Board of Health: September 14, 2026

Transcript captured from MHTV’s Vimeo auto-captioning. No speaker labels; proper names and dollar figures occasionally misheard. Click any timecode to jump to that moment in the source video.

0:01 September, and I’m pleased to call the Board of Health meeting to order. Note my new gavel. We love it. We have a robust agenda tonight. I think it’s both positive and informative. What I’d like to do is start, if we may, with a report from Laurie Brizuela, who’s right there. You can come up here if you want. And those of you who may remember, during the COVID pandemic, the Board of Health formed the Marblehead Mental Health Task Force. That’s me. The Marblehead Mental Health Task Force developed the Marblehead Cares website. Apparently, we somehow lost the domain rights to that name, and in fact, somebody came back and wanted to sell it back to us. We didn’t buy it, but we now own it. And there was a lot of navigation questions that came in the COM survey

1:32 that said, “Boy, we really do need to tell people what’s available in the community.” So Peter Schillaci and Laurie have been working on this for a couple of weeks, and I have to tell you, it was great fun watching two people who speak digital languages which are foreign to me, work together and think about how much they can do as we improve this website. So Laurie, please go ahead and share your screen and your thoughts.

2:29 Confirm presenter view and- There we go. Okay Okay. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for having me here today to talk about the new Marblehead Cares website. My name is Laurie Brizuela, and I’m the newly hired public health information curator for the Board of Health here in town. So just very briefly, as a public health information curator, I will be working on organizing and managing the public health information that we put on Marblehead Cares and the different Board of Health and health department websites. Another huge part of my role is health communication, so supporting the board and the town’s mission to promote public health through social media presence and assuring that the board’s priorities are transparent to the public and backed by data that is accessible to people who want to view it, and is shared in a way that people can understand, and that the data the board is sharing is credible, which overall I hope will build community trust and a sense of understanding of public health science amongst all residents. And lastly, I will be assisting with monitoring and evaluation. So looking through different

3:39 websites like the Massachusetts Department of Public Health website, the Center for Disease Control websites, for relevant information on, for example, disease and food and waterborne outbreaks, water quality, and looking at the town website for different programs and services that are offered that support public health in town. And then lastly, working on literature reviews that are on topics that are a priority to the board. So for example, on adolescent drinking, prenatal parenting programs, and mental health supports. And so before jumping into the updates of the website, I just wanted to define what public health is, as some areas on the website might make you ask how it’s relevant to the board and overall how it’s relevant to public health. And so a very classic definition is provided by C.E.A. Winslow, who was the first professor hired by Yale to teach public health, and he says that public health is a science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private communities, and individuals. And this really touches on how public health outcomes depend on all levels of your community being informed and working together. There’s a more recent definition that’s used now. It came out in 2017 by Dr. Karen DeSalvo, which states that public health is what we do as a society to create conditions in which everyone can be healthy. And so if you’ve been staring at the image on the screen, you will see that what we

5:13 do as public health professionals involve collaborating with various sectors, such as social work and healthcare, environmental health scientists, to create conditions that keeps everyone healthy. And again, this ranges from occupational or workplace safety, preventative health medicine through the promotion of healthy eating and tobacco regulation, the use of biostatistics and epidemiology to study, collect, and evaluate health data. And even, like I said, environmental scientists, health scientists, that give us the evidence we need to promote regulations that keep our air and water clean. And so here in Marblehead, the Board of Health is responsible for many of the public health services and benefits offered to all residents. And this is not a complete list of all the work that was done by the board in 2025, but it is just the first couple of things listed from the annual town report. So with the support of UMass Boston, the board conducted a wellness assessment to collect data on the various wellness needs for families and adults in our community. That was called the Create a Healthier Marblehead, or COM Assessment. And health and risk assessments are a very important public health tool that helps drive the priorities of public health officials at the local level and even the state and nationwide level. These are assessments that are used. So screening for 20 communicable diseases was also available by the Health Department of Marblehead. There was blood pressure screening available weekly, the distribution of a limited number of COVID-19 testing kits, the availability of

6:44 fentanyl testing kits at different locations around town. There was a flu shot clinic available for town employees, and then various sanitation and inspection services were offered, specifically in restaurants, food trucks, and nursing homes. Water quality was tested at our beaches weekly. Swimming pools were inspected. And so all these provisions and services support public health in Marblehead, and the Marblehead Cares website that I’m discussing next is just one more important piece of that. So here, this is what the main header now looks like. The environment of public health has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic when Marblehead Cares was first launched. So we’ve modified the Marblehead Cares website to reflect that. And this is a work in progress. This is likely not what it’s going to look like once you see it, but these are initial drafts of it. You see that we restructured it to include wellness, which now contains the mental health resources that were previously listed. And so the idea behind the restructuring is that public health has various avenues to work in and ways to support its communities, and the topics under wellness will reflect that. If you click on the welcome page, you’re now going to be brought to the welcome letter from the board introducing the new Marblehead Cares website. This is just a draft of it. We also, on the welcome page, if you scroll down a little bit, there’s a What is Public Health section, and so we list the definition.

8:18 This is also where we can just put documents or videos on talks about what is public health. And we have a recent news and announcements section that can host current articles that came out in local newspapers or different articles we find online that are relevant to topics of prioritization to the board. And right now, these are just two sample posts. The bolded wording will be where the title of an article lives, and then it’ll have the publication date, and then just the first sentence or two from this article. We have an About Us page, and this will now hold the board contact information, like names and their positions, their email addresses, health department address and hours, phone numbers, and fax information. We’ll have meeting and report information here, so when the board is meeting, when Chair Massaro is hosting office hours. We can list annual town reports. We can find meeting recordings here, hopefully a little bit easier, and then listing duties of the Local Board of Health in Massachusetts, as stated by the state of Massachusetts. Under the Wellness tab, this will house the COM report, a PowerPoint about COM, and then the appendix data report here. There will also be a community health tab and mental health resources. And like I said, this is a work in progress, so right now this is what it looks

