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John Auerbach Selected Public Health
Commissioner
On Monday, Governor
Patrick announced the selection of
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John
Auerbach | John
Auerbach to be the Commissioner of Public
Health. Auerbach is currently Executive Director
of the Boston Public Health Commission, and also serves
as President of the MPHA board.
On behalf of
everyone at MPHA, we congratulate John on being chosen
for such an important position. MPHA’s Executive
Director, Geoff Wilkinson, noted in a public
statement, "John is an outstanding public health
leader whose vision and experience make him the ideal
choice for DPH commissioner. His selection further
demonstrates how seriously the Deval Patrick
administration is committed to preventing disease and
injury and to protecting the health and safety of our
communities and workplaces."
MPHA is planning a
reception honoring John. Details will be
forthcoming.
Public Health
Budget
Governor Patrick
highlighted public health as a major priority for his
FY08 budget, with a Boston Globe headline
touting the administration’s proposal to increase
Department of Public Health funding by $72
million.
MPHA applauds Governor Patrick and his
secretary for health and human services, Dr. JudyAnn
Bigby, for placing health promotion and disease
prevention so high on the agenda. MPHA also lauds the
administration’s proposals to raise much-needed state
revenue by closing unfair corporate tax
loopholes.
As MPHA’s
budget analysis notes, Governor Patrick’s H. 1
budget recommends $547 million for DPH in FY08. This
represents a 15 percent increase over the $474.3 million
appropriated by the legislature for DPH in
FY07.
The H. 1 budget includes substantial
increases for a number of MPHA priorities, including
immunizations, tobacco control, and public health
hospitals. Several other important programs, such as the
state laboratory, teen pregnancy, and AIDS, contain
increases.
However, the H. 1 budget also proposes
cuts for several MPHA priorities, such as school health
services and the environmental health division. The
environmental health division manages the department’s
indoor air quality, food safety, and other important
programs.
Work on the budget now moves over to
the legislature, where both the House and Senate Ways
and Means Committees are drafting their own
recommendations. Visit MPHA’s web site to email
your legislators in support of boosting public
health funding!
For more information, contact
Eric Weltman at MPHA: 617-524-6696, ext. 111; eweltman@mphaweb.org.
Preventing
Childhood Obesity
MPHA’s campaign
to pass the School Nutrition Bill has gotten off to
a strong start. Sponsored by Representative Peter
Koutoujian, the bill prohibits the sale of sugar-packed
drinks and junk food in public schools.
The bill
has garnered 38 legislative co-sponsors and, thus far,
endorsements from over 40 local and statewide
organizations and 150 individuals. View the bill fact
sheet and list of supporters here.
To add your name to the growing list of
supporters, fill out the online form.
For
more information, contact Roberta Friedman at MPHA:
617-524-6696, ext. 103; rfriedman@mphaweb.org.
Working for
Safer Alternatives
MPHA
and the Alliance
for a Healthy Tomorrow are building on the strong
momentum for the Safer Alternatives bill. Sponsored by
Representative Jay Kaufman and Senator Steven Tolman,
the bill promotes alternatives to dangerous toxic
chemicals contained in many common household products.
The coalition enlisted over half of the legislature as
co-sponsors of the bill.
Since then, the
coalition has organized several State House educational
events, combined with efforts to mobilize grassroots
support. In February, AHT sponsored a briefing on the
bill for newly-elected legislators. Several weeks later,
AHT held a forum on the links between toxic chemicals
and children’s health.
At the grassroots level,
AHT is sponsoring a series of legislative
trainings and strategy sessions. AHT is also
organizing a major State
House event in honor of Mother’s Day. On Thursday,
May 10, from 10 am to 1 pm, we will be sending a message
to legislators and the Patrick administration about the
importance of protecting our families from toxic
chemicals.
For more information, contact Eric
Weltman at MPHA: 617-524-6696, ext. 111; eweltman@mphaweb.org.
Public Health
Nursing
MPHA's Public
Health Nursing Section has begun planning an ambitious
agenda for the coming months, which includes
coordinating a forum for legislators, academics and
policy makers to develop a strategic plan regarding the
recruiting and retaining of public health nurses. Please
join us on Monday, March 19 for our next meeting. For
more information, contact Roberta Friedman at MPHA:
617-524-6696, ext. 103; rfriedman@mphaweb.org.
MetroWest
Organizing
On February 26,
the Framingham Public Schools moved one step closer to
passing a strong district-wide wellness policy. The
Health Advisory Council’s draft wellness policy was
approved by the Policy Subcommittee of the Framingham
School Committee. The policy now moves onto the agenda
of the entire school committee. If passed, the policy
would require all foods offered on school campuses to
comply with the current USDA Dietary Guidelines for
Americans and all vending machines, school stores, and a
la carte items to further comply with Massachusetts
Action for Health Kid standards, which would
significantly raise the nutritional standards of foods
sold on campus.
