Very few residents drive to the Mary Alley building for the Board of Health meetings, but we do have a few hearty souls who are generally there, rain or shine. Earlier this year, one of the regulars offered the following comment in public session: “I attend these meetings because I am very interested in the transfer station. Recently, however, the discussions have included more about public health issues, and I have learned some interesting things. I hope you will continue to discuss those topics. And it would really be great if you could find a way to share that material with more people in the town.”
This column is a direct response to those comments. The Board of Health is very pleased to now have the opportunity to regularly provide information about public health topics to readers of the Marblehead Weekly News.
And the timing could not be better. COVID-19 lessened the trust that most Americans had in their public health institutions, and the current chaos in DC about the CDC, FDA, and HHS has not helped that at all.
There are now two physicians and a self-proclaimed, “health and fitness nut” on the Board of Health. To me that means this Board is (at least potentially) more able to emphasize public health than perhaps previous boards might have been. Our commitment is to provide current, up to date information on topics of interest to the town, and our articles in the Weekly News will help us do that. We will try to make that information relevant to Marblehead. What does it mean to the people elected us? Hopefully those that elected us will become comfortable sending an email or a text to share what they are curious about. The Board will also use this column to describe the value of a stronger public health program in the town. The upcoming CAHM (Creating A Healthier Marblehead) initiative will be helpful in shaping that direction of change. We also hope to show residents why a more robust public health operation might add value to their individual lives. CAHM should help with that, too.
We will always try to present information that is based on the existing science. Public health science can be difficult to interpret because it sometimes requires careful analysis -sometimes even beyond the traditional basic sciences. Public health science is based on the study of populations not individuals. And it is often very difficult to characterize the population accurately. As a result, one must read the public health literature with great care. That means that listing the references of the results quoted is very important. We obviously don’t expect Weekly News readers to read the references, and its editors obviously do not want us using their precious space for things their readers aren’t expected to read, so we will be listing the sources we quote on the Board of Health website when it is completely reconfigured.
Tom Massaro is a Marblehead resident and Chair of the Board of Health.