9:48 like. On the left-hand side, we have beaches and public spaces, food, water, and vaccinations. But after brainstorming with some of the board members, there are other avenues that the board would like to touch on. And again, this will either live on Marblehead Cares or on a separate town website for the board. But the idea is that it will involve vaccinations, food, environmental health, injury prevention, and information about the wellness fair. Under food, I, for example, have listed the webpage for the Center for Disease Control’s foodborne outbreaks, and where you can find all the information that they have there. This is also a place where we can list information on local food pantries, information on where to find food assistance, learn how to apply, oversight of restaurants in Marblehead, so the health inspector’s contact information, health restaurant ratings, and things like that. Under vaccinations, we would include information on vaccination school rate, flu shot clinics, COVID-19 vaccines, and overall just mRNA vaccine education. And now we’re looking at the mental health subject underneath wellness. Again, the left-hand side is what it looks like now, but we’d like it to also include resources and information for family and youth in the LGBTQ+ community in town. And this is just an example of what substance use and addiction looks like right

11:21 now. So we have a little message at the top, and then we have some links that you can go to find support for yourself or other people. Under depression and suicide prevention, we have listed the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and just a little information on why you would be using this crisis line. And we also have a part about PTSD and grief, and this was not edited by our web designer, so when it is launched, it will be on theme for the website. This was just my little edit to it today. But for example, we would be listing information on where to find a local grief support group. And then in the main header, we have another section called Community Resources, and under there is where we’ll be listing all of the different agencies, councils, and departments that are available to residents that help promote wellness and public health, and maybe just a little blurb about the different programs they offer, contact information, and their hours. We also have this speed bump now. If you are on the Marblehead Cares website and you click a link that brings you to a website leaving the page, you will see this, and it’s just letting you know that you’re leaving the website, the Marblehead Cares website, and we can’t control what is posted on the ever-changing

12:52 internet. And so for future updates, I mentioned wanting to add something about environmental health, injury prevention, and the wellness fair. And so under environmental health, that will involve information on our beaches and pools, seasonal concerns like mosquitoes, ticks, and heat, air quality. Not live updates, but if you fall under sensitive populations when we have bad air, this is where you can go to find information on how to protect yourself and other people. Injury prevention will have information on sidewalk safety, e-bikes, helmet usage, harm reduction, and then we have our wellness fair. We have some of these resources already listed under the mental health section on the website, but they’re not grouped yet, so that’s something to work on. And I just want to point out that we sourced these from thehelphub.com, which is Lisa Sugarman’s website, and she was very happy to have us be using her as a source for this. And this is going to be the last future update for now, but this on the left-hand side, again, is what our speed bump looks like, but these are different examples of speed bumps, and we can work together to come up with the language for what we want ours to say. So yeah. Thank you for having me tonight. I welcome any feedback and questions. No, this is a great start. So we really appreciate that.

14:23 Obviously, it’s a lot of hard work to get going with this. There’s a lot of information out there. Yeah, we’re trying to pull together the town website, Marblehead Cares, making sure they have access to Marblehead Counseling Center, and all the other state agencies and stuff like that. So no, this is great. Thank you. Yeah. It’s been amazing in three weeks or something like that, all you’ve accomplished. And we have to figure out a way maybe to display things a little bit better. It’s kind of hard to read, at least for old eyes in the TV in the back of the room. So, there should be some people on the web who had a vested interest in the previous version of Marblehead Cares. Has anyone got any comments? Yeah. So Susan Stelp would like to make a comment.

15:24 Can you hear me now? No. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me? Try again, Susan. Hmm? Yep, we can hear you. Okay. First of all, it’s a great start. I’m really excited about having this back up and online, and happy, as I’ve said to Tom, to provide any support and assistance that I can. When you talk about the community resources, you only have the town resources, and I’m hoping that you would have reference to what we have on the town website, which lists a bunch of other community resources that provide support to Marblehead residents. We also have that magnet that we made a number of years ago through the Female Humane Society, but the resources on the town website should also be included, or there should be a link to more resources to access them. Yeah. I agree with what Tom said about making it a little more readable. I’m always thinking of the average person who may be looking for help, and any way to make it softer and more accessible, and even with some images in there, I think would be helpful so it’s not as academic. That’s good.

16:54 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Lisa. A couple thoughts. I think it’s amazing. I had a couple of data ideas outside of yours. One being, I wonder if Marblehead or CVS and other Marblehead pharmacies, I don’t know what that one’s called, the one that’s underground. Village Pharmacy might share vaccination rates if they both do in-store vaccinations in the- That would be CVS. Village doesn’t do vaccinations. Village doesn’t? I thought they had a flu shot sign up- They might … the other day when I was standing there waiting for the bus. But, and vaccination rates by age in the past five years for flu, RSV, COVID, and school. And then I also wonder if Salem and Beverly Hospital would share data for us. And I’m not talking about whatever, but top 10 visits to the hospital for seniors, middle-aged, which I’m still putting myself in that category, sort of 25 or 24 to 40, and then kids. Just top reasons for ER visits is a great number to have. And if they would give us that for our other communities that look like us, other beachy, wealthy, whatever. So it’ll be interesting how does Swampscott compare to Marblehead or Salem or whatever. And then make sure when you do contact info, you

18:29 include phone numbers because some people still call. Like me, I’m old. And very often the Marblehead- Like town sites are like, “Here’s the town clerk. Can’t call them, but if you want to walk over, here’s where to go.” And do we have public pools? We do not have– Well, we don’t really have public pools, so we have some private pools. Like at the clubs. Yeah. Mm-hmm. GCC, YMC- GCC. And again, you could walk into these pools, but generally you’re a membership. Right. Mm-hmm. That’s it. I think it’s fantastic. It’s excellent work, Lori. A few other suggestions. Oh, few other suggestions is a place to put the blue map under mental health, and also women’s mental health, postpartum. Mm-hmm. Very important. And emergency preparedness. Mm-hmm. Since we have that section. Yeah, so we’ll go back because I was talking to Lori a little bit beforehand. We have a whole town website that recently got switched over to a new company. They didn’t bring everything over. We need to go through the whole process to bring all that stuff back up that does include emergency preparedness, contact to all these other different state agencies, mosquito control, seasonal stuff.

