Board of Health: Rodent Infestation at Brooks Park Apartments - 2026-07-21

AI-generated summary. Written by gemini-3-flash-preview from the transcript below, which is the record. It may be incomplete or wrong; it does not report votes. Every item links to the moment it began.

The Board addressed ongoing sanitary violations and rodent infestations at Brooks Park Apartments, warning of potential building condemnation. They also approved a food safety variance and introduced new youth prevention staffing.

0:03 Minutes and 40 Century Street Update — Approved the minutes from June 16, 2026, and voted to close a code enforcement complaint for 40 Century Street upon final satisfaction of remaining safety violations.
6:06 Ebisuya Sushi Rice Variance — Approved a variance for sushi rice acidification based on a submitted HACCP plan to satisfy food safety requirements for non-temperature controlled storage.
10:40 Youth Prevention Activities — Introduced the new Prevention and Wellness Coordinator and reviewed summer youth programs, including a substance use diversion program that served 50 students during the school year.
22:46 Brooks Park Apartments Code Violations — Discussed a severe and ongoing Norway rat infestation and trash overflow at 208 Main Street that has persisted since December despite multiple fines. The Board warned management that the building faces potential condemnation if professional remediation and integrated pest management plans are not verified immediately.
41:05 Mobile Health Van and Department Updates — Announced a monthly mobile health clinic starting August 25 at Clipper Ship Park to provide screenings and vaccines regardless of insurance or immigration status.
45:08 Other Business — Voted to cancel the August meeting and resume on September 15.

[David Pladziewicz]: Okay, meeting's open. First is a review of the minutes from June 16th, 2026. To remind everyone, we had a hearing on 40 Century Street. We updated everyone in the community outreach activities. We went over the monthly reportable diseases, and we've recognized Kathy Charbonneur, who's first time not here today, right? And that was it. Motion to accept the minutes as presented.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Jenny. Yes. Thank you. It's accepted. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have an update from the hearing of last month's hearing. We, the board voted to give a 30 day stay at the condemnation order. Raven Beck, our inspector, is here with us today, as well as I see the representation for both tenants and the landlords of 40th Century Street. Okay, so update from Raven on the re-inspection.

[Raven]: Yes, so I was able to do a re-inspection on the 14th, so that was last Tuesday. As of that re-inspection, there were nine violations that had remained. Three of them were still CDEs, and there were three new violations observed. I did get an update on the remaining violations when those would be corrected. One of them should have been corrected on Saturday, July 18th, and I did receive photos showing that correction. And then another one should have been corrected yesterday, Monday, July 20th, for one of the new violations that was observed. and then there will be a contractor coming by the house saturday july 25th to fix the remaining window violations and that should satisfy all of the violations if it if it's done on that day so raven what what were the three conditions deemed to endanger remaining Yes, so 1 of them was down in the basement. We did satisfy that there wasn't a handrail going into the basement, but there was still like, an open side of the wall.

So we wanted to put slats there. You know, that met the building code requirement of no more than, like, 4 inches apart. So I believe that 1. Was going to be corrected on Saturday, the 25th. According to the email and then. I mean, I have to look at, um, and then some of them, the rest of them are just like some of the windows, um, not having the ability to lock or, um, or stay open or closed. And that was just a, a safety hazard that we were concerned about.

But we went, so we went from. We went from 12 CDs down to 3 CDs, um, by the time of the reinspection and then. the rest of those CDE looks like should be completed this Saturday, if all goes according to plan.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Representation from the landlords, are those plans still in place as far as the- Mr. Chairman, members of the board, yes, they are.

[SPEAKER_11]: We've been very attentive to the requests of the inspector, and hopefully this weekend we'll wrap up these final items.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Representation from the tenants to the, uh, no, we, we, we entirely agree with that. Members of the board, any questions sounds good.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Okay, so, will you be able to get out there on Monday to do a re, inspection.

[Raven]: Yeah, I can reach out to the occupants represent representative as well as the owners representative and try to schedule something for if not Monday, just at least sometime next week.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Okay. So, as long as those CDs are corrected, we can consider this finalized and the order for the nation will be not issued.

[Raven]: And then yes, we can close the complaint as well if everything is fixed during that re-inspection.

[SPEAKER_09]: And Raven, if I can talk to you offline just about scheduling that, because my client has some extremely, has a lot of medical needs for the first week of next week.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: All right, so do I have a motion to close this complaint upon satisfaction next week of all the CVEs being addressed and the other violations being addressed?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: I motion what you just said. Second from... Yes. Jenny, thank you. Okay. Yes.