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Brazilian American
Health Education
Fair |
Also in
February, MPHA helped the Brazilian American Association
organize the first annual Brazilian American Health
Education Fair and Luncheon. This was a unique
opportunity for the Brazilian population in Framingham
to obtain access to the more than 15 health
organizations that participated in the fair.
For
more information, contact Greer Harewood at MPHA:
617-524-6696 ext. 104; gharewood@mphaweb.org.
Central
Massachusetts
Organizing
In Central
Massachusetts, MPHA is continuing its efforts on
emergency preparedness for vulnerable populations, while
planning additional work on school health services,
school nutrition, environmental health, and other
regional matters.
In February, MPHA held three
working group meetings to identify action steps to
facilitate better preparedness among vulnerable
populations. MPHA is working with Worcester community
leaders and city planners to assess local agencies'
preparedness. After this assessment process, MPHA, city
planners and community leaders will hold trainings with
agency and neighborhood leaders in order to reach out to
vulnerable populations. Other action items include
researching the efficacy of the municipal siren system,
which is no longer in use, to alert the public about
responding to a disaster.
Sara Schurfrieder, our
intern from Holy Cross, along with Sara Kanevsky, MPHA
organizer, is developing strategy with parents to build
support for the School Nutrition Bill. We are working
with Jennifer Moiles, a Worcester public school parent,
who wrote a letter to the school administration asking
for a healthier policy regarding junk foods being sold
to students to raise funds.
In addition, we are
planning three upcoming strategy meetings. The first, on
Friday, March 23, is to discuss strengthening MPHA’s
position as an umbrella public health group for the
region. The second, on Wednesday, April 4, is to plan
ways that health providers can support the Safer
Alternatives bill. Finally, on Thursday, April 5, we’re
holding a meeting to discuss building support for
increased funding for school health services.
For
more information, contact Sara Kanevsky at MPHA:
508-414-0976; sara.kanevsky@gmail.com.
Western
Massachusetts Organizes
In
Western Massachusetts, regionalization of local public
health services and teen pregnancy prevention have been
emerging as important issues.
Our quarterly
legislative breakfast, co-sponsored with Springfield
Department of Health and Human Services, was held on
March 7 at Mercy Medical Center. The topic was
"Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Infant Mortality: Is
there a legislative solution?" Dr. Sara Perez-McAdoo,
from Baystate Medical Center, was the featured
speaker.
We are holding two Regionalization
Community Forums in western Massachusetts. The first is
being held on Tuesday, March 13, at Greenfield Community
College, and the second on Saturday, April 7, at Holyoke
Community College. The featured speakers are MPHA board
members Harold Cox, from the Boston University School of
Public Health, and Frank Singleton, head of Lowell’s
health department. We gratefully recognize the support
given to this project by Epi Bodhi of the Amherst Health
Department, Orlando Izasa of Holyoke Community College,
and Phoebe Walker of the Franklin County Regional
Council of Governments.
Kudos to Regional
Committee member Dr. Dan Gerber of the UMass School of
Public Health, who was nominated for outstanding
community instruction at the university. Dan has been a
stalwart supporter of our organizing efforts and has
been an invaluable source of interns and student
activists. Congratulations, Dan!
For more
information, contact AJ Juarez at MPHA:
413-750-2060; ellis6065@charter.net.
MPHA's Spring
Celebration
Please join us on
Thursday, April 26, 2007 at The Boston Park Plaza for
Our Health, Our Future, MPHA's 5th Annual
Spring Celebration!
This year we are proud to
honor:
Matt Fishman, Vice President
of Community Health at Partners Healthcare, Paul Revere
Award
Zoila Torres Feldman,
President & CEO of the Great Brook Valley Health
Center, Lemuel Shattuck Award
Ali
Noorani, Executive Director of Massachusetts
Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), Alfred
L. Frechette Award
For more information or
to learn about sponsorship opportunities, visit
our website, or contact Kara Keenan: 617-524-6696,
ext. 113; kkeenan@mphaweb.org.
Renew your
membership today!
MPHA has won
important victories in recent months and your voice and
your membership were critical to these victories. We
have an ambitious agenda laid out for the coming months
and we need your continued support.
Please take a
moment to renew your membership, online
or by mail,
today! For more information, contact Kara Keenan:
617-524-6696 ext.113; kkeenan@mphaweb.org.
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