Chatham’s Longtime Health Agent Retires After 22 Years

CHATHAM – When she became the town’s health agent in 2004, Judith Giorgio had extensive experience in the field, but the changes in the job in the intervening years have expanded her responsibilities into many areas previously not a big part of public health, including opioid abatement, tracking cyanobacteria, food insecurity concerns and helping to remediate an epidemic.

“Public health and emergencies are taken more seriously,” she said. “We’re at the table more.”

After 22 years on the job, Giorgio will retire Friday, July 17. After other recent retirements in the departments housed at the annex on George Ryder Road, she is “the last of the old guard.”

But that’s not a bad thing, she said in an interview last week.

“I see a lot of young professionals coming into the field, and I feel good about that,” she said. “I feel I’m leaving at a good time.”

Much of the job hasn’t changed, including septic system and restaurant inspections (much of that done by the department’s health inspector), reviewing building plans and septic designs, and making determinations about what constitutes a bedroom, a key factor in both septic and sewer plans.

Many of the newish duties, like overseeing opioid abatement funding (for which a new multi-town working group is being formed — see separate story) and working with human services agencies, involve more collaboration both within and without the town. The job can also be challenging, Giorgio said, and fun.

“You just never know what’s coming up on any given day,” she said. “That’s what makes it fun.” While the pandemic created disruption and challenges, it also brought town officials, staff and residents closer together, she said.

“We forged contacts together,” she said. “We really worked as a team.”

“I've had the opportunity to work with health agents throughout my career, and Judy stands out among the very best,” said Town Manager Jill Goldsmith. “She’s smart, approaches every situation with confidence and calmness, and cares deeply about the people we serve. Chatham has been fortunate to have her leading our public health efforts for the past two decades.”

Goldsmith added that the final details on who will succeed Giorgio were being worked out, and an announcement will be made sometime this week.

The health department and board of health have been involved in the town’s sewer program, working closely with the sewer department. The board is empowered to order that properties connect to the sewer or to provide an owner with an extension, if warranted. It’s Giorgio and her department that provide the information on which those decisions are based.

Right now there’s about a 60 percent rate of new connections to the sewer, she said. “We’re always trying to get people to connect,” she said. Most property owners are more than willing, but often the expense, which can run to tens of thousands of dollars, stands in the way. Her department is crucial in helping connect owners with resources such as the Barnstable County septic and sewer fund which provides low or no interest loans to encourage septic system upgrades and sewer connections.

Originally from Framingham, Giorgio studied environmental science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she also obtained a master’s degree in public health. Her first job out of college was in the Brewster Health Department. She worked in Mashpee for a few years and then moved to Central Massachusetts where she worked for the 16-town Nashoba Associated Boards of Health. She returned to the Cape in 1998 and worked for the town of Dennis before taking the Chatham health agent job.

Giorgio said she has no big plans for retirement, other than doing some traveling and helping her husband, artist Joey Mars, with his business. 

After Annie Hayes, who previously worked in the community development department, took over for longtime department coordinator Dianne Langlois, Giorgio said she’s confident the department will continue to meet the needs of the town’s residents.

“I feel like I’m leaving it in good hands,” she said.

The public is invited to a coffee for Giorgio at the annex at 9 a.m. Friday.