For Immediate Release:
Housatonic Valley Health District announced today that they have hired two new Sanitarians to meet the increasing environmental health needs of New Milford, Oxford, Southbury, Washington, and Woodbury. They are excited to welcome Ms. Lisa Yu as Sanitarian II and Mr. Xavier Bennett as the Public Health Inspector.
Ms. Lisa Yu has a Bachelors in Public Health and a Masters in Health Administration and has worked for Brookfield Health Department since 2015, with experience with inspecting food establishments, salons and septic systems. Mr. Xavier Bennett has been working in the Public Health Field since 2017 and has experience with food inspections, septic systems, nuisance complaints, and housing inspections. Mr. Bennett holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health.
Licensed Septic Installer, Jay Bennett, from HL Bennett Inc, located in Southbury noted, “The team at Housatonic Valley Health District are always nothing but helpful. We can always rely on them to give us the best of the best and their new sanitarians will only be better.”
Bob Werden from New England Septic LCC, located in Oxford, stated that “The environmental health team offers great services. I have no doubt that their new sanitarians will meet the same standard of excellence and we can’t wait to work with them.”
Lisa Morrissey, Director of Health for Housatonic Valley Health District, added “We are very excited to welcome Ms. Lisa Yu and Mr. Xavier Bennett to our team. Their experience and knowledge complement our growing team and help us better serve our community. Everyone already knows and loves Joe Kmetz, who was the only sanitarian for such a long time. We’re thrilled that Joe will be the Chief Sanitarian for the district supervising the Environmental Health Division. During the last two years, our towns have seen a robust increase in new businesses and construction projects. By increasing the capacity of our environmental health division, we can be more responsive and adaptive to the changing needs of businesses and residents. ”
With the additional staff members and community programs, HVHD has been working with local property owners on securing a larger office space in Southbury and establishing a site in New Milford. Board Chair, Ms. Anne Neumann, commented “Lisa has spent the past several weeks touring different sites. The board is looking forward to reviewing the proposals so that we can hopefully move into larger, more modern spaces with on-site clinical capacity this summer.”
More information about Ms. Yu, Mr. Bennett, and the rest of the team is available on the Housatonic Valley Health District’s website at www.hvhd.us.
The Housatonic Valley Health District serves New Milford, Oxford, Southbury, Washington, and Woodbury. The Housatonic Valley Health District’s mission is to create better health outcomes and promote the highest attainable standard of health. It accomplishes this through three principles: prevention, education, and outreach. HVHD prevents disease, injury, and disability for its communities through regular inspections of public and private businesses and homes to ensure conditions exist where people can be healthy. HVHD uses education to inform the public and health practitioners on public health best practices, policy information, and the impacts and methods of prevention for the spread of communicable diseases. HVHD conducts outreach to engage their communities that experience obstacles in accessing the public health services they need, deliver vaccines to the community, and advocate for needed and beneficial health policies. For more information about the Housatonic Valley Health District, call (203) 264-9616
