Donna Amaral’s enthusiasm is contagious! She has some wonderful ideas about the health and wellness of our town of Westport. She envisions a coming together and tapping of the underutilized resources inherent in the people in our town. There is a wide range of opinions on some matters, but we all want good health for Westport. She has an inspiring vision for what her position on the Board of Health could be. She comes to this from a scientific, compassionate and healing frame of reference, something our town needs as we deal with the COVID-19 recovery and the consequences that we are not yet aware of.

2020 is being called the year of the nurse. As the COVID-19 emerged upon us there developed amazement at the hard work, discipline and commitment of nurses. This month the Smithsonian Journal dedicated the issue to the founder of our profession Florence Nightingale in recognition of her 200th birthday. A fierce reformer, a pioneering statistician, a groundbreaking epidemiologist, and a bold iconoclast, she laid the groundwork for what a nurse could do. Donna Amaral is a beneficiary, holding a bachelor's degree from Syracuse and a master's in psychiatric and mental health nursing from Catholic University, and she is a homegrown Westport native.

I am in my 50th year in my nursing profession. I worked in the 1970s to change the Nurse Practice Act to allow for the extended role of the nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists. I have held leadership positions and worked with several Boards of Health. I have seen how a Board of Health and a community can come together to benefit its health and wellness. Together, among other things, we addressed the mental health of high school students with screening for depression, eating disorders and identifying students at risk for violence. We mobilized drills should we ever need an antidote to chemical terrorists attack. Community disaster preparedness is the hallmark of any Board of Health.

Donna Amaral is the right person, in the right place and in the right time. Vote for wellness, community cohesiveness and, God willing, good health for all of us.

Margaret Smith Hamilton

Westport