A coalition of more than 80 organizations, United We Stand for Public Health, has come together to protect public health funding in the Commonwealth.
The lobby day is 2:30 pm today at the State House Nurses Hall. The speakers include Representative Jeffrey Sanchez (Co-Chair of the Public Health Committee), Senator Richard Moore (Co-Chair of the Health Care Finance Committee), Barbara Ferrer, (Executive Director, Boston Public Health Commission) and Lucilia Prates (Health Care For All Consumer Health Quality Council).
Today’s Boston Globe op-ed by MPHA executive director Valerie Bassett’s lays out in clear terms how we all rely on public health programs to keep our community productive and healthy. We are all rightfully concerned about a possible widespread flu outbreak. Public health is critical in preventing and responding to any emergency. But the day to day concerns are just as real:
Consider who is actually affected by the programs and services of public health – and what is at stake in cutting them almost 25 percent, as proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee.
The mother preparing breakfast for her children needs public health to ensure that the public water supply she relies on is clean — so that her kids’ oatmeal and hot chocolate are uncontaminated.
How about the businessperson hosting clients for lunch? Public-health funding ensures that the restaurant has been inspected and complies with health codes and anti-smoking laws – and that there is follow-up on reports of food-borne illness.
People at risk for cancer, stroke and heart disease, diabetes, addiction, HIV, and Hepatitis C need information to prevent these diseases, to get screened, and to find out where to go for treatment. Community health workers, funded by public health, provide information to members of their communities and connect them to services.
Who needs public health? We all do. Every resident of the Commonwealth – whether aware of it or not – relies on a strong, functioning public health system – a system that is greatly endangered. Without public health, there is no way for the Commonwealth to succeed in education, economic growth, environmental innovation, or civic engagement.
See you at 2:30.
Mehreen Butt
