Spectrum News 1 featured MPHA’s Lobby Day in this segment.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette covered the MPHA Lobby Day at the State House and highlighted the leadership of Gary Rosen, a member of the Worcester Board of Public Health, and other legislator sponsors and community members who spoke on MPHA’s top three priority bills.
Carlene Pavlos, MPHA Executive Director, comments on importance of and learnings from implementation of Public Health Excellence grants.
The Boston Globe published a letter from MPHA regarding the need to both reduce direct out of pocket costs for health care while also prioritizing upstream public health approaches and solutions to tackle structural racism in healthcare, including statewide benchmarks and legislation like SAPHE 2.0 and An Act to Advance Health Equity to more comprehensively advance better health for everyone.
Alexis Walls, MPHA Assistant Campaign Director, spoke to Bob Seay on WGBH, on Transit Equity Day about regional transit and how we are honoring the legacy of Rosa Parks and other civil rights champions.
BOSTON — “Massachusetts residents live should not determine their mobility. People living in Regional Transit Authority (RTA) communities deserve access to robust transit that gets them where they need to go to live healthy and full lives,” said Alexis Walls, Assistant Campaign Director at MPHA. Community members along with MPHA, Transportation for Massachusetts, and other members of the RTA Advocates Coalition will present testimony at the Joint Committee on Transportation Public Hearing in support of the RTA Advancement Bill (H.3272/S.2277) on Wednesday, January 24.
Passage of the RTA Advancement Bill will codify a commitment of public funding into the regional transit system in Massachusetts as called for in the passage of the 2022 Fair Share Ballot Initiative; establish an RTA Fund in statute, mirroring the MBTA Fund; increase collaboration between RTAs, community stakeholders and state policymakers; and end the use of an outdated performance metric that incentivizes inequitable fare policies. For the 55% of Massachusetts residents who live outside the MBTA bus and subway service area, limited public transit negatively impacts access to employment, housing, food, and health care among other fundamental building blocks of good health. This is especially true for the low-income, older adults, and people with disabilities who are the primary users of RTAs.
Feasibility report concludes that overdose prevention centers would be effective at reducing overdoses and fatalities
BOSTON — Opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts decreased slightly in the 12-month period ending September 30, 2023, compared to the same period last year, according to preliminary data released today by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH). Between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023, there were 2,323 confirmed and estimated opioid-related overdose deaths, eight fewer than the same time last year. Massachusetts had a record 2,359 opioid-related overdose deaths in all of 2022.
The preliminary data show that fentanyl was detected in 93 percent of all opioid-related overdose deaths in the first three months of this year. The increasingly toxic drug supply in the United States and ongoing opioid epidemic have claimed the lives of more than 25,000 people in Massachusetts since 2000.
The reports are being released today alongside a feasibility report recognizing that the establishment of overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in Massachusetts would be an effective intervention to combat preventable overdoses and decrease fatal overdose rates in the state.
“The overdose crisis continues to devastate our communities and families throughout Massachusetts. When I read these numbers, I’m heartbroken to think about the lives connected to each one and their loved ones who are enduring this tragic loss,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Our administration is combating this crisis by continuing to invest in community supports aimed at destigmatizing substance use disorder and reducing the negative effects of substance use. Together, we can advance harm reduction and prevention efforts through evidence-based strategies, including low-threshold access to services and long-term solutions for treatment and recovery.”
Statement by Oami Amarasingham, Deputy Director, Massachusetts Public Health Association,
Data regarding overdose deaths in the Commonwealth released today by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is devastating. Each of the 2,357 overdose deaths last year represents a family in pain and a community loss. These deaths are preventable; every overdose death is a policy failure. At the heart of these data is the reality that racial disparities are getting worse: the rate of overdose for Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic people increased significantly while rates of overdose for white people decreased.
We applaud the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Healey-Driscoll Administration for taking action in the face of this devastating report. The plan outlined by MDPH, including a fast-tracked overdose prevention center feasibility study, puts Massachusetts on the path to reverse the trends and save lives by focusing on harm reduction and root causes. While some states are implementing ill-conceived criminalization and punitive measures in response to overdose deaths, we are glad to see MDPH and the Healey-Driscoll Administration rely on data and experience that shows that the public health approach is more effective and long-lasting.
The Massachusetts Public Health Association has endorsed and is a member of the coalition advocating for the quick passage of H.1981/S.1242, An Act Relative to Preventing Overdose Deaths and Increasing Access to Treatment, sponsored by Rep. Dylan Fernandes, Rep. Marjorie Decker, and Sen. Julian Cyr to establish an overdose prevention center pilot program. Overdose prevention centers are a life-saving public health intervention.
Boston, MA – Today people are likely to think of COVID-19 when hearing the term public health. In truth the range of public health issues – and the people who work diligently every day to safeguard the health of our communities – is vast and deep. From potential new outbreaks of Mpox and health care for the homeless to clean swimming pools and drinking water and services for those suffering from addiction or mental health, public health concerns each and every resident of the Commonwealth.
On Friday, June 2, 2023, the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) will honor four public health professionals for their critical service, inspiring leadership, and commitment to racial justice at the 21st Annual MPHA Spring Awards Breakfast. The 2023 MPHA Awardees are:
More than 350 people are expected at the sold out to be held at the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter in South Boston. Massachusetts Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein will speak along with President & CEO of Health Resources in Action and MPHA Board President Steve Ridini and Executive Director of Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative and MPHA Board President-Elect Roeshana Moore-Evans.
In addition to raising funds to support the advocacy and organizing agenda of MPHA, the breakfast offers an opportunity to recognize those whose daily work is devoted to making local communities and the entire Commonwealth healthier and more equitable.
“At this moment in history, when public health staff in Massachusetts and across the country have faced backlash and even harassment for their work it is more important than ever to celebrate those who have committed themselves to this hard and live-saving work,” stated Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director of MPHA.
Massachusetts Public Health Association and allies urge equity approaches hospitals and other healthcare institutions establish mask policies
Boston, MA – As the Massachusetts COVID-19 Public Health Emergency ends on May 11, public health advocates are calling upon hospitals, doctors, and other health providers to adopt masking policies that will continue to provide access to safer environments for their patients and their staff who are immunocompromised or otherwise at higher risk for the severe consequences of COVID.
“The end of universal masking policies in health care settings will put those seeking medical care who are already more vulnerable – people with respiratory diseases or cancer, people with disabilities, and older adults – at risk of contracting COVID and other potentially life-threatening illnesses,” said Carlene Pavlos, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA).
MPHA supports a more nuanced approach that centers equity and does not put the onus on the patient, an undue burden on those who may already feel disempowered in health care settings. One example that warrants consideration is the decision by UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester to keep masks in higher risk settings such as the emergency department and oncology. This approach aligns with public health strategies deployed over the past few decades to reduce hospital-acquired infections that have shifted the practice of wearing gloves only in certain circumstances to one that is now considered a universal precaution.
Pavlos also underscored that predictions by public health advocates played out time and time again over the past three years as historically marginalized communities experienced the highest rates of COVID infections and death due to COVID. According to the Commonwealth’s data collection, those who identified as Black, Asian, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic/Latine accounted for 76.84% of the cumulative case rates and 75.62% of the cumulative death rates since the onset of COVID-19 despite accounting for only 38.99% of the population in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. (COVID-19 Response Reporting | Mass.gov) These disparate health outcomes expose the deeply embedded systemic barriers caused by racial and social inequities that existed long before the pandemic and were exacerbated by it.
Massachusetts Public Health Alliance
You must be logged in to post a comment.