THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2020 Page 11 ~ OP-ED ~ Urgent Challenges: Why I’m Running for State Representative By Joe Gravellese L ast week, I announced my campaign for State Representative for Revere, Chelsea, and Saugus. I’m proud to be born and raised in Revere – son of a union operating engineer, grandson of a union teamster, and a graduate of Revere High School. I’m running because I deeply love my community, and want to give back to this place that has shaped me. In my lifetime, there has never been a serious competition for this seat. With Massachusetts facing so many challenges that threaten our future, the residents of Revere, Chelsea, and Saugus deserve a positive and thoughtful debate. Our public transportation system has been chronically underfunded – leaving it unsafe, unreliable, and out of reach to too many communities. This forces more commuters on to our crowded and crumbling roads and bridges. The Boston area has the worst congestion in the nation. We must fi x this. Housing costs are pushing an entire generation out of Greater Boston. Not enough communities have access to reliable transportation, so neighborhoods that do have MBTA access see prices go through the roof, as demand far exceeds supply. Mid-sized, modest housing for working families is essentially illegal to build in most cities and towns. We must fi x this. The working class jobs of the future are arriving in Greater Boston – but community college, associate’s degrees and job training programs remain out of reach to too many people due to cost or lack of access. Students who want to attend technical and vocational schools face waiting lists and not enough seats. We must fi x this. Cities like Revere have worked hard to tackle the opioid crisis and have seen some success, with overdose deaths down over 40% in three years since the Substance Use Disorder Initiatives offi ce opened. But we still have a lot of work to do. In far too many communities, evidence-based strategies to address substance abuse are not embraced due to stigma. We must fi x this. Climate change is not a future problem – it’s today’s problem. Residents are already being impacted by historic storms and fl ooding, and escalating fl ood insurance costs. Sea level rise will impact our district within my lifetime. We need to urgently move away from fossil fuels and push for 100% clean, renewable energy – a transition that will not only make our air and water cleaner, but will also create a new generation of good jobs. We also must work to upgrade our seawall and make our communities more resilient. My experience prepares me to deliver results for our district. While working at the State House for Rep. Lori Ehrlich, I helped build coalitions and advance legislation to hold utility companies accountable for gas leaks, protect working people from exploitation, and push Massachusetts toward a clean energy future. At Revere City Hall, I was part of the team that worked on the nuts and bolts of making government work better – increasing access to substance abuse treatment, re-launching the city’s disabilities commission, expanding public health and recreation programs, and making government more transparent and accountable. If elected as your Representative, I can’t promise that you’ll agree with me on every issue. But I can promise you that I will always listen, that I will always fi ght for you, and that I will always be honest and transparent. I can promise you that I will always stand up for my values, but I will also be willing to roll up my sleeves, fi nd common ground, and work with anyone who has good ideas on how to tackle the big challenges we all face. We must be clear-eyed about this moment: we need serious action to tackle issues like transportation, housing, public health, the environment, and job training. I’m ready to fi ght hard and deliver results. If you want to learn more, or if you’re ready to join me, visit www.joegrav.com, attend my Virtual Town Hall on Wednesday, March 18 at 7 PM, or to commit to supporting me in the primary election on September 1. Patients can now chat with a nurse for free to receive live, personalized healthcare guidance I n light of the recent spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the team at Nurse-1-1 is leveraging its existing ondemand nurse chat platform to provide every person in the United States with immediate access to a trusted nurse, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. This tool will allow all patients to contact a nurse digitally, remotely and faster than by trying to reach their existing provider, ultimately reducing the increasing burden on our healthcare system during this time of uncertainty. As part of this nationwide eff ort, Nurse-1-1 is enabling chats – free through Zocdoc’s platform – with its network of over 750 experienced nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants to support patients’ questions related to COVID-19 in addition to any other medical questions or concerns they might have. Chats are live, instant and textand photo-based. To access the free chats, patients in the U.S. can visit zocdoc.com/coronavirus and click “Chat now” to ask their personal, health-related questions. From there, they’ll get real-time support from a network of highly experienced licensed nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants for free. “At a time when the healthcare system is increasingly strained and public health eff orts are focused on mitigating community spread, we feel it is our responsibility to quickly introduce new ways to help patients digitally access care,” said Zocdoc Founder/CEO Dr. Oliver Kharraz. “By teaming up with Nurse-1-1 and their experienced network, we can help patients instantly get free guidance on their healthrelated questions and concerns when they need support most." “Nurse-1-1 is a new way of delivering personalized, secure and immediate healthcare information and guidance to worried patients,” said Nurse-1-1 Cofounder/CEO Michael Sheeley. “We are proud to partner with Zocdoc to provide free chats through their platform with our network of over 750 nurses during a time when patients and families are struggling for answers.” PATIENTS | SEE PAGE 16 AUTOTECH 1989 SINCE Is your vehicle ready for the Spring Season?!! 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