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Date: 4/21/2021
LONGMEADOW – Finn McCool, Longmeadow’s new health director, wants residents to know that they can come to him, and that the Health Department is more than just restaurant inspections.
“I want to be very accessible,” McCool said. “I want people to know we’re here, reach out to me, learn about the resources we have.”
McCool was appointed as the health director on March 15. He filled the role left vacant by former director Beverly Hirschhon’s retirement. “Beverly was definitely good at her job. I have some big shoes to fill,” McCool said.
A Wilbraham native, McCool told Reminder Publishing that he “grew up in the health field.” His mother is a health agent and McCool went to meetings and inspections as a child. He worked for five years as an emergency medical technician (EMT) before he decided that working on the municipal side would allow him to have a “greater impact in the community.”
While completing an internship with the Town of Monson in 2011, the town was hit by a tornado. McCool was able to learn about disaster work on the job. “It definitely helped in that the Health Department has to be ready for anything at any time,” McCool said, whether it be a natural disaster or a pandemic. He also said it showed how town departments and the community have to come together to get past crises.
Until recently, McCool was the health inspector for the Quabbin Health District, which includes the towns of Ware, Belchertown and Pelham. In that job McCool dealt with many of the same issues he expected to find in Longmeadow – business inspections, septic systems, school inspections, nuisance complaints about trash and even noise complaints. Community outreach is another part of the job, he said, and includes drug take-back days and awareness campaigns.
Some of the challenges McCool expects to face in the job include the continuation of the coronavirus vaccine rollout and the threat from vector-borne diseases such as Eastern Equine Encephalitus (EEE). “After COVID, everyone’s going to want to be outside,” he said, adding that he is working on awareness, promoting staying indoors or in screened-in areas, bug repellents and the seriousness of EEE.
On the topic of COVID–19, McCool praised that work done by the Health Department between directors. “They’ve been taking phone calls and working with other towns,” he said. “They really deserve props for the work they’ve done.”