Mayor Bill de Blasio has tapped the former chief of Houston's public health system to be the city's current Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services. Dr. Herminia Palacio will oversee eight public agencies,including public hospitals and social service agencies. Her largest challenge will be leading efforts to reduce homelessness in the city. She served as Houston's public health director for 10 years and left in 2013 to work for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. De Blasio said Palacio coordinated services in Houston for tens of thousands of refugees left homeless by hurricane Katrina. "Her and her colleagues set up a shelter capacity at the Houston Astrodome in 12 hours that ended up triaging 65000 evacuees," the mayor said. Palacio is originally from the Bronx and said her personal background also shapes the way she views her work. She grew up with a mentally ill mother who at one point suffered a breakdown and nearly became homeless. The experience had an impact. "It allowed me to sit in a room with a patient who was severely mentally ill and have that patient understand at a very visceral level that I wasn't afraid, and " Palacio said. " That I didn't see them as other...that I saw their essence as whole."She said she was drawn to the job because of the de Blasio Administration's emphasis on addressing inequality. Dr. Umair Shah,the current director of Houston's public health system, worked under Palacio for nine years. He said during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and Palacio made policy decisions only after listening to people on the ground. "She would spend her time...going into the shelter,going into where people were housed, talking to people, or getting a better understanding of what their individual needs were," he said. "That's such an considerable characteristic of a leader."Palacio replaces Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, who was well liked by homeless advocates and who abruptly resigned in September at a point when the de Blasio Administration was getting criticized for its handling of the homeless crisis.
Source: wnyc.org