LIBRARY TOUR!


We've partnered with the Tewksbury Public Library again to give outdoor campus tours one evening a month in the summer. Their next sign up is for August 12, 2022 from 6:00-7:30PM. Click here for the evening tour.

EVENING TOUR 

Or, click here for our daytime museum and campus tours. Please note: we've increased our tour prices for the first time since 1994.

BOOK A TOUR

The Future of Public Health

....from Amy Consalvi, board member


As one of the newer board members, I am always amazed at what the Public Health Museum is able to accomplish as a volunteer-led organization. Whether they have a background in nursing, teaching, or archives, each one of our volunteers lends their expertise and knowledge to help advance the mission of the museum.


With the increase in school visits over the past year, it is critical to the museum’s success to have these experts available to inform future generations not only about the importance of public health, but to facilitate the interactions between students and the tools developed to keep our communities safe. It is these hands-on experiences that help shape our students into community-conscious individuals. In fact, it was my time as an intern at the museum that sparked my interest in joining the board.


In July, Outbreak! will be starting its tenth year, and a new cohort of students will immerse themselves in the world of public health. I encourage anyone reading our newsletter to continue supporting the museum in any way you can – by volunteering, making a donation, or attending a program. Our future public health professionals will thank you! 

CHANGING BELIEFS AND REDUCING DISEASE:

1890 LOWELL TYPHOID EPIDEMIC

By David Paquette, Volunteer


Every Public Health student knows the story of John Snow. In 1854, John Snow conducted pioneering investigations on cholera epidemics in England and particularly in London in which he demonstrated that contaminated water was the key source of the epidemics. His thorough investigation of an epidemic in the Soho district of London led to his conclusion that contaminated water from the Broad Street pump was the source of the disease and, consequently, the removal of the handle led to cessation of the epidemic. The water was still contaminated, but people could not access it.


Nearby Lowell, Massachusetts has a very similar story with typhoid. Typhoid is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Typhoid fever is caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica serotype typhi (S. typhi). 

READ MORE HERE

OUTBREAK!2022- 10th Year


Our student public health experience, now in its tenth year, is underway and we are so excited for all of the amazing professionals the students will meet, and the pathways to public health careers they will learn about.


We've stayed remote on Zoom and have been able to welcome students from around the country and around the world to participate in the program. We've also been able to engage more processionals than ever thanks to this flexible online format.


Tune in next month to hear how the sessions went and the impressions left on our future public health professionals.

SHARING THE HISTORY OF PUBLIC HEALTH


We continue to welcome students at the high school and college level. We have a new button on our website for school groups and general admission. Book your school group tours for the fall. We host senior centers, photography groups, and municipal public health teams for tours. Please contact info@publichealthmuseum.org to plan your visit.



Evening tours continue through the summer with our partners at the Tewksbury Public Library.

Silver Crescent Photography visited recently for a photo tour of the old buildings.

RESEARCH PROJECT


Before there was PowerPoint, there were 35mm projection slides and overhead projection of transparencies, and before that there were “lantern slides” used in presenting pictures, figures, tables and words. These 4 x 3 ¼ inch glass plates were used in scientific presentations as lecture slides into the 1960s. The Public Health Museum has come into possession of a number of lantern slides used for presentations in the 1920s through the 1940s. They contain data and pictures from public health studies that may not be documented anywhere else. Volunteer Pat Cavanaugh is categorizing and putting these slides in order to inventory and interpret their contents. Early indications are, that after this painstaking process, there will be interesting results of public health and scientific historical significance to share.  

CORRECTION: In our June newsletter we incorrectly stated that Boston was the first city in the country to institute school nurses. Member Dorothy Keeney shared this bit of clarification for us and we very much appreciate it.


Boston, Massachusetts is not the first city, nor Massachusetts the first state to start school nursing.  New York City, in 1902, was the first city to start a school nurse program in its school.  Los Angeles followed New York City, and Boston started its program in 1905.  Nurse Annie McKay was appointed on December 6, 1905, to a pilot project placing a nurse in three Boston schools, namely the Quincy, Andrews, and Way Street schools. Her legacy in Boston public schools lay in making a free education accessible to more children and especially for scores of immigrant children to pursue an essential aspect of the American Dream.  Her pioneering work also helped establish a system of health assessment, intervention, and follow-up for all school children which is still enjoyed today.  

 

Boston led the way in 1894 to improve health care for school children by implementing the medical inspection of students in schools using physicians. They were the first city in the US to establish this new program, following in the footsteps of England and Europe. 

 

Dorothy has published a book about school nurses called, The Untold Story of Annie McKay and the Boston Public School Nurses 1905-1988 The Formation of the Massachusetts School Nurse Organization.


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"America's first public health museum"

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