Mosquito Borne Illness Concerns Are The Topic On Grafton Community Television

GRAFTON: Concerns about West Nile Virus and mosquito borne illnesses is the topic of a Grafton Community Television interview with Dr. Michael Hirsh of the Worcester Division of Public Health and the Central Massachusetts Regional Public Health Alliance. Grafton Community Television's Bob DeToma conducted the "Grafton Minute By Minute" interview with Dr. Hirsh at the Grafton Municipal Center. Grafton is a member community of the Central Massachusetts Regional Public Health Alliance.

Dr. Hirsh was appointed Acting Commissioner of the Worcester Department of Public Health in April, 2012 and became the Medical Director in 2014. Dr. Hirsh is also currently the Surgeon-in-Chief, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery and Trauma, and the Director of the Injury Free Worcester Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. The Central Mass Regional Public Health Alliance is a coalition of seven municipalities, the Towns of Grafton, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Shrewsbury, West Boylston, and the City of Worcester working cooperatively to create and sustain a viable, cost-effective and labor-efficient regional public health district. The regional health district provides a comprehensive array of services to partner municipalities through a single organization managed by Worcester’s Division of Public Health.

In the interview, Dr. Hirsh discussed the "Five D's" that can assist in helping to prevent mosquito borne illness. They are: the prevalence of disease carrying mosquitos at "Dawn" and "Dusk", How to "Dress" (recommend wearing long sleeves and pants) "Drain" standing water (in bird baths and old tires) and use "DEET." (type- inspect spray)

The 21 minute interview with Dr. Hirsh is available at GCTV'S You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=3VYTiWXGuas

and on the Grafton Board of Public Health web site: https://www.grafton-ma.gov/board-health

Grafton Community Television provides programming on three distinct public access channels in the Town of Grafton over the Charter Communications and the Verizon cable systems. Schedules for Grafton Community Television Channels can be found at www.GraftonTV.org . Charter Channel 191/Verizon Channel 34 provides general interest programming, Charter Channel 192/Verizon Channel 33 broadcasts town government programming, and Charter Channel 194 /Verizon Channel 32 features school programming and high school sports events. GCTV is also available on Roku, as well as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The Grafton Community Television studios and offices are located at 296 Providence Road in South Grafton.