20:01 So yeah, we’ll work together to make sure the town website’s updated. Obviously, Marblehead Cares is updated the way the board wants it as far as substance use, mental health, all those things. But always making sure that we have connections to Marblehead Counseling Center that has all their health navigation efforts. Just trying to make sure it’s easier, so people can come to Marblehead website and then start to go out from there. Again, navigation is a really big piece, and trying to make it easy for everybody. We are definitely recognizing that we need to have two sides. People need to be able to call us or need to be able to come into the office and get some assistance with computer work. It is very complicated for a lot of people. It can be overwhelming. So we are often a resource to help people through some of that stuff. But yes, you have to have a phone. We have to be available by the phone. But we want to have all the information up there. For people that only use their phones and not computers, will this be easily seen on- So again, you have to go take the time to build it for the computer base, but then go in through your phone to make sure you can access it. Mm-hmm. And again, you want to make sure that you can read it through an Apple phone, an Android phone, that it’s all across- Mm-hmm … accessible. Yeah. I know with the platform that we’re using to build Marblehead Cares, there is a section about phone preview or something like that.

21:34 Okay. So I think once the base of it is done, we can go in and make sure it looks okay on phones. Okay. Because I saw that today, and I was like, “Oh, okay.” I never done that. But yeah, it’s a lot of great work. I mean, again- Thank you, guys … it’s a huge undertaking. There’s a lot of connections, a lot of thinking through everything. I really like your idea about women’s health and having a whole section on that. Just making sure we are a great resource. Great. Thank you. Not just parent, but also menopausal. Yeah. I’ll add it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And I think the speed at which you and Peter work together, we’ll have you on a regular basis, coming in, updating, until it’s ready to go live. But actually, one of the goals, one of the things the board promised the people, the 2,553 people that responded to COM, is that we were not going to let the COM report sit and be a doorstop or collect dust. We are going to do everything we can to take what we learned from COM and make it into active reality in the town. And this is, I think, one of our first attempts to really

23:05 do what was asked for or indirectly asked for by COM, because so many people kept saying, “Gee, I wish we did this. I wish we did that.” And we do, but they just didn’t know about it. So this is an attempt, with two digitally savvy people, to try to collect all that information, make it as presentable as possible, and as I’ve watched Lori, I think it was a Danish architect, maybe a Swedish architect, that developed the term “less is more.” And we really have to figure out what goes in this and how to put it in a way that even though it doesn’t cover every word we want to– I’m too wordy, I know that. Every word we want to say, but the point that Marblehead does care is really a key one. So again, thank you very much. We look forward to hearing and seeing your progress. The second item on the agenda is certainly one part of the COM results, but I can’t help but say as a

24:40 pediatrician, it’s a combination of neonatology and public health, and that we are in the process of developing these parenting classes for families about to have children. Professor Kristen Urbeta is here. She did most of the work on this. She and I visited several offices, pediatrician, obstetric offices, to find out just what needed to be done in this area, how we could help them, and the overwhelming message we got was parenting classes. We’ve gone to Marblehead Parenting. It’s an ensemble of really dedicated, bright, sensitive individuals putting together programs for raising children in very different times than they were raised. And we will have our first prenatal class starting October 1st. There’ll be three sessions, October 1st, October 8th, October 15th, at the Marblehead Parenting location on 40

26:11 Tioga Way. It will be an evening class, and it is completely free to all Marblehead residents. We’ll have to see how the first one goes. Maybe we’re going to have to do one in the day and that sort of thing. But we’re going to get this first one online, out the door, early in October, while the weather hopefully will still be good. And we’ll see how we can go and what we can learn from that. But we are very committed to make this happen and be a real contribution to the town. Now, I know one of us at least has– Go on, you want to say? I’ve taken quite a few classes at Marblehead Parenting, and they’ve all been fantastic. Great for just meeting other moms going through similar struggles at different stages, and just a wonderful facility. Is that a bit soon? Have people signed up yet? No, we’re still working on our marketing. So should we push it out a bit? No, it’s listed on theirs. They’re willing to go, even if there’s only a few people. Hopefully tonight and the weekend we’ll get more people. We’re developing flyers. I think it would be counterproductive to have

27:45 something on their website that wasn’t accurate. Oh, there is on the Marblehead Parenting website. Yeah. So how do people sign up? Through their website? Marblehead Cares @gmail.com. It will be on the flyer that I hope we can get on the Facebook pages of various people on the board within the next day or two. But I’m pretty sure it’s marbleheadparenting@gmail.com, and the telephone number, again- Yes, that is their general website. Yeah marbleheadparenting@gmail.com. Yes. And the telephone number is included. I don’t have it, no. Yeah, that’s- I have it, yeah Okay 781-990-5254. So if you call- And somebody may not be there to answer, but there’ll be the ability to leave a message, and we will get back to anyone. We had, for background, over 164, I think, new members of the Marblehead community last year, according to the town clerk. So, it’s not an overwhelming number, but I think that if we can get a quarter of them

29:17 or half of them, in the most extreme, to be interested in this class. Given all the stuff that’s going on today in the news about the maternal risks that are out there, I think people should be very interested in this. We thought about this whole thing well before all that news, but it certainly has emphasized why this is realistic today. And it’s for new parents. They’re able to bring their children to the class, or is it for people who are expecting? It’s for– The first class that we’re paying for, the one that they’ve never taught, is prenatal. Okay. The classes they’ve historically taught are post-delivery. Mm-hmm. But the hope is that people will see the quality of the prenatal one. What the website says and what we’re going to say in our little flyer is, we want the parents to be prepared with their social network before they need it, and that my example last time that we talked about this is that my grandmother lived three blocks away from my mother the first 10 years.

