Canton’s new public health director hits the ground running

By Candace Paris

Meg Goldstein, Canton’s new director of public health, has been on the job for about three months. Hired by the Board of Health with the idea that she would beef up outreach efforts, Goldstein has been taking that assignment seriously since assuming the role in mid-November. Already very familiar with the office from her previous position as public health nurse, she also benefitted from overlapping with and watching her predecessor, Barbara Reardon, lead the department prior to retiring.

Meg Goldstein

Goldstein, who trained as an RN and spent 10 years working for Mass General, brings a strong healthcare perspective to the job. Trained as an engineer, Reardon had plenty of administrative experience from her position as town engineer but no medical background. (Her appointment as director, made in 2020 during the pandemic, was originally considered temporary.)

With extensive experience in acute care, including working in a home care program known as Home Hospital during the pandemic, Goldstein found herself increasingly drawn to public health. Its focus on health and wellness was appealing.

“You see people at their worst in the hospital,” she noted, “and then they leave and you never see them again.”

Goldstein appreciates the opportunities she has as a Canton resident to occasionally see people she has helped in more informal situations. She grew up in Maine but has lived here since 2013. Her husband, Jarrod Goldstein, is a Canton native, and she believes she has a good understanding of the community.

This insight helps her in planning outreach programming. With the goal of increasing visibility and public trust, Goldstein has already put some new initiatives in place. The seven Naloxone (Narcan) boxes placed around the community in highly visible spots are only the beginning of an effort to empower community members to aid people who have overdosed, possibly preventing deaths. Follow-up training in managing overdoses will be offered later on.

A no-cost adult vaccine program has already begun. Goldstein said that Canton has a significant number of underserved adults who may not be able to afford vaccinations. The Public Health Department stocks all currently recommended adult vaccines, which are available by appointment to residents of Canton, whether insured or not. (Flu shot clinics will be scheduled again in the fall.)

Another outreach effort focuses on education. To give residents easy access to good health-related information, the office has been maintaining a section in the Canton Public Library with literature on various topics. Located near the teen room and the restrooms, the materials are updated monthly to focus on different subjects, such as heart health for the month of February. (The public health office is headquartered at Pequitside and gets little foot traffic, thus the need for a more central location.)

Besides outreach, another function of the public health office is always “chugging away in the background,” as Goldstein described it, referring to the ongoing work of maintaining a safe environment for Canton residents. That includes inspecting septic systems and food services and monitoring for infectious disease.

Generally, the public health office works closely with town employees from other offices on these projects. Town engineering staff conduct septic system inspections. Outside inspectors may also be involved, depending on workload. That can happen especially with food-related inspections, given special events such as the weekly Canton Farmers Market in the summer/fall and events at the Paul Revere Heritage Site, including the annual Canton Heritage Festival — in addition to restaurants, schools and other locations that serve food.

Monitoring for infectious disease is managed using state resources and occasionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Goldstein said that flu is a “reportable disease,” and she can see from daily log-ins to data from the state Department of Public Health that it is very high now and that there are two strains circulating. In contrast, COVID rates are low, Goldstein said, perhaps because of “viral crowding,” a phenomenon of one virus crowding out another.

As far as preparedness for bird flu, Goldstein noted that as with other communicable diseases, the office will be following recommendations from the state. Currently, there is no call for isolation of poultry, but Goldstein noted that all chicken owners must be licensed. “We know where they are in case of need for quarantine,” she said.

No specific actions are being taken to monitor swans or other birds in Canton, but anyone who sees sick or dead birds is encouraged to use the Massachusetts state reporting tool listed below. Goldstein said that Stacy Benton, Canton’s animal control officer, would be most likely to get any calls about dead animals, and the two have already discussed the “more involved” personal protective equipment (PPE) that is currently recommended.

Goldstein hopes that residents will feel they can trust the office as a source of reliable information. With stable funding and a full staff from having recently hired a second public health nurse, the future looks good. She is confident that the Public Health Department is “ready for any emergencies” as well as able to follow through on new projects still in the planning stages. Those include CPR training, programming around intimate partner assault, and collaborating with the Canton Alliance Against Substance Abuse.

Happy in her new position, Goldstein said she finds it “very meaningful to work and live in Canton.”

To schedule a vaccine appointment, call the public health office 781-821-5021. To report five or more sick or dead wild birds at a single location, go to mass.gov/forms/report-observations-of-dead-wild-birds. Please note that there is a separate form for reporting sick or dead domestic poultry.

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