Call to action - Board of Health - HDNW

The Board of the Health Department of NorthWest Michigan (HDNWM) will be meeting at the courthouse in Bellaire on Tuesday, November 2 at 10 am. They will be considering the termination of the Health Officer Lisa Peacock and the Medical Director Dr. Meyerson because of the mask mandate.

If you can attend please do. The last meeting was loaded with anti masker/vaxers and they could use your support. If not, please use the list of board members below to send an email asking them to support the leadership and department. The eight member board is comprised of 2 county commissioners from each of the 4 counties in the health district. Four of the members are thought to be supportive: Bargy Roloff, MacInnis, Koontz

You can compose your own or lift part of the samples below. Whatever you are comfortable with. Blind copy your email to Lisa, Dr. Meyerson and Jennifer (emails at bottom of attachment) Share this info with parents/teachers that might not be on our list but are supportive of masking.

Please use the this information to contact the Public Health Board to show our support for Public Health.

LIST OF BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS 2021 effective 102021

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Sample of email to a supportive commissioner:

Dear Commissioner Bargy,

My name is Myrna Holland, resident of Elk Rapids and a Registered Nurse, now Retired

First, I want to thank you for your support of the HDNWM and its leadership, Lisa Peacock and Dr. Myerson. The current environment does not make this a comfortable position to take, so I doubly appreciate your efforts on their and the department's behalf. I am planning to attend the November 2 board meeting and will share much of what is below during the public comment session. However, I wanted to also share my thoughts in writing ahead of time to all of the board members. I am in support of the continued leadership of Health Officer Lisa Peacock and Medical Director, Dr. Myerson of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan and urge your continued support for them and the department and to work with them to fulfill your duty to the mission and purposes of this board."

The mission of the HDNWM on your website states:

"To serve our entire community and to achieve health equity by promoting well-being, preventing disease, and protecting the environment through partnerships, innovation and excellence in public health practice." By the way, I think that mission statement would be an appropriate invocation for all of your board meetings.

Your board purposes include:

“ to learn everything possible about health problems in the community and to participate in finding solutions for these problems.” Terminating the contracts of the Department’s leadership would do nothing to solve the Covid-19 pandemic.

With Ms. Peacock’s and Dr. Myerson’s strong leadership the department has worked diligently to provide numerous vaccine clinics throughout the district. The decision for the school mask requirement is evidence based practice. Be sure you and your constituents understand the science behind their work to keep us safe and healthy. They need your support and informed input to find additional ways to make our NorthWestMI counties be the area that the rest of the state wants to emulate to end this pandemic.

Personal liberty is often a reason given for not to mask or not to vaccinate. However, we need to remember that both the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution include as founding principles for our government “safety of the governed” and “promotion of the general welfare”. Independence carries with it responsibility. I have six grandchildren across three states, who are in mandated mask school districts. I asked them all if they feel traumatized by having to wear a mask. All six reacted with puzzlement and a similar response of 'they can be annoying, but its part of how we keep people safe'. From the mouths of babes!

Please, let's work together and use all the infection control and educational tools at our disposal to end this pandemic. That includes a fully supported Health Department which has the knowledge and the skills to lead the way.

Thank you for the work you do for the citizens of our county.

Sample of a letter to non-supportive commissioner: Rubingh, Hankins,Pallarito, Powers

Dear Commissioner Rubingh,

My name is Myrna Holland, resident of Elk Rapids and a Registered Nurse, now Retired

I am planning to attend the November 2 board meeting and will share much of what is below during the public comment session. However, I wanted to also share my thoughts in writing ahead of time with all of the board members.

I am in support of the continued leadership of Health Officer Lisa Peacock and Medical Director, Dr. Myerson of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan and urge you to support them and the department and to work with them to fulfill your duty to the mission and purposes of this board.

The mission of the HDNWM on your website states:

"To serve our entire community and to achieve health equity by promoting well-being, preventing disease, and protecting the environment through partnerships, innovation and excellence in public health practice." By the way, I think that mission statement would be an appropriate invocation for all of your board meetings.

Your board purposes include:

“ to learn everything possible about health problems in the community and to participate in finding solutions for these problems.” Terminating the contracts of the Department’s leadership would do nothing to solve the Covid-19 pandemic.

With Ms. Peacock’s and Dr. Myerson’s strong leadership the department has worked diligently to provide numerous vaccine clinics throughout the district. The decision for the school mask requirement is evidence based practice. Be sure you and your constituents understand the science behind their work to keep us safe and healthy. They need your support and informed input to find additional ways to make our NorthWestMI counties be the area that the rest of the state wants to emulate to end this pandemic. This is not the time to disrupt the critical work of the department by the changing leadership.

Personal liberty is often a reason given for not to mask or not to vaccinate. However, we need to remember that both the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution include as founding principles for our government “safety of the governed” and “promotion of the general welfare”. Independence carries with it responsibility. I have six grandchildren across three states, who are in mandated mask school districts. I asked them all if they feel traumatized by having to wear a mask. All six reacted with puzzlement and a similar response of 'they can be annoying, but its part of how we keep people safe'. From the mouths of babes!

Please, let's work together and use all the infection control and educational tools at our disposal to end this pandemic. That includes a fully supported Health Department which has the knowledge and the skills to lead the way.