[MCM00001745_SPEAKER_07]: And sorry, I should have asked, um, whether it's closed or remains open our next meeting. Will we get an update? Like, if it's okay.

[Raven]: Yeah, I can, I can provide that update at our next meeting. Um, of course the representatives wouldn't have to attend if that's the case, but yeah, I can provide both of you with that update. Okay.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Variance request is next from Ebisuya for sushi rice acidification in order to satisfy Archer's have a variance against time as a public health control outlet. Josh is here, our food inspector. He can introduce who's here and what they're doing. It is required by the food code that they do submit a formal request for a variance when doing this process and also required by the food code that the board hears and votes to grant such variance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Josh yeah, so hello everybody. Hello board. Um, some of you guys may have heard that real Italian goose was closed. Unfortunately, we're sad to see him go, but we're happy to see is going to be coming back and taking their place. They've submitted the hassle plan and required documentation for the. Certification of the sushi rice so at this point. It's more so just Donna eyes crossing the T's Food code does require that the board approves a variance for this because it is Risky procedure, but as long as they follow their hassle plan the way it is written I believe that the risk for foodborne illness is relatively low

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: And you want to just tell them what they're doing as a method of food preservation. Is it vinegar?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. So pretty much, there's a whole big chart of what makes a food safe to be left out at room temperature. Think like your beef jerky, your chips, stuff that can leave out and about. pH is a very big part of that. And as such, if you can reduce the pH of the sushi rice to below 4.2, you pretty much render the product as non-TCS, which means you can leave it out and about. Theoretically, for the rest of civilization, it might go bad well before that quality, but just for the pure food safety part of it, as long as it has a pH below 4.2, it should satisfy the requirements per the food code.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: And the HACCP plan indicated that they had the correct method and process to do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yep. Everything from the proper calibration of the pH meter to the records that they're going to be keeping as well as the yearly lab tests that they will be submitting for the sushi rice to ensure that if they follow the recipe correct, an independent lab will verify that the pH is indeed below 4.2.

[SPEAKER_00]: At this point, I do feel comfortable with granting Ebisuya variance for sushi rice. Any issues in the future, we will make sure to deal with them accordingly.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: And just to be clear that this variance doesn't transfer. It's in accordance with the VEX and any Deviance, you may have to, in fact, you know, it could be at any time suspended or revoked or modified by the Board of Health. So just, and this should also be posted in your establishment as well. So it's easy when the food inspector comes in to know that that's what you've come to do here and that you're okay to have the sushi rice out for longer than four hours.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Hey, so do I have a motion to grant the variance for a sushi rice certification for the studio?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Thank you very much. Did you have any questions for us?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Okay, so we'll. Well, Josh will drop this variance off to you.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: All right. Next on the agenda, we have an update on youth prevention activities. We've got some exciting things happening. this summer with youth from Medford. And also we have Joseph Johnson with us, who is our new employee. And I'll let him introduce himself. So I'm going to turn this over. Let's see, Mariah and Matisse, do you need to be made a co-host?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: So Matisse is with us and Joe's with us as well. Hi, Joe. All right, I'm going to make you the host and then you could just change it back to me afterwards if you don't mind.

[MCM00001784_SPEAKER_00]: Okay. Joe, if you want to introduce yourself, go for it.

[SPEAKER_01]: Sure. Yeah, I'm Joe Johnson. I'm French and wellness coordinator for Medford. I'm super excited to be here. Started about a month ago doing a youth works program this summer and then also starting a youth action team today and we'll be able to look at some of the YRBS data or meeting with. a media company to help us make some public service announcements and then doing a PCN and to kind of wrap up a final project at the end of the summer. And then the hope is all these youth action team members, there's five of them, will be able to continue their work throughout the school year and be able to build a really strong foundation of youth in the community that are really passionate about public health.

[MCM00001784_SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, I was not muted there for a second. We're in the same office. But we're really happy to have Joe on with us, taking over the prevention and wellness coordinator position. And yeah, really excited about our summer youth action team. I think we had about 30 people apply. We're paying youth to do this work with us and hopefully get some more interest in our school year group and youth coalition. that will be supporting our adult coalition as we go.

