Page 4 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, July 31, 2020 ASKS | from page 3 dine drink gather enjo y Two Amazing Nights One Legendary Band! FORTUNE Thursday, July 30 & Friday, July 31 Saturday, August 1 at 9PM MOJO SLIM LIVE MUSIC ON THE PATIO EVERY THURSDAY NIGHT! AUGUST 6 - Freddie G's Happy Hour Band of switching things around at the end of my junior year, and I was talking to my father about it. Obviously, I knew what he did. And I looked at him and I asked, “Dad, can I, like, shadow you? Can I take a look at what you do? “And that’s when I kind of saw the process and saw what he did and saw some of the programs that he put in Woburn, and I thought, “That’s pretty interesting.” Why? Because it’s based on science. It’s based on regulation. Q: So, your dad became your It's a WILDFIRE WEEKEND! Friday, August 7 & Saturday, August 8 WILDFIRE Friday, August 14 at 9PM Ultimate Kenny Chesney Show NO SHOES NATION Pizza “2 for Tuesday” Indulge in our Pizza "2 for Tuesday" every Tuesdays at Breakaway. A deal that you can't resist! You have the option to dine in or pick up! To learn more, call us at 978-774-7270. 221 Newbury Street, Danvers For Tickets call (978) 774-7270 or www.breakawaydanvers.com Facebook.com/ advocate.news.ma mentor? A: Yes, essentially. And I look at the things that I’ve learned from him, not just with my career direction and everything … But I look at some of the things that I’ve learned, not so much that he’s taught me directly. It’s more the things that I emulate and the things that I have assimilated from him. He’s been such a big infl uence in my life. He is somebody that I’ve looked up to my whole life. Q: Did he have somebody who got him into public health? A: He went to UMass [Amherst] and he was the fi rst in his family to go to college. He went to UMass and majored in environmental science. He graduated in 1980. That’s where he met my mother. After graduation he got into the industrial testing. That was back when there were no digital monitors; it was all analogue and very, very scientifi c. My father is a brilliant man. And seeing and hearing about some of the things that he used to do prior to getting into public health was interesting to me as well. He was testing stacks. He would go to industrial sites and test emissions. Getting to 505 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 Tel: 617-387-1120 www.gkdental.com • Family Dentistry • Crowns • Bridges • Veneers/Lumineers • Dental Implants • All on 4 Dental Implants • Emergency Dentist • Kid Friendly Dentist • Root Canals • Dentures • Invisalign Braces • Snap On Smile • Teeth Whitening We are the smile care experts for your entire family HANGING WITH A BIG WHEEL: After doing an interview this week at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, Saugus Director of Public Health John Fralick III took a mini-tour of the park. pick his brain really kind of cemented the idea that I would like to get into public health. I worked for the Housing Authority in Woburn at the time. I got it from both angles, the job that I was doing was seeing regulations in motion. We would do the unit rehabs. And a lot of the times the Board of Health would tell us to go down there because of complaints, so I got a fi rsthand look early on – and that was when I was 18, 19 years old – at the process of remediating complaints. And that’s why I was hired as a housing inspector in Beverly. My father was defi nitely my mentor, somebody that I looked up to my whole life – and seeing the way he did things. Q: Was his dad in the public health fi eld? A: No, my grandfather was a police offi cer in Canton for 30 years. Q: So, nobody was a nurse in your family? A: Nope. Q: That’s kind of unusual In House Dental Plan for $399 (Cleanings, X-Rays, Exams twice a year and 20% OFF Dental work) Schedule your FREE Consultations today to have a situation as a public health director, like father, like son. A: I don’t know anybody else in the state that does it. I’m sure there are people out there. But I look to improve upon things I disagree with him. But the core knowledge, that is one thing that I’ve always noticed about my dad: that it’s like a constant search for knowledge. And I’ve never seen anything like it, and that was something that we saw early on; I was a kid, and he would be learning stuff that I had no idea about. To this day, it’s a pure engineering brain. He always wants to know the modus operandi of things; he wants to know exactly how things operate. So I’ve assimilated those traits – I always know how things operate, how things run, how to fi x things. I grew up in a garage with him. We fi xed cars and restored old cars and stuff . I feel so fortunate to have learned so many things from such a smart guy. It’s just been a blessing. Q: Why Saugus? A: Stoneham was in a bit of a transition. Given the fact that my family was growing, and I was ready, and I had been in there for 10 years, I felt I was ready to make an advancement in my career and accept more responsibility. Ultimately, it was just the right time for me and my family. This was an opportunity that I didn’t want to squander, so I took it. Q: What do you see as your biggest challenges in Saugus? Are you getting oriented yet? A: Yes. I think being where I was for such a long time, I was able to fi gure out the job, and I think the last couple of weeks I’ve been able to become acclimated here. Obviously, there are some issues in town that are longstanding. And I think that with time, I will be able to address the concerns of the residents, because that’s the job; it’s making sure that everyone is getting the services that they need. Q: Right now, the COVID is eating into a lot of your time? A: I think we’re in a low point where things will start to ramp up in the fall with school opening and everything, because I know that’s a hot-button issue. I think at some point, we will be able to sit down and refl ect on some things we could have done a lot better. You have to look at the infection rate in Massachusetts. It’s one of the lowest, if not the lowest in the United States, and that’s because of the response. On top of that, you’re talking about a low mortality rate. You’re talking about a low infection rate. You’re talking about those public health ASKS | SEE PAGE 5
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