{"id":2906,"date":"2020-07-21T15:51:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T19:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2906"},"modified":"2020-07-21T15:51:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T19:51:02","slug":"dr-indu-gupta-helping-heal-onondaga-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2906","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Indu Gupta: Helping Heal Onondaga County"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emma Vallelunga<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo by Alice G. Patterson<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the world is in crisis, we need more than just Superman. In times like these, the heroes we seek wear full-body gowns, N95 masks and face shields. But in Syracuse, physicians like Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta break medical boundaries, connect with patients, strive for a healthier community, and may even save us from the villain that has become COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Immigrating from northern India in 1986, Gupta and her husband settled down in Central New York. Although she received a medical degree in India, she was recertified in the U.S. and ran a private practice in Syracuse at St. Joseph\u2019s Hospital. Gupta said she began to grow in her field, learning, sympathizing and getting to know her patients as people rather than numbers on a chart.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent kinds of things impact people\u2019s health,\u201d she said. \u201cMed school doesn\u2019t teach you these things. You are learning from your patients that their lives are so complicated at times. Unless you understand the complexity of what\u2019s happening in their lives, you really can\u2019t make an impact. You can write a prescription, [but] people need more from their doctor or nurse. You provide empathy and support. It\u2019s a great way of practicing medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gupta continued her practice while raising two daughters and eventually received her master of arts in public administration at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She eventually closed her practice at the hospital after 15 years, but she was on a mission to begin another journey. She got her master\u2019s of public health at John Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2009, and she was even an assistant clinical professor at the University of California in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could teach, take care of patients and stay engaged at the system level at the hospital, because that\u2019s how you make changes,\u201d she said. \u201cYou educate the next generation, and you also educate and learn from your colleagues, and then things change in the system.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when all that was said and done, she decided to come home to Syracuse and was offered the position of health commissioner for Onondaga County in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cSyracuse is a wonderful place,\u201d she said. \u201cI raised my kids here, I practiced here, I love the people here. I just felt like this was my home. At the end of the day, the weather is great in different places, but it\u2019s all about where you feel comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her new role, Gupta said she wanted to make a difference in the community and be a part of changes within the county department while also continuing to learn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a life-long student,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s where my journey has continued. It\u2019s been a wonderful journey so far. It\u2019s a lot of work, but I wouldn\u2019t [want] it any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her dedication to all things health runs deeper than just science. Gupta had her sights set on bettering the county\u2019s health and safety long before the coronavirus pandemic. When the number of people dying from opioid abuse grew in Onondaga County, Gupta met with the District Attorney\u2019s office until she was asked to be co-chair of the Onondaga County Drug Task Force, an organization with memberships from more than 50 local agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a lot of physician [support],\u201d she said. \u201cThe medical community needed to be a part of it. It\u2019s not a law enforcement issue, it\u2019s a public health issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to combating substance abuse and addiction in the county, the DTF works to raise awareness for substance abuse issues, ensure treatment and recovery options and reduce the number of opioid-related deaths. She said the group has done an incredible job leading that fight and will continue to work remotely during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is [still] an important issue,\u201d she said. \u201cOur rates have slightly gone up, and we don\u2019t want that. We\u2019re doing our best to continue to raise awareness, collaborate with everyone and make sure our voices can be heard at every level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gupta is also one of the many minds behind Greater Syracuse H.O.P.E., an anti-poverty non-profit organization powered by Gov. Cuomo\u2019s Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiative. Gupta remembers when a report from The Century Foundation found that in 2015 Syracuse had the highest concentration of poverty among African Americans and Hispanics. She said the realization was eye-opening for her and her colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody paused, and it was emotionally reckoning in a way,\u201d she said. \u201c[It was] something that we knew, but somebody [else] put it out there. The data was very powerful. It was emotionally very charging, but at the same, it was a call to action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, H.O.P.E. has culminated into, \u201ca diverse collection of residents and community organizations who have committed to working together to eradicate poverty in Syracuse,\u201d according to its website. Although Gupta is not actively involved with the organization anymore, she continues to advocate for their cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very discomforting at times that this is the most powerful country [with] the most advanced things that we have in this country, but we\u2019re still dealing with this issue in this day and age,\u201d she said. \u201cIn my position as a health commissioner, as a woman, as a mother, as a member of this community, I think it\u2019s important for me to understand and also continue to engage everybody that we can change our course in life, but we need to have the opportunity to do so. We can\u2019t do it in a vacuum. We really need to have those opportunities in our society so we can achieve the best health.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, the Onondaga County Executive Office as a whole is continuing to monitor more than 2,000 coronavirus cases. The health department, where Gupta works alongside other physicians, is responsible for many support systems for patients, including the county\u2019s contact investigations and tracing, the process of tracking down positive cases and contacting those that may have been exposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of [contact tracing] is we want to make sure that if you are the [positive] case, we will make sure you aren\u2019t exposing anybody anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve prevented many people from transmitting the infection this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like thousands of medical professionals across the country, Gupta advises members of the community to wear a face mask in public, wash your hands frequently, social distance and stay home if they start to experience symptoms of the virus. Gupta believes the fight against COVID-19 begins with each individual, and people will only prevail if we each do our part to stop the spread and save Onondaga County together.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs health commissioner, for me, the whole community is the one which we serve, making sure people are protected at every level,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to look from both sides and make sure we create an environment in which everybody feels safe and protected. It\u2019s the principle of public health. We all have a responsibility to work toward making our community healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emma Vallelunga Photo by Alice G. Patterson When the world is in crisis, we need more than just Superman. In times like these, the heroes we seek wear full-body gowns, N95 masks and face shields. But in Syracuse, physicians like Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta break medical boundaries, connect with patients, strive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-story"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Dr-Indu-Gupta-Onondaga-Health-Commissioner-0010.jpg?fit=1200%2C1598&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1541,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=1541","url_meta":{"origin":2906,"position":0},"title":"Tobacco 21","author":"Staff","date":"February 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Envisioning a Tobacco-Free Future for Onondaga County\u00a0 By Deb\u00a0Mendzef Effective Jan. 1, 2018, Onondaga County became the 15th municipality in New York state to ban the sale of tobacco-related products to anyone younger than 21 years old. 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