I will share a little bit. Let me share my screen. Great. And I will share a little bit about, can you all see this CADCA photo of me and Joe? Okay, cool. So we were just in Florida for a conference at CADCA Mid-Year, which is the national organization for coalition building. And our plan in Medford is to start a youth wellness coalition this year. Which we both got really great ideas from at this conference and I'm super excited about. I threw up a bunch of photos of some flyers of things that we've done recently, but. really wanted to cover that, um, our youth employment program went really well last year and finished strong. Uh, we had eight youth with us and we had several that are now in our summer program that Joe is running. Um, they're all working over with the rec center. I got about 80 applicants from Medford youth, um, for that employment program. And this is a program for, low-income youth living in Medford between the ages of 14 and 21.

And yeah, it just really provides a great opportunity for them. I think there's clearly a need for youth to have something to do in the summer that's really productive and gonna support them in positive directions. So that's really great for us to have the YouthWorks program in Medford and also our Summer Youth Action Team. The YouthWorks program not only gives them a job opportunity and pays them, but it also provides wraparound services. So they meet with Joe and our intern, our coordinators, to provide wraparound services. We recently created a job guide to help youth with writing resumes, learning some financial literacy.

Yeah, how to interview, what to wear, kind of professionalism, tips and tricks. So really a lot of cool stuff coming out of our office around youth job opportunities and supporting youth with that piece. Yeah, so they'll all leave this program with a resume and with some interviewing skills to hopefully get hired on during the school year if they want it or come back to the program and be leaders. Two of our youth from the last cycle got hired at the YMCA post their YouthWorks placement. So that's great.

A few things that we have as part of our partnerships for success, which is our large grant through SAMHSA. 50 students that were referred to our I Decide Diversion Programming from the school. So that's any youth that get caught with substances or on school campus, on school grounds. So that's both the middle school and the high school. We had 50 students referred that went through the Substance Use Diversion Program or got referred to another level of care. So that's really successful that this is our first year that we had it in both the middle school and high school, the whole school year.

Getting 50 students clearly shows that there's a need for education and support for students in the schools. And that's really 50 individual, because they don't do repeats, you can get referred once per year, basically, to actually go through the program. So that's 50 individual students, but hopefully over time, right, we'll see those numbers go down. But a really great program that we have with the counseling department. We are about to do compliance checks. We work with the police department to do compliance checks. Last time we had one business with the alcohol license fail and hopefully zero this time. but working on that. Catherine said that she gave a little bit of an update on Caregiver University, but we did have three sessions and we are planning for next year already. So we've got some parents from the PTOs that are supporting what kind of education we'll be giving to the caregivers this school year.

Along with creating, we have a high school health safety guide for caregivers, and we are creating a new guide for elementary and middle school age caregivers for students in those younger grades. So, providing some substance use education along with you know, sleep hygiene and things appropriate for that age level, because we know that all of that happens at a young age, younger and younger, unfortunately. And then finally, up here, I also put that a flyer for our family support group for family members of people affected by substance use, which is put on by our regional recovery coach, Barry Bryan, and that's happening here in Medford, currently once a month, but hopefully in the fall it'll get up to twice a month. she's had about 20 people for the first 3 sessions, so it's going really well, getting really positive feedback, and we're really just happy to offer that support group for the region and for people in it. families in Medford.

Last, I thought I would include some photos from our Youth Action Team from the school year. So this was really our first full year of having a Youth Action Team at the middle school and high school. So you can see over here on the left, they did some chalking for Mental Health Awareness Month. Also on the bottom right, this is our middle school youth action team. They're really great. They also did Cultural Jeopardy this year, and we're really passionate about getting some messaging out to all the middle schoolers.

We have a photo of them recruiting students at the beginning of the year, giving some fun giveaways. They did a Lifesaver campaign. urging students to not drink and drive around homecoming, as well as created sleep kits to promote sleep hygiene and mental health. They did a activity and tabling around healthy relationships and what are red, yellow, and green flags. They also did a mental health spirit week, which you can see they had a twinning day. So someone twinned with the dog, it looks like.

And they did more, but this is just the things I have photos of. So that. is it for me, but just really doing a lot of stuff this year. And yeah, really happy with all that we've been able to accomplish and more to come.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: A lot of exciting stuff. And really, the partnership with the school department is just amazing, what we've been able to work on together and the partnership that Matisse and Joseph have built. It's great. It's allowed us to do a lot of great things and keep them going and build on them. I don't know, any comments or thoughts from the board? Just wanted you to know that, I know you know about our outreach team and the work we do, but Matisse has really brought the youth on board in our prevention efforts, and it's great to see, and we know Joe's gonna do a great job keeping it going, so.

[MCM00001745_SPEAKER_07]: Amazing work. If folks wanna volunteer time to talk with the youth or participate in these activities, do we reach out to you directly? Does that opportunity exist right now?

