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Mahoning health official calls it a career after 19 years
BOARDMAN
Diana (Babnich) Colaianni, the little Slovak girl from Lansingville on Youngstown’s South Side, grew up to become a major force for good in the Mahoning Valley as a hospital and public health nurse.
Colaianni (pronounced colley-annie) is retiring Sunday after 19 years as director of nursing at the Mahoning County Board of Health. Her last day in the office was Nov. 21.
But, the last 19 years only capped a 45-year career as a labor and delivery nurse and a teacher, motivator and supporter of other nurses.
“I’ve known Diana my entire professional life,” said Patricia Sweeney, Mahoning County health commissioner.
“She is a consummate professional, a wonderful leader, a role model for women, and a gifted nurse and educator. She has a good soul,” Sweeney said.
Colaianni said she draws inspiration from Pablo Picasso’s drawing of Don Quixote of La Mancha, which hung on her office wall.
“Don Quixote saw the world as he hoped it would be. In public health, we try to do that — to see the world as it is and try to prevent illnesses and help people improve the quality of their lives,” Colaianni said.
“I enjoyed the hospital. But when you work in the community, you get to see people in their homes and spend more time with them. You know them and they know and trust you,” she said.
Among the highlights of her career as a public health nurse was the response to the bacterial meningitis outbreak at West Branch High School over Memorial Day weekend in 2001. The outbreak caused the deaths of two West Branch students, one at Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron and another at Tod Children’s Hospital in Youngstown, and created fear in the community.
There were several public health challenges, said Colaianni.
First, she said, it was pre-9/11, and public health departments did not have any of the incident training that came after the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
Also, she said there were jurisdictional issues concerning the boundaries of Stark, Columbiana and Mahoning counties. It took a couple of days to determine who was in charge.
In the meantime, Colaianni said, public health pulled together and responded. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was on the scene.
Clinics were set up to dispense the meningitis vaccine. The Ohio Department of Health provided funds for the vaccine, and a lot of health departments used some of their own dollars, as did hospitals, she said.
Dr. John Venglarcik, who was not yet on staff as the county health department’s medical director, helped educate the people and allay some of their fears, Colaianni said.
“We were challenged to maintain our credibility. We pulled together. This was a community that needed us and we went. Working, pulling together was an amazing experience that made you feel you were doing something worthwhile,” she said.
Matthew Stefanak, former Mahoning County health commissioner, tagged onto Colaianni’s comments about the meningitis crisis. About 4,400 kids and school staff and other potential contracts in four school districts were vaccinated, he said.
He also noted the public health response to the H1N1 flu pandemic in 2009, which Colaianni had a part in.
“We put together the H1N1 flu campaign in which we administered two doses of the vaccine to some 20,000 students and adults. She [Colaianni] has an ability to organize and encourage,” Stefanak said.
“Her good spirits are indefatigable. Not only is she the morale officer for the organization, she is a great organizer,” he said.
“I have worked with a group of the most professional public health care professionals ... a wonderful management team and staff and board,” Colaianni said.
“It is in times of crisis that we shine the brightest. The citizens of Mahoning County are in very good hands,” she said.
“I’m going to miss it very much.”