30:51 So any time my mother had a problem raising me, she got some insight from her mom, who had raised seven. But that doesn’t exist anymore. So this is a way of allowing the number of people who take these classes to develop a little village, a little community that they can interact with each other. Tom’s young boy was not well today. Well, if you’re a new parent, and it’s the first time you’ve seen a kid with a little fever, and you’re worried, it’s a whole lot better to be able to call someone you intellectually and socially trust to ask how they’re doing. And so that’s the goal of it and the purpose of it. And we are as committed as we possibly can be to make this successful. And so it’s three classes? Three classes. Three sessions into one class, yeah. Okay. Okay. Into one course, okay? And the vocabulary. And what’s the time? 7:00 evening, October 1st, October 8th, and October 15th. Okay. Is there a plan to do some basic evaluation?

32:21 Yes. Professor? Down the road. You want to start it off? Oh. So not for this class in particular, but down the road, so to give an opportunity to perhaps get future grants and as proof of concept down the road. I just wonder if even a really basic- Mm-hmm … basic knowledge, attitude, behavior, beliefs around the nervousness, and like an Edinburgh scale together- That’s a postpartum depression screen. Right. Yes. That if you could do that at the beginning and at the end in a sort of readiness. I would be more than happy to probably send you the questions if that would be helpful. Sure. I probably have ones I’ve used. Sure, that’d be great. But yeah, whenever you screen people, you want to be able to- Any documentation on them? Oh, well, whenever you offer screenings, you want to be able to- Provide follow-ups … provide, yes. And I’m sure that the parenting center would have- I don’t think they ever- Not in-house, but they have supports. Because if they had someone in the class who came out about something that was reportable- Mm … danger, they have to have those systems in place. We should ask them about that.

33:54 We’ll just never get the first class then. How did they find out about it? Send me that information- Yep … and we’ll talk about it, Tom. The goal is to go to the IRB at Salem State- Yep … and be able to do a thorough evaluation of what the outcomes are. Right. It’s just taking us a little longer to get an IRB done in the- Yeah … summer. And unicorn. Mm-hmm. Okay. The next- Sorry, I just have a little question on this. There are flyers that are available, and have you given them to the local doctor’s office? We began the contract to the designer today. Hopefully, I’ll have it by the end of the week. Okay. And I will make sure that the doctor’s office is happy. I’m happy to deliver it to them. Yeah. Primary care. Yeah. I’m a strong believer that perfect is the enemy of good. Mm-hmm. And so I wanted to get this out there to get people’s feedback. It will not just be an idea that comes from the old chair of the board of health, it will be something factual that we can work on and improve.

35:25 It is not, in principle, coming. It will be here, and we’ll make it better. That was a choice that I guess I made. And I believe in this so strongly that I think that perfect is the enemy of good, but we can make it nearly perfect over time. Do you mind if I just clarify? So I have been working with the people at Marblehead Parenting for the postnatal classes. So we’ve put together pre and post questions for the participants if they choose to participate to respond to, but we haven’t put anything together, and I think the timeline might be a little tight, although, who knows, for the prenatal class. So the decision was made to evaluate the postnatal class, which they run pretty regularly.

36:29 Any comments from you? Any other comments? Okay. I believe I would like to discuss the rudiments of developing a mental health working group in the board of health. We had the Marblehead Mental Health Task Force. It moved to the counseling center last year. It hasn’t been so active this year. But I- I strongly believe that mental health is a complicated issue, more complicated than any one group in town can handle completely itself. And the town will be best served by getting as many people as possible together with a vision of what we want to achieve and develop a consensus from those various people. In the CHIP grant that we proposed, we had a group of 10. Probably bigger than that may be appropriate and necessary. I have heard some feedback from people that think that generally smaller groups like that are better, and

38:01 I think that it may work for things that there’s an obvious answer. But I believe in something as complicated and complex as mental health, you want to have as many people at the table as possible. And it may take longer to reach a consensus, but when you have the consensus, it will be more meaningful. The example that was given in the outline of the request for proposal that we wrote was the town that had to redo its transportation structure in order to allow kids to have more access to things that were denied a fraction of the children in the town. So when you think about it at that level, let’s just go, in my mind, what you go through. Okay, I think without question, we want to be moderator or convener. Marblehead Board of Health. You need the schools. You need the police chief. It would be great if the Selectboard had someone who participated in that group. We have both the YMCA and the JCC, where young people

39:33 congregate to exercise and do things. The library is a fantastic resource in the town. If we go beyond kids, we have the senior center is a fantastic resource in the town. So you’re already up to eight or nine, just off the top of your head, people that have– Oh, Parks and Recs. And so you’re right, that was the 10th. I think that we need to take the time to work hard enough to get a consensus with 10 different thought owners in the town to be able to get a meaningful consensus which will change things in the long run. But I see Mr. Jordan shaking his head, that he agrees that short, small is the right way to go. First, if I can hear the board’s thoughts about that, and I know that Kristen has written grants successfully in this area and ask for her comments about including all the possible stakeholders. Thank you. I think you can hear me, right? I guess my first– I think 10 may feel big.

41:06 The problem with that 10 is I know none of them are young people, and I believe young people must be, and you need at least two, preferably three, so they are always backed up. They don’t have to speak alone. I also want parents. Now it’s possible that the folks from any of those places also wear a parent hat, but I think that parent hat is really an important group because we’re not going to move the needle in Marblehead without both young people and parents telling us what they need and how we’re going to get there with that. Let me tell you, in our grant, we actually thought that youth leadership would drive this grant. No question. But you’re absolutely right. So don’t think 10, think 16. Any other questions or comments? Mr. Jordan. I’d like to see a high school kid on there. If he can tell you what’s, or her, knows what’s going on in the schools. Yeah. And I think we need to rely– They know what’s going on with the schools. Instead of us guessing or coming up with things that aren’t true or are true, let’s get it from the horse’s mouth, and it’ll make them feel good. And someone that maybe is majoring in mental health or something, going into that field. Not exactly a senior, maybe someone in the 10th grade, so they can spend a couple years and do that, and someone can follow behind them. That’s what I want. Believe me, I didn’t say it, but I absolutely know you’re right.

