Happy Fall to all!

We have a busy newsletter of updates for you with lots of deadlines this month, so don't miss out!

I hope you'll join us Sept. 18 for a great program about Animal Control and Zoonotic Diseases. We'll have a networking lunch following the program, which is a great opportunity to connect casually with colleagues from other health departments. Register by Sept. 12!

And we're soliciting names for MHOA Distinguished Service Awards and Emeritus Status.

New this year is a health department award! You can self nominate or or nominate another department. We're excited to celebrate and recognize during the MHOA conference the amazing public health work happening around us. 

You won't want to miss the awards ceremony during the conference, so be sure to register by Sept. 12 before rates increase again, or apply for a scholarship by Sept. 10. We have more than 425 people attending already! And we need your help for one of the sessions about what it's really like working in public health! Take this fun survey to contribute.

And finally, I hope you saw the good news from the Governor's Office regarding vaccine availability in Massachusetts. The Common Health Coalition and additional collaborators have put together helpful vaccine resources.

These are challenging times - the landscape continues to change around us. We encourage our local public health colleagues to connect with each other and MHOA leadership at events like our quarterly meetings and conference, or directly with me. MHOA will continue to advocate and support local public health professionals like we have for 75 years - reach out if you need something!

Teresa Wood Kett, executive director