Mobile County Health Department's Termika Smith snags Public Health Fellowship in Government



Dr. Bernard Eichold, Health Officer for the Mobile County Health Department,
reads a certificate of appreciation for Termika Smith, an adult health administrator
who is leaving the agency to spend a year in Washington for a public health fellowship.



MOBILE, Alabama -- Termika Smith, administrator of adult health for the Mobile County Health Department’s Primary Care division, recently accepted the Public Health Fellowship in Government for 2014 from the American Public Health Association in Washington D.C. She was selected from a field of more than a 150 candidates for the position. Her last day at the Mobile County Health Department was Sept. 7.

Smith said expanding the Ryan White clinic to see more patients in a timely manner, adding peer counselors and increasing mental health accessibility are some of the accomplishments she was most proud of during her tenure at the Health Department. When she started in 2008, she said, staff members treated a total of 589 patients through the Ryan White program. By July of 2013, more than 730 patients were being treated annually at the clinic. She credits the program’s success “to a great staff of hard-working and dedicated” employees.

The addition of peer counselors, Smith said, created meaningful ways for patients to stay connected to care: “They provide the opportunity to reach patients in a way much different than someone in the clinic taking care of them.” Peer counselors are typically former or current patients who act as mentors to those seeking services through the Ryan White program.

Smith said she was first drawn to public health in high school, where she worked as a peer advocate, addressing personal health choices and disease prevention among fellow students. In college, she saw first-hand the devastating effects to coastal Alabama residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One of her first jobs was as an outreach coordinator at the University of South Alabama Center for Healthy Communities where her responsibilities included addressing the ongoing needs of those most affected by the natural disaster and working to eliminate the health disparities many of them faced because of it. 

A native of Montgomery, Smith headed south to attend college in Mobile, becoming active in youth counseling activities and public policy among other interests. Her memberships include the Alabama HIV Prevention Council, the Mobile AIDS Coalition and the United Way Young Leaders Society. 

 Before leaving the Mobile County Health Department, a luncheon was organized for Smith, complete with an original poem penned and performed by Gail Butts. Friends and coworkers gave her a pearl bracelet and a gift card. Dr. Bernard Eichold presented her with a framed certificate of recognition, detailing Smith’s more than five years of service to Alabama’s oldest public health agency. 

"We will miss Termika," Eichold said, "but we are delighted for the opportunity this fellowship affords her."

Smith, who earned an undergraduate and master’s degree from the University of South Alabama, is working to complete a doctoral degree in Education Leadership, Policy and Law from Alabama State University in December. Then, she’ll head to D.C. to begin the year-long fellowship in early 2014. “I’ve been interested in policy,” Smith said, “and this is an opportunity to see if I want to make it a career.”

The American Public Health Association is an organization of public health professionals that has worked to improve public health since 1872. The Association aims to protect Americans from preventable, serious health threats, striving to assure community-based health promotion and disease prevention and preventive health services are accessible in the U.S.