42:39 There’s no question it was the biggest thing in our grant on how we would make that happen. I don’t know. It’s just- Yeah. No, I just didn’t bring them up as that part of the 10. This was an oversight. But this town has 60 some agencies of some sort, and to get input from all of them somehow I think is necessary for the town to change maximally. And that’s the issue. You need lever arms to make things work. And I think we, at least in my observation, we’re learning that if we don’t have everybody at the table, you may end up going down a path that’s a dead end and you end up spending more money, more time, and don’t get to the strong result. So, I will, on a regular basis, try to help shape that in the board, and begin to bring the working group together and come to the board, with direction. You could somehow hint, because I think getting young people is going to be hard, that it might look good on a college resume. Oh, I was going to say, obviously, that’s- Like an internship. Yeah.

44:09 Yeah. And they do it for a couple years. That’s why I said get someone in the 10th grade or something. No question. Yeah. The more you get the kids involved, the better that this thing will run, I’ll tell you. Because the kids will show up as long as it’s interesting to them. The problem is if it’s too big, like a charter committee, it goes on so long and then people drop off. Nothing against it or anything. I find a lot of people apply for these things, and then they don’t want to participate. So when you get too big of a group, it seems like after a few months, it really slows down. So if you had the kids in there and you had some people supervising it, I think you’d get a lot of information that would be very helpful and prevent a lot of these tragedies that are going on before they happen. Yeah. I would though suggest maybe, on the other hand, if we get a big group and we do have a few quick victories, we get the right help and the right energy at first, then maybe people may be more prepared to come on a regular basis. But no question at all, this should be driven by what the young people think. If we are only going to focus on the young. Are there any other comments about this particular issue? Okay, thank you very much.

45:40 Tomorrow at 10:00, we’re going to try an experiment. We are working this five-person board. We’re now three months in to being a five-person board. We are committed to openness and transparency. We sometimes don’t get everything said that should be said at the meeting. So I’m going to offer office hours On a regular, if there’s attendance, on a regular basis, so that we can hear, and it doesn’t have to be me. I think there are other board members who’ve said that they would be happy to come at the appointed time instead of me or all of that. But we want to hear what people think, how we can do better, how we can do it more efficiently, and what we might have done wrong. So, 10:00 at the upper floor of Mary Alley, one of the small conference rooms there. We will be on Zoom. Hmm. We gave the Zoom address to– Barbara Roy has been helping me with this. You gave it to her, but do you have it? I did not bring it. Yeah, okay. Yeah. We’ll try to get that posted.

47:11 We’re dealing with some staffing issues right now. Yeah. But we’ll try to get that posted. But again, the intention was for people to come to the office. Ours is to trial- Yeah … trial to see how it goes and to see what can be done to make it work as efficiently, as effectively. I’m thinking that I chose arbitrarily, 10:00 on Tuesday, that really doesn’t work for me. I’d like to make it either a little earlier in the day, later in the day. We probably doing it in the evening would be very tough because we have to reserve rooms and pay people to come in and all of that. But, that’s where we are for office hours. Okay? And when’s it start? This Tuesday? Tomorrow. Oh. 9:00 in one of the small upper conference rooms. Just down from the health department, right across the hall. All right. And then finally, the comm report. One of the reasons we think that it was successful, and we were able to get 2,553 responses, is we had a great leadership council. We’re going to call the last formal meeting of the leadership council sometime in October to hear what that group, which was really– See, now that we had 12 people on

48:42 there and the meetings were really– Because we had defined what the purpose was, what the outcomes might be, came pretty regularly. We’re pretty excited about it and made great contributions. So, again, if we have the people to do the legwork to make the meetings interesting and worthwhile, we’ll do that. And this will be our last meeting with the leadership council. I hope that many of them will end up being on the working group, because they have found working on a community effort like that to be satisfactory. Are there any comments about the office hours report? Good luck. Okay. The associate chair for community health has a news report. I wanted to talk a bit about the latest guidance on flu and COVID vaccinations as the season is upon us. Massachusetts Department of Public Health has released guidance regarding both vaccines and, as a provider, I received it. They’re two 15, 16-page documents, I’ll try to condense it into salient points.

50:17 And I’m so glad that the Mass DPH has stepped in, in this space because we’re still not getting clear guidance from ACIP, which typically guides decision-making on vaccines. So flu vaccination is recommended annually for everyone six months and older. And the latest COVID-19 vaccine for the ‘26, ‘27 vaccine should be available soon, and it should be available for anyone six months of age with strong recommendations for infants, older adults, pregnant people, healthcare workers, immunocompromised individuals, and people at severe risk of severe disease. And it’s important to note that you can get the flu and COVID at the same visit. And just some notes from data from the last flu season. CDC estimates that there are about 32 to 57 million illnesses, 50 to 25 million medical visits, about 400 to 800,000 hospitalizations, and 24 to 81,000 deaths. And researchers have estimated that if the US adult population were able to achieve peak vaccination rates, there would’ve been about 8,000 deaths that could have been prevented. And looking at efficacy, so last year we had a decreased efficacy from the vaccine because of the antigen drift. But it still reduced

51:48 medical visits by roughly 40% in children and 20% to 35% in adults, and reduced hospitalization by 40% in children and 30% in adults. Which is still pretty decent, so it could even be better this year if there’s a closer match. So separating it out, so I spoke about who should get the flu. It’s really everyone should get it, but especially important for the high-risk groups I spoke about. September and October are the preferred months for vaccination. We generally see peak in December, so you want to make sure that the vaccine that you’ve had it, it’s active, and it takes two weeks to become fully active or effective. And it’s not too late. You can get vaccinated well into the season, but September, October is ideal. Also, with some guidance on children who have not received two lifetime doses should get two doses of the flu vaccine four weeks apart. And you could start that earlier, but now we’re in September, so starting it now is a good time. And then third-trimester pregnant patients, they’re high risk, and they can receive it earlier. So, the other thing I wanted– So, there is a new mRNA vaccine that is out now.

