Noreen Papatheodorou with her dog Beau, has made working with children, diabetics and the mentally ill her passion. Photo by Jerry Lower
By Emily J. MinorNoreen H. Papatheodorou is a persevering sort.
She’s raised two kids, handled a chronic disease since she was 6 years old, rekindled her career into something even more powerful on more than one occasion.
She’s traveled. She’s networked.
She’s fought for the underdogs.
And she’s done all of this ever-mindful of a simple motto: Pay it forward.
“I always feel it’s important, if you’ve been blessed with good education and a good career and good health, to give back to your community in some way,” says Papatheodorou, a licensed clinical social worker, who has done everything from treat patients one-on-one to clinical work and research to help produce educational films for the health industry.
“I raised my children the same way. My kids were volunteering for the Special Olympics when they were young.”
Papatheodorou and her husband, Christos, have lived full-time in Manalapan since 1995, moving here about 10 years after they discovered this pretty island town during a business trip.
The couple weren’t too keen on Florida back in 1985. “We’d heard about the humidity and all the bugs,” she says, laughing. But they found a place Christos liked, so they made a low-ball offer and — voilá!
For a while, they came only occasionally — and then Washington, D.C.’s loss was this county’s gain.
Later, they upgraded to a better home, at Christos’ insistence. “He said, ‘I’m not going to live forever in that little house with no garage and no storage,’ ” she remembers.
And that’s when the couple pretty much got used to the Florida heat.
Noreen Papatheodorou, 77, is a bit of a renaissance woman. A type I diabetic diagnosed in 1940, she bustled through her early life without any newfangled medical technology like a glucose monitor or disposable insulin needles. She attended Tufts University, then Bryn Mawr College, eventually choosing clinical social work over her beloved pediatric medicine.
She really wanted to be a doctor, but her personal physician recommended against it. Too grueling for a young woman with a chronic disease like hers.
Papatheodorou didn’t skip a beat, paying it all forward every place she went. She married her husband, a neurosurgeon, and the couple lived and worked in Europe, California and D.C.
After a life-changing car accident, Christos traded in neurosurgery for a Harvard degree in public health and Papatheodorou continued her prestigious career. Mostly, she’s met with clients, one on one, for intense psychiatric help, hooking up with bigwigs and forming policy as she went. Children and diabetics have always been her first loves.
“You don’t retire, you re-career,” she says, about moving to Florida. “You retire to something else.”
And so, it was not too long after Papatheodorou had moved to Florida, bugs and all, that the good people at the Palm Beach County Mental Health Association found her. She sat on their board from 1997 to 2008 and has helped both initiate and invigorate many of the association’s programs.
Through the years, they’ve become accustomed to Papatheodorou’s no-nonsense viewpoints.
What about the veterans that are coming home to us, so sick?
What about the kids coming home from school and taking care of sick parents?
What about women’s health?
But it all these programs take the same thing, and there’s never enough.
“We don’t have the funds now to do (some of) these public education programs,” she says. “There’s just no money.”
And that’s why giving is so important.
Two philanthropists will be recognized when the association has a Dec. 9 open house to show off its new learning center at the downtown offices in West Palm Beach.
The center gives the mentally ill a place for things like personal support, employment training, and help with relaxation activities.
“The mental health association has a great deal to offer, but it just doesn’t get enough exposure,” Papatheodorou says.
“We should be focused on things like this, not waiting for people to get sick and need help.”
If you go
The Open House to show off the new learning center at the Palm Beach County Mental Health Association will be held 5-7:30 p.m., Dec. 9, at 909 Fern St., West Palm Beach. They ask that you call 561-832-3755 and let them know you plan to attend.
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