[MCM00001784_SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so Joe is running the youth action team during the summer, so I'm sure they are meeting kind of 6 hours a week and working in city hall. So I know that they're hearing from the inspectors today, but you can speak to that Joe, but I think they'd be happy to. have people come in and really show them what exists in public health and what jobs exist in the health field. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Matisse.

Of course. Okay. Now I just have to figure out how to give you back the hosting ability.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Why can we claim householder? Okay. Oh, great. Thank you. Okay. Do we have folks here representing the next item on our agenda? The Brooks Park apartments at 208 Main Street.

[SPEAKER_05]: Yes. Good afternoon, Miss O'Connor. My name is Shailen Towler. I am counsel for partnership.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Great. Nice to have you here. So are you the only person representing?

[SPEAKER_05]: I believe Cameron Lewis is joining. I think he's going to be closer to maybe one o'clock.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: All right. So for the members of the board, we've asked Representation from both apartments at 208 Main Street to join us today. And Deanna Earl is the inspector who has been working on this case. since the fall of last year, or maybe sooner, with some serious concerns from residents. And we've had to go and listen, and Deanna's gone to the apartment building once, several occasions, to just speak with residents and hear their concerns. And she's also documented time and time and time again what the violations were, with very little communication back. So, I'm going to turn it over to Deanna and let her explain what the situation is and why they're here in front of us today.

[Deanna Earle]: Hi, and thank you, Marianne, for introducing the issue. I did put together a little PowerPoint, so I was looking to share that, if that's okay.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: I just made you the host so you can share. I take it someone just walked in the office. Deanna, you're muted. Sorry, one sec. I'm having trouble sharing the PowerPoint.

[Deanna Earle]: All right, we're trying to figure out how to bring up the PowerPoint. Just a sec. Sorry about that.

[Deanna Earle]: Okay. Yeah, there you go. All right, perfect. So, yeah, Marianne already introduced Brooks Park Apartments, and I just wanted to go over, like, the area that it's in. It's by some city property. I want to give a brief overview of the issues there, the order to correct that I've issued, what the city is doing for the city property, how brooks park apartments looked yesterday and then what the city is looking for from brooks park apartments so it's off of main street here and brooks park the city properties is right across from it and then here's a little street view that shows

There's a little grassy area along the sidewalk, and that's where we're seeing a lot of the rodent issues. Some of the complaints that we've received, and we've received quite a few, including from some city Councilors and residents. There have been rodents in the laundry room, rodent burrows on the property, overflowing trash, And there was even an article back in April that was posted by the Patch about the rat problem. And we also had a meeting, or I went to a meeting with residents and Councilor Leming back in April about the issues as well.

So this has been an ongoing issue. So I started, responding to complaints back in December. And I've attached pictures of conditions from December through July 17th. And so some of the things that I've cited have been overflowing trash, receptacles with holes in the lids or holes in the receptacles themselves. The bottom left picture shows rodent droppings in the meter room. And then the other three bottom pictures show rodent burrows on the property. And so with the rodents, we're seeing them inside, we're seeing them outside, and this is a health concern.

We've also been treating Brooks Park, which is city property, and Again, that's located across from the apartments. So we've had the burrows there treated by Yankee Pest Control. We've had the shrubs trimmed by DPW. And we are also looking into rodent-proof trash cans. We're doing all these things to try to reduce the rodent population over there. And as I mentioned earlier, I have issued several order to corrects. They've included the rodent droppings in the basement, overflowing dumpsters, burrows, the receptacles with the holes, and so on. And I even went by yesterday to check on things, and what I observed again was we have an overflowing dumpster, which the rats can get into. We have multiple burrows on the property.

And here are some more of the boroughs that I took pictures of yesterday. And I want to note that this last borough is a borough that I first sighted back in December. So this borough just seems to have gotten worse in the time that it's gone by. Another thing that I wanted to mention is that With Yankee Pest Control treating the burrows on the city property, they have also made recommendations for the Brooks Park apartments. And I have some excerpts here from the Yankee Pest Control reports. So their April 23rd, 2026 report says that the apartment building has several active Norway rat burrows in front of the building. They do have a few rodent stations around the building. There's no evidence of any rodent control devices in any of them. No snap traps, no rodent monitoring devices, and no blue traps.

