Contact: David Henry
E-mail: princetonhealth@hotmail.com
Website: www.princetonboro.org or www.princetontwp.org

Organization Description and Mission

The Princeton Regional Health Commission's mandate is to safeguard and improve the health of all Princeton residents through education, screening, monitoring, and direct service programs. Composed of five Borough and five Township residents, the Commission is the governing body of the Princeton Regional Health Department. The Health Commission has primary responsibility for setting policy while the Princeton Health Department staff, headed by the Health Officer, has executive and administrative functions.

In 1992, the Health Commission developed a planning document, "Healthy Princeton 2000," that outlined three major public health goals:

• Promote healthy lives and disease prevention
• Reduce health disparities among Princeton residents
• Develop a health data system to assess the health status of the community

In keeping with those goals and the needs that currently prevail in the community, the Commission will focus its activities on the following priority health issues:

• Coordinating with private and public entities that provide, regulate, finance, or otherwise affect the region's health services
• Addressing infectious diseases
• Addressing environmental issues
• Promoting healthy lives, especially for children, older people, and undeserved segments of the population
• Devising an effective Public Health Emergency Response Program

• The Health Commission and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection are working on a project to test and evaluate the risk pesticide use on area golf courses poses to the ground water supply. The Health Commission already has an initial round of data and would be interested in follow-up investigative research to determine whether or not golf courses have reduced pesticide usage as much as they claim they have. This project would involve on-site research in conjunction with both the PRHC and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection.
  
  
• The Health Commission is increasingly interested in emergency responses to bioterrorism. Students could analyze the relevance, readiness, and potential effectiveness of Mercer County’s bioterrorism response program. How does its emergency preparedness plan compare to that recommended by the Center for Disease Control? How could the Commission better adhere to the CDC’s standard operating practices in case of emergencies? Students could also assess major health risks and what the Health Commission could do to be prepared to deal with these risks. For example, the Health Commission would like information on potassium iodide tablets. Would it be cost effective to distribute potassium iodide tablets to Princeton residents? How should they store and distribute tablets? Students could develop guidelines for a potassium iodide program.
  
  
• Underage drinking is an important issue facing Princeton Township, and the Health Commission would like to assess the opinions of both students and residents on the issue. The Health Commission is interested in assessing how aware students are of the health risks of excessive drinking, what can be done to better educate them, and how can this approach be implemented effectively. For example, how successful was the University’s online alcohol education course? Students could make suggestions for better approaches to reach the University community.
  
  
• The Princeton Regional Health Commission would like students to choose one or more subchapters of the 2003 Public Health Practice Standards regulation, and investigate area health departments’ implementation of these practices. What are the economic costs of implementing these standards? Students could devise a strategy for evaluation of the practice standards, and then carry out this assessment. In particular, students might examine the Health Related Research practice standards, producing recommendations for further collaborations between the Health Department and Princeton University.
  
  
• The Health Commission is interested in an organizational assessment of the Health Department. Students could assist in identifying weaknesses in the department and developing an action plan for more effective operation. Students would use the Assessment Protocol for Excellence in Public Health for guidelines, but their analysis could go beyond these basic standards. How does the Health Department fare under these basic guidelines? How can it excel?
  
  
• University Medical Center at Princeton is looking to build a new hospital campus outside of Princeton Borough to provide the hospital with more space. How would this move affect healthcare in Princeton Borough, particularly to the Hispanic community in the Witherspoon area that relies on easy access to the services at the Princeton Medical Center? What programs should the Princeton Medical Center keep in the current location? What are the social, cultural, and moral implications of such a move? Is Princeton trying to give better access to a wealthier patient base in the suburbs? How will the in-town population access the new center?
  
  
• The Health Commission would like students to research alternate septic systems that it could use in environmentally sensitive areas. The New Jersey Pinelands Commission is currently experimenting with five different types of alternate septic technologies. Students could analyze the assets and drawbacks of these systems and determine their possible effectiveness in the Princeton area.
  
  
• In 2000, the Health Commission attempted to ban smoking in all public buildings in the Princeton Borough and Township, but the state court determined that the Health Commission could suggest only guidelines on public smoking. The Health Commission would like students to research and analyze current tobacco-control legislation in other New Jersey municipalities, as well as ordinances that have challenged tobacco use. Students could begin their research by examining the New Jersey GASP (Group Against Smoking Pollution) website.
  
  
• How could the Health Commission most effectively shift the responsibility of wildlife control to other organizations in the community? Working with the Health Commission and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Fish, Game and Wildlife Division, students could examine and recommend alternative animal control agencies in the Princeton area.
  
  
• Students could develop an assessment tool with which the Health Commission could evaluate the success of its informational presentations to the community. For instance, are pre- and post-meeting questionnaires necessary in order to gauge the effect of these presentations? What other means of evaluation could be implemented in health-related “town hall” meetings?
  
  
• What alternative funding opportunities are available to help fund health department operations (ie. grants, endowments, foundation formation, etc.)?
  

Continue searching profiles in alphabetical order.

Continue searching profiles by area of interest.

Continue searching profiles by geographic location.