After Nearly 18,000 COVID Deaths, Leaders to Demand “No More Band-Aids”

WHEN: Wednesday, June 9, 2021, 11:00 AM (Speaking program will begin at 11:15 AM)

WHERE: Steps of the Massachusetts State House

WHAT: This Wednesday, June 9, 2021, public health leaders, elected officials, and local public health professionals will gather on the State House steps for an in-person rally, calling for the transformation of the Commonwealth’s inefficient and inequitable local public health system. The Coalition will announce its proposal to allocate a generational investment of federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to create a 21^st-century local public health system for Massachusetts.

WHO: Speakers will include:

• State Representative Denise Garlick
• State Senator Jason Lewis
• Craig Andrade, Assoc. Dean for Practice, BUSPH & Brockton Board of Health Member
• Cheryl Sbarra, Executive Director, Massachusetts Association of Health Boards
• Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director, Massachusetts Public Health Association
• Damōn Chaplin, Director, City of New Bedford, Department of Public Health
• Ruth Mori, President, Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses

WHY: Every Massachusetts resident deserves strong public health protections, regardless of race, income or zip code. Our state’s current local public health system, organized through 351 municipal health departments and boards of health, is both inefficient and inequitable. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of local public health and revealed the inadequacies of the current system. The Coalition for Local Public Health and the Massachusetts Public Health Association are calling for a generational investment of federal funds over five years to build local public health infrastructure, upgrade data systems, and support workforce development.