Their April 28th report says the apartment building 4-12 Brooks Park still has rat burrows in the soft scape in the front of the building. And then their May 28th report says, note of interest, the apartment buildings on the left as you enter the park has several active wrapper rows. These must be treated soon before they take over the neighborhood. So to conclude, you know, we've been tackling or trying to tackle this issue for several months and we do have some asks from the Brooks Park apartments. We would like the boroughs to be treated. We would like all pest control reports from January through the present day to be sent to the city. We want any waste receptacles that have holes either in the receptacles themselves or in the lids to be replaced. We want you to ensure that there are enough receptacles for the waste generated. We want them to ensure frequent pickups of the waste as well. And we would like a licensed pest control company to inspect the common areas and create an integrated pest management plan for the interior, as well as seal and treat the common areas.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: I think the sealing and treating of the coronary is something extremely important as well, because there was definite evidence of rodents in the laundry room, in the meter room, in the apartment building. So they have been able to infiltrate, and those seals have to happen. And I guess what's most concerning is the lack of communication, the lack of response, I know we received an email today saying things, some things were addressed. Uh, that's 6 months too late. Um, we have sent fines. We will continue to find. Um, frankly, it's, it's. It's been, I guess, the next step would be court action because it's been extremely frustrating for the tenants. Um, for the, for the Hannah and for this office to be ignored in such a manner and and then to just have the tenants rights just.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: That's I'll, I'll let the board speak, but that's why we're here.

[David Pladziewicz]: I have a couple of questions, a couple of thoughts. One, have we invited the owners? Who owns Paul Revere? What's the name of the apartments? Do we know who the owner is?

[SPEAKER_05]: I don't have the legal entity name in front of me. Was that a question for me?

[David Pladziewicz]: Well, anybody, have they been, I would invite them to the board and have them explain. They were invited to that. I'm just curious to hear their explanations of why they think it's okay to keep doing what they're doing. Just so they can explain it to us. I'm curious. Two, the options open to us if this goes on. Is it in our purview to condemn those apartments? uh and because of the rat problem it's uh they can't be inhabited by the tenants they'll have to put up the tenants in another um way and pay for it while they rectify the problem uh that's next if i think right can we have can we do that the rodents interior on address yes and there's also flies now too Yeah, so I mean, it's a condemnable health hazard. That's what I'm trying to get at. So if it doesn't, if they don't fix it, we should probably condemn the entire apartment building and then they'll have to relocate all the tenants, I would think. If it's, you know, for a month or so while they fix it. I hope we don't have to go there, but that's where we're headed and I hope they know that.

[MCM00001745_SPEAKER_07]: And that, to Dr. Plattowitz's point about condemning, since this has been ongoing, it seems since January, we're now about to be eight months in, August is around the corner. How long do we typically wait before we do move forward with submitting like a condemn notice? Is it like a three months, six months, or just?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Yeah, if you want to answer, but so the conditions, danger and danger, If they continue, it's been off and on with the vote dropping. Sometimes when Indiana goes there, they're there. Sometimes they're not. And they're in different locations sometimes. So there's definitely infiltration, and they need to figure that out where it is and seal up those holes. So we've been trying to get them to cooperate, but we have been finding, and to no avail.

[David Pladziewicz]: All right, well, I would mention that if it goes on On Corecta, the next step is to condemn the premises.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: We'll leave the email they sent this morning and we have no, I don't know, Deanna was just there, so I don't know when they did this work, but that road burrows have since been closed again, that dead rodents and the snap trap has been removed. The basement has been cleaned and rid of rodents. That doesn't mean that they're not going to come back. The exterior of the property is scheduled for cleaning tomorrow. The hole in the basement will be closed today, so we need to verify. I don't know how many holes there are. And the trash container is a pending pickup from a previous trash vendor. I know they have dumpster issues as well. Obviously, they need more pickups because it's overflowing continually. So, I don't know, Deanna, if you have anything else to add to that.

[Deanna Earle]: No, I think that's all I have for now. Yeah, there were some other issues, like when you mentioned like the fly infestation and whatnot. So, I think they really just need to get a professional in there to look at, yeah, to address the rodent issue and then any other pest issues.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: And we want an integrated pest management for the interior of the building, as Deanna stated as well, and maintenance reports as well, and professional cleaning of those road markings, because, you know, they do cause illness, very serious illness, actually. So, yes, but I know we've been talking. I don't know if Lori Tower has anything she wants to...

