Peabody joins MAVEN online health network

PEABODY – Peabody’s Health Department recently joined the state-funded virtual network known as MAVEN.The Massachusetts Virtual Epidemiological Network serves as an electronic disease surveillance system, said Peabody Public Health Nurse Chassea Golden Robinson.”It allows public officials to receive, analyze and process disease related data,” she said. “And search very quickly for the number of cases in their community.”The data, transmitted by local hospitals, clinics, laboratories and health care providers, is the same that has been available in the past. The only difference is how it’s received and accessed.In the past, labs, doctors’ offices or schools had to call their local health department and say, for example, there was a case of salmonella, Robinson explained. Then, the Board of Health would investigate the claim, which involved filling out paper work, then fax that information to the state department. The entire process typically took nearly two weeks to complete.”Now, within one day I could find out if there was a salmonella case,” said Robinson. “It simplifies reporting. There’s no more filling out paper work. It’s done all online.”The city got on board in July and Robinson said it’s been rather helpful so far. Other communities have joined the network, as well, while many more are undergoing training, she said.Designated officials will be the only ones allowed to access the information and only information pertaining to their community will be available.The only exception to the rule would occur if there happened to be a crossover of disease. For example, if a Peabody resident who worked in Danvers became infected with salmonella, the city of Peabody would have to inform Danvers so as to prevent the spread of disease.”It’s good for every community in the sense that we should find out about disease quicker than we did in the past,” said Robinson.Robinson plans to use the system to provide monthly updates to the Board of Health on a real-time basis.