53:19 It’s called the Flucelvra. It seems to be covered by Medicare, but it’s unsure if private payers will be covering it. But it does seem to have higher efficacy in older age groups. It’s right now only 50 plus, and people 65 plus can choose to get the high dose or the mRNA, just pending insurance coverage. So for the COVID vaccine recommendations, the Mass DPH recommends everyone six months or older have access to the vaccine. And they’ve broken it down into groups that should receive it and groups that may receive it. So children ages 6 to 23 months should receive COVID-19 vaccine. Two to 18 should if they have a medical condition that increases their risk, if they live with someone at increased risk, live in a long-term care facility, or have not ever received a COVID-19 vaccine. And then children outside those age groups or those risk groups may receive a dose. And then for adults should receive a dose if they have a condition that’s associated with a higher risk of severe COVID-19, live with someone at higher risk, and then healthy adults may receive one dose. And then adults 65 and older should receive two doses six months

54:50 apart. And all healthcare workers should receive one dose. Anyone caring for others, and anyone, it’s people who are pregnant, planning pregnancy, recently pregnant, or breastfeeding should receive one dose. They say it could be administered same time as flu, also RSV and other vaccines. It does not have to be done in two separate visits. And then, yes, I believe the 26/27 vaccine is available in the pharmacy, but you want to make sure it’s the latest version. That’s a lot of information. Luckily, Mass DPH has come out with a PDF explaining who should receive what, and it’s very well laid out. I’d love to put it on our website if we can. And I have that link. And just a note on the 30% effectiveness, I know given the state of things post-COVID, there are many people who are vaccine hesitant, but a 30% reduction in hospitalization and severe disease is pretty significant. That’s the same reduction in mortality of women who get mammograms. And for a lot of women, they don’t think twice about getting a yearly mammogram. But flu is a little bit unsure, but it’s the exact same efficacy rate.

56:20 And there’s a lot of myths around flu. It’s pieces of a dead virus. It can’t actually make you sick with the flu. You can have some generalized fatigue and muscle aches. That’s not getting the flu. That’s some effects of the flu vaccine. And we’ll have to see more research coming out about the mRNA, but hopefully it is more effective and it can be churned out faster. So, like the antigen drift that happened last year, we’d be able to churn out more vaccine that closely matches the strain. And again, for these mRNA vaccines, it’s giving instructions to our immune system to produce a protein that then our immune system goes after. It’s not pieces of a virus or any live virus. It cannot make you sick either. So I’m happy to answer any questions about COVID and flu, and if I’m not sure, I can come back next time with more answers.

57:22 Any questions from the board? From the… Oh. One of the principal benefits in the long run of Marblehead Cares will be to capture Dr. Ridfo’s excellent reviews that she presents in Community Health Report. Almost everyone will go home and say, “Yeah, it was great, but I might have forgotten that part of it.” Her reports will be under the header of Community Health that we see to be in the Marblehead Cares website. And so people will know. We’ll hope to have it on the town website as well. But people will be able to go in Marblehead to know where they can get the information they need to remain as healthy as possible. With clearly linked sources of where all the information is coming from. Make sure to have that accessible. Okay. Do you have a report from yours? It wasn’t on me. Oh, just in general? Yeah. I didn’t put the bills together because- Okay … you didn’t add it to the agenda, so I didn’t think I could do it. All right. But I have them ready for next time. Okay. Then we move to the director’s report.

58:55 So the report about tobacco control. So on Thursday, September 3rd, 2026, the North Shore CAPE and Tobacco Policy Program conducted tobacco compliance checks for the town of Marblehead. We have seven permitted establishments. So merchants were checked. No sale to minor occurred. However, four flavored product violations were noted. So Beach Bluff Liquors, Richdale, Marblehead Village Market, and 7-Eleven. This was their first violation for flavored product violations. They will each receive a $1,000 fine. So they’ve already been on notice when the violation occurred, but we will be sending out tickets to those following four establishments. Were they just unaware? That seems like a high amount. So again, we’re in this little tough situation between the tobacco companies themselves- Mm-hmm … and the vendors that are selling the products. I believe all products were Zyn Chill. So chewing tobacco that is technically flavored doesn’t necessarily have a flavored name to it, but when you open up a product and you smell it, it’s like a wintergreen. So a lot of times what the tobacco control or tobacco companies are trying to do is they’ll label these as non-flavored, but are actually

1:00:26 flavored. So there’s a big disagreement with the tobacco companies at this point. I believe there’s an ongoing lawsuit between the state of Massachusetts and them. So, in that case, I don’t know anything about these Zyn things or anything like that, but if it’s that blurry where they wouldn’t know or advertise it, should we be fining them right away or just giving them a warning? Or do we not even have a choice? We don’t have a choice. This is how it’s set up. If you’re selling flavored tobacco, again, you need to know your products. Yeah. So again, if you have that container, and generally if you bring it across your nose, even the container, you can smell a different smell than just general tobacco. Okay. So we don’t have any say in that. Yeah, we don’t have any say. We conduct inspections. Because that one seems fuzzy, where it’s like- Understood. Yep. Yeah. We’re dealing with tobacco companies issuing letters that, “Nope, this is non-flavored.” When you take the product, open it up, you’re like, “Nope, this is wintergreen.” Just because you say it’s not flavored doesn’t mean it’s non-flavored. Okay. So now these four are aware. Yep. Do you want to just notify the other three? We can definitely. So again, the state posts all- Because it seems confusing, so just make sure that they know that this Yep. We can definitely make sure that information is being given to them. Again, the regulations are in place that no flavored tobacco is allowed. But just tell them specifically what happened here, because they could easily– It

