minnesota department of health

State leaders honor champions for the health of mothers and children

The annual Betty Hubbard Maternal and Child Health Leadership Award honorees for 2024 are Patricia Wilson (St. Anthony); Olmsted County Public Health Services family home visiting team and their partner, Cradle 2 Career; and Deb Purfeerst (Faribault). The award recognizes people or organizations in Minnesota making significant contributions to maternal and child health.

Members serving on the Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force recognized the honorees this month for promoting good health for mothers and children.  

“This year’s award recipients have made exceptional contributions to the health and wellbeing of families all across Minnesota,” said Minnesota Department of Health Assistant Commissioner Maria Sarabia. “They’ve helped educate families, foster community connections, and protect families with a range of activities including expanding home visiting, improving prenatal care, and training staff as car seat technicians.”  

Each year, the Betty Hubbard award is given for community and statewide achievements.  

Community awards

*Patricia Wilson* received the community award for her work supporting families in early childhood for more than 30 years. Wilson is currently the director of programs at Way to Grow, an organization dedicated to free, year-round family support and educational programming which serves over 700 families in north Minneapolis. Prior to this, Wilson was the general manager at Jack and Jill Childcare, assistant director at the Summit Early Learning Center, manager of a Head Start program and director of the YMCA - St. Paul Center.  

As a certified trainer and parent educator with Parents as Teachers, Wilson plays a pivotal role in overseeing the home visiting programming, along with parent-child group education initiatives in Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center. She is also actively involved in several advisory and leadership roles, including the Parents as Teachers Community Advisory, Little Moments Count Committee and the Great MN Schools Committee, where she contributes her expertise to broader early childhood education initiatives.

*Olmsted County Public Health family home visiting team* and their partner, *Cradle 2 Career*, received the community award for their work with community members to develop new strategies to increase access to prenatal care and to improve prenatal care for all families in the county. Olmsted County and Cradle 2 Career brought together families, providers and community members, all with lived experience, to discuss and provide their unique perspectives to identify strategies from those most affected. By centering the voices of those who are highly impacted by the need for adequate prenatal care but have low access to changing it, the team uncovered critical insights into the challenges faced by pregnant people.  

The Olmsted County Public Health Services family home visiting program has been providing evidence-informed family home visiting since the 1970’s and evidenced-based home visiting for the last 14 years. Their partner, Cradle 2 Career, is a community-wide, community-owned initiative dedicated to educational equity and uses a comprehensive, cooperative, and evidence-based approach to address education gaps in Rochester.

Statewide award

*Deb Purfeerst* received the statewide award for her 40 years of service in public health. Purfeerst is currently the public health director for Rice County Public Health, representing family home visiting, child and teen checkups, immunizations, the Follow Along Program, WIC, the car seat program and the family planning program.

Purfeerst has achieved many accomplishments relating to maternal child health throughout her career. She is an original member of a local organization that developed weekly support groups for families with infants that is run collaboratively by local early childhood and family education programs, hospitals and public health. She successfully led efforts for the expansion of regional evidence-based family home visiting services in eight southeast Minnesota counties. Additionally, she helped expand Rice County Public Health’s ability to better support families with young children by adding staff in community health worker positions and training staff as lactation counselors and certified car seat technicians.

More information

More information about the award winners can be found on the Minnesota Department of Health website: Betty Hubbard Award [ [link removed] ]. This year, the 35th annual Betty Hubbard Maternal and Child Health Leadership Awards were presented on Oct. 25 in St. Paul. The awards have been presented annually since 1990. They are sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Health and the state Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force in honor of Betty Hubbard, one of the original members of the Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force and a lifelong advocate for the health of mothers and children. Nominations for the Betty Hubbard Awards are solicited each year by the Maternal and Child Health Advisory Task Force.  

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*Media inquiries:*
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*MDH Communications*
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