The Lenoir County Alliance for a Healthy Community today announced the recipient of the latest Healthy Community Hero Award.  Individuals or organizations are being recognized for demonstrating excellence through a project or program of action within recent history that results in exemplary effort and impact in improving the health of the community. 

Judge Elizabeth Heath is being recognized as an outstanding individual who has demonstrated positive impact through the expansion of the Family Accountability and Recovery Court (FARC) in the 8th District court. As Chief District Court judge, she works tirelessly to improve the lives of families by supporting meaningful services and accountability structure that generates hope for parents and children facing substance abuse problems. 

The Healthy Community Hero Award was made to Judge Elizabeth Heath for her excellence of work and compassion by transforming families with supportive and directed services. Families in this court are most often dealing with issues of substance abuse that result in painful situations such as child foster placement and family crisis from opioid abuse and overdose. Devastating statistics show that in the past year over 375 children have been involved with the district courts due to abuse, neglect or dependency.  Based on district wide statistics of previous years, over 70% of those children likely come from homes where there was substance misuse. Judge Heath has been able to locate and administer new grant funds for program growth to help more families facing these hard issues. FARC helps address child maltreatment, parental substance disorders, and parenting needs by providing treatment, intensive case management, and judicial supervision to those parents who struggle with substance abuse, and who are at risk or already have lost custody of their children. The FARC provides a connection to substance abuse and mental health treatment by partnering with PORT Human Services and Kinston Community Health Center. Colleen Kosinski, a leader in the Guardian Ad Litem program, and nominator states, “This program started in Wayne County but has now expanded in Lenoir and Greene Counties. For the past two years, Lenoir County has had the highest caseload of abused and neglected children in District 8, yet Judge Heath made this program a priority.”  Breaking the cycle of addiction gives children another chance to be raised in a safe, loving drug-free home. Judge Heath has increased the program to anyone in the community wanting support, not just responding to court referrals.  There has been success with her oversight and a recent participant remarked how much the FARC team meant to her, but especially because Judge Heath cared so much about her succeeding.

For more information about Family Accountability and Recovery Court in the 8th District court, please contact Lenoir County Department of Social Services at 252-559-6400.

Nominations for the Healthy Community Hero Award are accepted through a simple nomination process. A nomination form may be obtained by contacting Sonia Joyner, MSN, at UNC Lenoir Health Care at 252-522-7397 or Pam Brown at the Lenoir County Health Department at 252-526-4212. Individuals or organizations that are selected will be recognized throughout the year and this award offers the particular opportunity to recognize a diversity of important work that often goes unsung in the life of a community. 

The Lenoir County Alliance for a Healthy Community is a an umbrella  community coalition that seeks to improve quality of life through promoting healthy living for all residents in Lenoir County by partnering with private, public, grassroots organizations and individual citizens. This group encourages a healthier community through facilitation of increased knowledge of community resources and initiatives, utilizing networking and collaboration to decrease barriers for an optimally healthy community.  Started in 1999 and recognized as a certified Healthy Carolinians task force in 2000, the group includes representatives from dozens of community agencies. The Alliance meets ten months a year at 8:30 am on the fourth Tuesdays at the NC Veterans Home or virtually due to COVID, and serves as an advisory committee for several local organizations. Invitation is open to the community.