1:01:56 sounds like that’s an easy one to miss. Correct. All right, cool. Again, it is flu season. Sorry. I’m all for fining it and keeping it away from kids’ hands. I was just doing a quick search. So the Zyn Chill, they’re saying it’s an unflavored- Tobacco company is saying it’s unflavored. If you open up the package, that is a flavored tobacco. Because it has a cooling agent instead of mint or menthol. Yep, correct. So this is all trying to mask. Hide. Yep. Okay. Because they could be telling the stores, “Don’t worry, you’re fine.” Yeah, I feel like the store is kind of a victim in it, too, which is what I feel bad about. Correct. And again, we’re dealing with tobacco companies that are literally issuing letters to say, “This is not flavored,” but when you open up the package and stuff like that, you’re like, “This is clearly flavored.” But if you look at the marketing, it’ll say, it says cool mint or chill. It looks the same, like chill is a flavor, cool mint is a flavor. So it’s- They’re very smart. Yeah. They’re very smart. They have a lot of money. When we do annual inspections at these places, there’s got to be, from either Mass Tobacco Control or the feds, easy material you could just hand to people- Right … to say, “So that, hey, just so you know, this is something that people are doing now,” so that you might warn them at a regular inspection time, so then they

1:03:32 wouldn’t get caught when the state decided it was our turn to. Nope. So, these inspections occur annually. Yes, they often go with a lot of material, making sure that you have all the proper signage, no tobacco sales under 21, all that stuff. So they’re prepared to hand all the stuff over to the shop owners, to the merchants. But yes, this is the current situation with tobacco. When after they’re fined, does someone go back and make sure that those products have been removed? We’ll conduct follow-up inspections, and again, it is a tier, so the next violation has a second fine for it, and then begins loss of days for permits. So they’ll lose their permit for a number of days. Again, these things, we take these very seriously. And they’re not given warning that- They’re not given a warning, no.

1:04:30 So when we do the creed on regulations, I want to make sure you understand all of that. Again, we’ve made recommendations on how these fines and all that stuff goes, but that is part of it as well. Okay. But again, you need to understand what the tobacco companies are trying to do. Okay. So flu vaccine. So we will have an employee flu day, vaccine day. We have sent out notification through our HR to all employees. We’ll make sure that we do that again. We’re also having a senior high-dose. If you want to contact the senior center, get signed up for that. We have a limited number. We do use a program called Color, so we make sure that you’re in the system and essentially reserve your dose for that day. So please contact the senior center, and get all signed up for that. No COVID vaccine? No COVID vaccine, no. So as far as the town purchasing vaccine, CVS is really the main organization, and we never usually use names, but CVS gives out the most number of vaccinations in Massachusetts. They’re readily available. COVID, flu, they’re a great establishment. The state of Massachusetts was trying to back us away from actually doing vaccines. But we feel we had a great reputation during COVID. We were a really well-trusted source. We got right to the people. And so we wanted to continue on with that as well.

1:06:04 This is for only employees, it’s not for- The seniors, so the high dose is for town residents. How many do you have? I would have to check. It’s a limited number. I want to say like 60 high dose. And they’re given at the senior center? Correct. Yep. Okay. So it’s held at the senior center. We have a specific time that we’re doing it. Do we know the day? I do not. Again, you have to call them and sign up and stuff like that, but yeah. It should be all posted on our website. We’ll make sure it’s on the front page, onto the news and stuff like that. Given by our new nurse. Yep. Yeah, we have a great new nurse. Mm-hmm. She’s been going over to the senior center to do blood pressure clinics. She loves to work with the seniors. Oh, I also wanted to add, the Flu Mist is still available, ages 2 to 49 without any immunocompromising conditions. You can plug in your insurance. It’s $8 shipping. It gets shipped to your house in a cold pack. It’s a spray up each nostril, and it’s very easy. I do it for my kids because it’s just easy, and then you can plug it in to the Massachusetts vaccine database. So for needle-hesitant people who are in that age range, that’s also a nice option. It’s a great option. Yeah. Can I take one jump back? Yep. Because you’re saying that we should know. So I’m going to ask the question, because I don’t know.

1:07:37 What is Zyn? So Zyn- Is tobacco? Is it nicotine? No, it’s nicotine elevated. Okay. So it’s straight nicotine. Okay. Yeah. Got you. Yep. Okay. So it is the new chewing tobacco. But it’s not tobacco. But it’s not tobacco, it’s just straight nicotine. Okay. Well, if I were a bad, a nasty lawyer under the employ of the big tobacco people, you just said it’s not tobacco. Right. Because our regulations cover tobacco, nicotine, and all these products. Right. Just like Juuling was not technically tobacco, that was nicotine. So is this something that people try to use to get off tobacco, or is it just something they just inhale nicotine? It’s just another- To get nicotine? It is just another product that the tobacco companies have made to try to hook a new generation. I’ve never tried it, as you guys can see. It is becoming quite popular. Yeah. I’m still not going to try it. Like vaping. Right. Yeah. I’m still not going to try that either, so…

1:08:50 All right. We’ve reached the public comment, formal public comment part of the meeting. Is there any comment from individuals here? Any comment from Zoom? No. Yep. Barbara Rowe, go right ahead. Good evening, everybody. Glad to be here with you. And, question about, I had a chance to review some of the past videos and such, so just wanted to get an update on the transfer station and an inspection and possibly, I know James Moroney just is on honeymoon, but any chance that we have time to any update on the, not inspection, but tour anyway? So the board has a tentative date. So the board is looking at the morning of October 7th, but we haven’t finalized that with the board yet. Okay. So really, I keep talking to people. I’m up at the transfer station, and people come to my house, because I’m bringing stuff home from there to be rehomed because it’s really good stuff. And so I’m taking stuff from the dump and giving it to people instead of trashing

1:10:21 it. But it would be really great, like did you know, do a tour of the transfer station. Like for instance, I had asked somebody, the blue bin, that it says on the blue bin, it’s for clothing and shoes. But I found out, through some research that it also accepts textiles. So it’s just it would be really good to have a video, if not an in-person, but the video seems like it would carry more longevity. So if you can keep us updated on that, I think it would help the town a lot. Okay? Sounds good. Thanks.

1:11:07 Any other comments, public comments? Knowing that a motion to adjourn is appropriate. So the tour of the transfer station- Yeah … should we solidify that? On the 7th? So it’s a Wednesday. It’s October 7th. I won’t be able to do midweek. Like I said, it’s fine. Don’t revolve this around me. I can walk around that place blindfolded. I know all the workers. I know everything about it. So you guys do what you got to do.