[SPEAKER_05]: So, I am absolutely happy to coordinate with my client and have some additional measures taken as were suggested by miss Earl. I did write those down moving forward to the extent that the board may be inclined. I would love to be on communications in chatting with my client this morning. It sounds like they. They have been communicative and taking measures. In terms of any rodent issue inside an apartment, I don't have any work orders submitted. The last one submitted was in February. So to the extent that there are some additional reports that maybe the board or Ms. Earl did receive, if those could be shared, because they have not been brought forth with. I'm certainly not here sitting that, you know, stating that there's not, you know, an issue that seems to be recurring. But my client's position is that they have been responsive. They're working toward this. You know, I do see that they did submit some requests in terms of the space across the way. And my understanding is that they have employed pest control and they'll continue to do so. But again, you know, my goal stepping in now is to make sure that we work collaboratively to take care of this matter.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: That'd be great. You have no proof that they've had pest control. You haven't received reports since January, I believe, and the droppings in the basement. I believe Tina has sent 2 or 3 water letters within the last 6 months. So, I don't know if you want copies of those. That would be great. and you'll see all the issues that she's pointed out.

[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, wonderful. And then Ms. Earle, I can certainly put together the documentation that you're looking for as well.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Trinitale, could you put your email address in the chat? Absolutely. Definitely like to invite you back to our next meeting.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Um. I'm not sure if we'll be meeting in August or September next, but we certainly want to communicate prior to that. That would be great.

[MCM00001812_SPEAKER_03]: And then we would look an update at the next meeting. This is really. So it's got to be addressed. So I'm going to show you being here and representing.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Any last comments from Dr. Padua, Sajedi, Vitale, Ward?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Next on the agenda is Jill with the monthly reportable disease report and updates for you. Announcement update.

[MCM00001812_SPEAKER_07]: Yes, so we are, I guess, kind of in between epidemiologists right now. We had an epidemiologist through our grant with Somerville and Arlington, which recently ended. So we have a new epi who's going to take over our monthly reports going forward for July. She's through our PHE grant. So we'll have the next report available for the next meeting. But in the meantime, we did want to just give an update on the mobile health vans clinics that we mentioned last month. So as we said, we're partnering with MGB to have monthly van visits in Medford. So we did finalize the dates for that. So our first one is going to be next month on Tuesday, August 25th. And then going forward, it's going to be once a month that the mobile caravan comes to the clipper ship pop up park, which is the parking lot. That's kind of like, next to the senior center. It's right by the public housing Riverside towers. So we're hoping that's a good location that, you know, draws in a lot of. foot traffic and people from those nearby buildings as well.

Last Tuesday of every month? It'll be the fourth Tuesday of each month with the exception of September. It'll be the fifth Tuesday. Other than that, it'll be the fourth Tuesday, 9.30 to 2.30. And then they're going to provide blood pressure screening, diabetes screening and education. colorectal cancer screening, and then flu and COVID vaccines seasonally as well. So I think they'll have a lot of good services for our residents.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Very exciting. And you don't have to be a Mass General patient. They do not ask about immigration status. Any and all types of insurance are accepted. But if you don't have insurance, if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to come to the van. One question they did have, though, for you, Dr. Platowicz, is do any MGB services around here have a lab within them?

[David Pladziewicz]: Yeah, we use them. Although, you know, she can walk over and we can obtain them at 127 on occasion. But that's the spot. And in the future, any cardiac stuff comes up. One of the three buildings is a heart center, 137. It's gonna be the regional heart center for Mass General and Brigham and us in Medford. So in the future, once this thing gets off the ground, we can go deeper into cardiac stuff if you'd like. Diabetes, cardiac, you know, those are the two heavy hitters because we got an accomplished endocrine practice, diabetic doctors, three of them right here, and four heart doctors and a nurse practitioner. So a great concentration of resources right here at Medford Square.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: It's great. Wonderful to hear. Yeah, with above pressure screenings and diabetes screenings, that's wonderful. Yeah. Okay. So that's exciting. I've been really wanting to do this for a long time. And thanks to regional epidemiologist Ruhar and Jill's work, we're able to get all this together. So I hope people take advantage of it. Thanks, Jill. And we'll get that monthly reportable disease in the next meeting. Which brings me to other business on the agenda. Do you want to resume meeting in September and then I can look to recruit our third member?

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: All right, so I guess maybe we'll take a vote on that just to be safe. Motion to resume meeting in September and pause in August.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: And okay, well, Denny Beitel. Yes. And Dr. Gladowitz.

[Director MaryAnn O'Connor]: Thank you very much. Okay, so we will see you September 15th, will be our next meeting. Well then, enjoy, and I'll be looking to recruit our third member to join us then. We'll have a vote to adjourn.