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Concord Board of Health unveils CHIP priorities and reviews April communicable disease counts
Summary
The board reviewed the Community Health Improvement Plan emphasizing mental health, substance-use prevention, aging supports, transportation safety and climate resilience; staff also reported April disease counts including 10 Lyme cases and one alpha-gal case and described tick-prevention outreach.
The Concord Board of Health on May 20 reviewed a Community Health Improvement Plan that sets priorities across mental health, substance-use prevention, healthy aging, transportation safety and climate/environmental health, and received the April communicable disease report.
Public Health Nurse Katie Stanislawzyk presented the CHIP, which identifies mental health as the first priority with goals to increase awareness of clinicians and reduce stigma through events such as the Yellow Tulip Project and mental health first aid training. The plan lists substance-use prevention initiatives including a drug take-back day, Narcan distribution and education, and ongoing programs to support healthy aging such as chronic pain groups and blood pressure clinics at the Council on Aging.
Stanislawzyk described transportation safety work — including exploration of potential fixed bus routes connecting Concord Center, the train station and West Concord and collaboration with bike-safety advocates to support safe routes to school. For climate and environmental health, the plan calls for resilience measures such as a mock shelter drill and an Extreme Weather/Temperature Response Plan targeted for completion by June 2026, as well as outreach actions including tick and mosquito prevention information at trailheads and sunscreen dispensers around town.
In the April communicable disease report Stanislawzyk listed case counts: influenza 8; novel coronavirus (SARS) 3; Lyme disease 10; tuberculosis 1; hepatitis B 3; campylobacteriosis 4; human granulocytic anaplasmosis 1; varicella 1; and alpha-gal syndrome 1. She explained that alpha-gal is an allergy to red meat following a lone star tick bite that can cause delayed reactions and that provider testing for the condition has increased.
Director Melanie Dineen described a CDC tick-awareness flyer intended for hunters, urged documentation and safe storage of ticks for species identification, and presented data showing expansion of the lone star tick's range; she noted illnesses tied to that tick became reportable in the state's MAVEN system in April.
The Board recorded no public comment and ended the meeting about 7:54 p.m.
