Healthy Families

Initial focus on teen births, elder care/child care, and social determinants of health.

The State Health Improvement Plan includes goals to reduce unintended teen births, reduce falls-related deaths in older adults, and several other goals that could align within this broad priority area. Stakeholder discussions also indicated this area could include topics that were not directly measured in many of our data sources such as violence.

Teen Births

Sullivan County had the highest rate of teen births in New Hampshire with 31 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19. There is some evidence in the most recently available data that the teen birth rate is now decreasing and approaching the state rate. Measures of social vulnerability are high in some parts of this region, especially the City of Claremont, the region’s largest community. Both hospital community health needs assessments identified income, poverty and family stress in the top ten priorities.

Maggie Monroe-Cassel Executive Director, TLC Family Resource Center, Healthy Families Chair

Maggie has been the Executive Director of TLC Family Resource Center since February 2015 and is the Chair of the Teen Births Workgroup under the Greater Sullivan County Public Health Network's Healthy Families initiative.
Maggie's background in non-profit leadership includes 10 years as Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity affiliates in New Mexico and Massachusetts, and 25 years in parish ministry in New York State. She has a Bachelor's of Arts in Geography from Syracuse University, a Masters of Divinity from Colgate Rochester Divinity School, and a certificate in non-profit management from Harvard Business School. Maggie's primary work in her career has been related to social justice and economic justice including empowering people to help themselves succeed.