The ACPHS Collaboratory, a neighborhood health resource in Albany’s South End, has a new – yet quite familiar – face at the helm.
Dr. Stacy Pettigrew became the Collaboratory’s interim director at the beginning of the year. An assistant professor with a focus on environmental health sciences, she has extensive roots in the South End, having co-founded the Radix Ecological Sustainability Center there and lived with her husband and children in the adjacent Mansion Neighborhood since 2009.
In fact, the Collaboratory’s launch and Dr. Pettigrew’s arrival at ACPHS both occurred in 2018 – and not coincidentally. To get Radix off the ground, Dr. Pettigrew received help securing grants from Harris Oberlander, chief executive officer of Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region, a community-based service provider. Before joining ACPHS, she was involved in discussions with Oberlander and community organizations to establish Trinity’s Wellness Advocates Linking Communities (WALC) team, which ultimately partnered with ACPHS’ Public Health Pharmacy Team to deliver services at the Collaboratory.
“This is home,” Dr. Pettigrew said in the Collaboratory’s offices in mid-January. “I’m thrilled to be here and working closely with Trinity Alliance in this capacity. I look forward to increasing the impact that we have here in this community, continuing and building upon the strong partnerships already in place.”
Among other activities of Dr. Pettigrew’s in the South End, she helped develop COVID-19 vaccination clinics that served majority minority populations in early 2021, when vaccines were scarce.
The Collaboratory’s services, provided in conjunction with its partners, include the Food as Medicine program that provides fresh produce to residents, and a hypertension program that provides preventive blood pressure screenings. The partners provide easy access and referrals to each other’s services, providing a sort of multi-site “one-stop shop” to residents with multiple needs.
Dr. Pettigrew’s vision includes extending those community relationships to more partners with services to offer South End residents.
“It would be great to expand what could be included at that ‘one stop’ in the future, building upon the very important base that has been established,” she said.