1:11:38 Okay. And 8:00? Yeah. 8:00 a.m.? Yep. 8:00 a.m.? 8:00 a.m. I think, is that hazardous waste day for you? That is household hazardous waste day. But it’s fine. Is that too much? Nope, it’s totally fine. Okay. Yep. I think Julie said she could do. Yep. Okay. Let’s do it. And the other comment I wanted to make, because Julie couldn’t be here tonight. Julie has been in touch with the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards, and she spoke to a lawyer that does board of health training, to come do a session for us about proper meetings and talk about how not to violate open meeting law. And he’s done this other times for boards, and that could be a huge learning opportunity for us as a board. And he is available for our next meeting on the 28th, if that is all right with you all. Well, Julie wrote me about that too. I communicated… Well, she introduced me to him. And his original idea was that he would speak to us, but we would bring in other boards from Marblehead and from the environment.

1:13:12 He cannot come in October, and it’s probably right not to have to go through Salem coming anywhere in October. And he also said that he’s willing to come in November if we wanted to do it then. But Julie’s point was sooner the better. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think the sooner the better. I think because many of us are new to the board, and given our last special meeting, we talked about maybe making our board not more formal, is that right, but having some more parameters. So I think we want to ride the wave, and sooner rather than later. Okay.

1:14:10 Anything else big at our next meeting that we- We haven’t put an agenda together, so no. We don’t have anything. Put Bill’s on. Oh, yeah. Of course. Yes. Yep. So. Yeah, majority rules, that’s fine. My only sense is that the ability to bring in other boards, people who write editorials for newspapers, and all of that to be in a meeting that he is going to be speaking would be worthwhile. Great. But I think her ideal is maybe he can come for us, and then maybe come later with the larger group. Yes. Can I raise one other thing before we adjourn? So I have met with a parent this morning with ideas about how we can respond to needs, and I’d just gotten off a call with one of my kids, who said, “Mom, you can’t do things slowly.” Make committees, have meetings, that’s great, but kids want to know what you’ve done for them lately, and it’s got to be fun and real. So I went right from that call to this meeting, and this parent brought up this idea of doing a scavenger hunt, a dry scavenger hunt. So

1:15:44 Amazing Race Marblehead is the idea. If there are folks in the universe, on Zoom or in the paper that would be interested in planning something like that, and I’ll see if I can wrangle a board member in to join us. The Press Two. Yeah, the Press Two. We’re going to specifically look for young people and parents of high school students and maybe middle school students to be part of that planning process. Quick, dirty. It’s a community building activity. Yes. And something to do that is really fun even if you’re not drunk. I think Rec and Park is a great partner for some of this stuff. Yeah. So I would definitely recommend reaching out to Jamie Block. I see them as being a lot of really good partners for a lot of the different things we’re looking forward to doing. It would be interesting if we can pair it with people who have come to the wellness fair and make it like a fitness race. And have them come in in some kind of way to promote their businesses and- Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I have all their contacts, so I think Andrea has all this too, probably. You have to go to this physical therapist office or this gym, or… And it’s a way to see what we offer in town as well in the health space.

1:17:17 Yeah. We can definitely reach out to them and schedule a meeting and see what we can put together. You just in the cold? I guess- October October. Okay. Yes, do it quickly. Do it fast. This parent was fabulous and was very, “We’ll get this done.” What? I’m texting him right now. Just we’re getting another comment. Question. Businesses, so they go to different businesses and don’t- It has to somehow be fun. So go and get a stick. So I don’t want to give a good one away. But, oh, no one looks at these meeting minutes. What famous hill was the climax of “Hocus Pocus” was filmed? In Marblehead. Yeah. In Marblehead? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then the kids would go there and take a photo and upload it to an Instagram site. Yeah. Yeah.

1:18:32 So it’s less about going to see… Unless we could somehow tie it into something. And then you get some great prize at the end. Right. Like a basket and maybe- Or maybe we tie the business into- Yeah … the baskets. Yeah. That’s great. Okay, that’s my crazy idea for the week. What do we need next? You’re going to try to see if we can get a partner from Rec and Parks? I’ll reach out to Jamie definitely. To our next meeting with- On the porch … more detail. This Halloween tend to get- And we’re going to- … Is the morning about… Yeah, that’s okay. Yep. Any other touches to cover? Okay. I just want to say something. Yeah. Hey. So we’re going to ask Blake Hugo to come from the Massachusetts Association of Health Boards to that meeting. So Barbara Roy has another question. Hi, good evening. Thanks again. Barbara Roy here, Washington Street. When we were talking about the Marblehead Cares, I just wanted to say that sounds fantastic, and I really look forward to seeing how that works.

1:20:09 One of my ideas, and like was just mentioned, it has to be fun. It has to be informative and business-like, but it has to be engaging for people that want to come keep going there. And so one of my thoughts over the past year or 10 years that I’ve been– I’ve been living here for 25 years, but over the last 10 years, I’ve been thinking, “Did you know?” And so maybe just continue to push new information out or even old information to help keep people engaged and wanting to come back. I’ve been trying to do your job for you. Well, it’s not your job. You already posted it in the rules, but I wrote, “Did you know that you’re supposed to have your house number painted in this part of the new barrels? Did you know?” And just sort of that thing. You could have a whole list of 20 or 30 items targeted for the whole year, and just continue putting new information out that keeps people interested and engaged. So I just wanted to say thank you for whoever was doing the web design and that new page, but also throw that idea out that pictures definitely help and a constantly renewing tag or banner, “Did you know?” Just to help keep people engaged. That’s it. Thanks.

1:21:38 My whole street is all trying to one up one other with how they put their numbers on their cans. Someone did stickers, someone else bought a stencil. So I don’t know. I’ve got to go big or go home.

1:22:00 So for the third time, is it appropriate to have a motion for adjournment? No, I think this is great. Motion to adjourn. Second. Any comments? All in favor? Aye. Unanimous consent to adjourn. Thank you all