Northborough employs first full-time health agent
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer

Health Agent Jamie Terry PHOTO/KEN POWERS

Northborough - A college soccer injury led Jamie Terry to a path that has resulted in her becoming the first fulltime health agent in Northborough.

"When I was in college at UMass-Lowell, I was a health physiology major, which I planned to use to become a physical therapist," Terry said. "But I got hurt playing soccer and when I went to see the trainers and the physical therapists, they couldn't tell me what was wrong. I remember one of them saying, 'We don't know what's wrong with you, but you can't play soccer anymore.'

"I decided right then and there that I was not going to be that person," Terry said. "I knew physical therapy or physical training wasn't for me because it was too vague, too ambiguous."

So, Terry switched her major to community health education and, following graduation, went to work in a cancer center.

She lasted six months.

"That was extremely diffi- cult to deal with," Terry said. "It wore me down."

With working at the cancer center not a good fit for her, she began to look at other fields she could use her major in, hoping to find something that interested her.

She found the health agent field.

Terry began working for the Nashoba Board of Health, which oversees the health and cleanliness of 14 towns in central Massachusetts. She worked there for 3 1/2 years before becoming the health agent in Woburn. She was at Woburn for less than a year when she saw the opening for a full-time health agent in Northborough.

Town Administrator Barry Brenner hired Terry at the end of February and she began working for the town of Northborough March 19.

"It's going pretty well," Terry said. "It's been a busy five months. The biggest thing I've tried to do since I've gotten here is work together with administrative assistants Sarah Roach and Louise Leo. They've helped me out so much, and we've been able to really streamline the office and what we want to do and how we want to accomplish it."

Explaining which responsibilities fall under her purview as the health agent and registered sanitarian, Terry joked that the list of what doesn't reside under her umbrella is probably a more succinct list.

"This office is responsible for the emergency preparedness plan as well as inspections, which cover septic system plan review and permits, camp inspections, pool inspections, tanning salon inspections and the inspection of any place where massages are given," Terry said. "Also, every establishment that serves food or sells food is required to undergo inspections every six months."

Other items on Terry's todo list include overseeing the Medical Reserve Corps and having a plan for an emergency dispensing site if there were ever a need to mass inoculate the entire town. She's also in charge of disease control in town and keeps a constant eye out for rabies and the West Nile Virus.

Terry is a licensed soil evaluator, a licensed Title 5 (septic system) inspector, a registered sanitarian, a certified food protection manager and a certified pool operator.