EASTHAMPTON — As the city’s new public health nurse, Christine Southworth will play an important role in keeping the community healthy through preventative and educational work.

“I really love preventative medicine,” she said. “It’s a nice field of nursing to be able to prevent someone’s pain and suffering.”

A resident of Southampton, Southworth stepped into the role on Oct. 10, taking the place of Bridget Diggins, who served in the role from November 2021 through July 2023.

“It’s been really fun to meet some of the members of the community,” Southworth said.

The role of a public health nurse, said Southworth, is to “keep the community healthy, help prevent disease and empower individuals to stay well through wellness education and helping with supportive services.”

Much of that work takes the form of flu and COVID-19 vaccine clinics, which are currently available at the Municipal Building and the Senior Center.

“We also do surveillance on diseases,” Southworth said, adding that surveillance data comes from doctors offices and hospitals which keep track of diseases, including foodborne, waterborne and respiratory diseases, as well as Lyme disease.

In preventative medicine fashion, Southworth pointed out that the city had two reported cases of Lyme disease over the weekend, and people should be careful when enjoying the outdoors this fall.

In addition to preventative work, the public health nurse also does educational talks at places like the Council on Aging to connect people with supportive health services in the area.

“It’s awesome. There’s so many ways to make a difference,” she said, adding that she likes the public nature of the job.

Prior to her new role in Easthampton, Southworth was the public health nurse in Southwick, but in addition to too few hours in that community, she “felt like there were a lot more resources in this (Easthampton) area, and I could make more of a difference.”

Before then, she worked in occupational health at Collins Aerospace for seven years, and for nine years before that she was a health and wellness employee at MassMutual.

“I’ve been a nurse for 29 years, and I’ve been in a lot of different places and a lot of different areas of medicine,” Southworth said. “I feel like all my experience and all my education has brought me to this realm, which is really kind of cool.”

Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com.