I particularly enjoyed several opportunities this week to celebrate local public health:

• Longtime public health leader Dr. Alfred DeMaria, Jr. was honored on Wednesday when the Jamaica Plain campus was named in his honor. MHOA President Tim McDonald and I attended a beautiful outdoor ceremony where many past and present public health leaders shared stories about "Dr. Al" and his substantial impact as a public health champion. We congratulate Dr Al, and are pleased to join in the celebration. 
• The Office of Local and Regional Health briefed Massachusetts legislators on the local public health system and SAPHE 2.0 investments. Merridith O'Leary (Northampton), Derrick Neal (Cambridge), Bill Murphy (Framingham), and Victoria Selser (Fitchburg) described its impact in their communities and shared their own stories. You can watch the recording here.
• I attended the second of three SAPHE 2.0 hearings this week, and was pleased to see a good turnout of colleagues who participated. The last one is Wednesday, so it's not too late to read your 3-minute remarks (it goes by fast!) or submit written testimony. 

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Have you retired in the last year? Has a colleague retired? We're honoring local public health retirees at our Annual Conference next month. Please send us the names of anyone who has retired since October 2024 so we can recognize them at the conference. Doug Halley is collecting them - dhalley@mhoa.com

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And a final note to share, unfortunately sad news from the North Andover area. Ernie Romano, a former Wilmington Director of Public Health, recently passed away. We offer condolences to his loved ones, and you can read more here about the 102-year-old military veteran and "renaissance man" who loved, art, growing tomatoes, and his family.  

Teresa Wood Kett, executive director