Thursday, March 24, 2016 (World TB Day)
7:00PM
Historic Village Hall*
2 Oak St, Framingham, MA
Framingham’s “TB Study” was the first community based participatory health study in the world. It was a model for preventing TB cases and deaths as well as saving funds related to treating this disease. It started with a $200,000 grant from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1916 which brought resources and expertise including public health nurses from NYC into Framingham homes, schools, and businesses. Why Framingham? Among the many reasons cited was a “genuine cooperation on the part of individuals and organizations both public and private in the town.” This was the cutting edge of urban health reform – an experiment that became a health example for the world. To quote a study monograph: “The Whole World is Watching Framingham.”
Learn more about this revolutionary study, its continuing impact on public health, and the ravages of TB or “the white plague” from Dr. Alfred DeMaria, Jr., Medical Director and State Epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Bureau of Infectious Disease and Kathy Hursen – Framingham’s Public Health Nurse and coordinator of the TB clinic from 1989-1995.
A presentation of the Middlesex Savings Bank Program Series.