-advocating for the Wakefield-Lynnfield  Rail Trail project.

Lynnfield Rail Trail

Lynnfield Medical Professional Letter  

We are writing in support of the Lynnfield Rail Trail and here is why.

We are health care professionals (nurses and doctors) who are residents of Lynnfield. Our kids have grown up here and attended our schools. We have driven, biked, jogged and walked throughout Lynnfield and noticed an increase in traffic. We care about the health and wellbeing of our town’s people.

There is ample medical evidence for both children and adults that exercising regularly including biking to and from school, work or doing routine errands is great exercise. As we know, exercise helps to keep all of us in good physical and mental health, helps to prevent obesity and reduces the chance of getting diabetes and heart disease. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), recommends an hour of daily activity for children or 2-1/2 hours per week for adults of moderate intensity activity. Walking or biking to and from home to school and between friends’ homes will tremendously help. “Active transportation” is the term used in medical literature, and is a significant contributor to meeting the exercise requirements for children and set forth by the CDC and the AAP.  Similarly the American Heart Association and preventive cardiovascular nursing association recommends regular exercise of at least 30 minutes a day five times a week for your heart health and wellbeing.

There is also ample evidence from pediatric studies, in similar towns to ours, where investigators have found an increased risk of injury to children biking on town roads. There is a reduction of such injuries when children are on designated bike paths like the one proposed. There have been numerous incidents in our town and region where residents have been injured, including one killed in the past few months. Many of us know friends and colleagues who have met grievous injury while riding a bike in our town or on roads elsewhere. Many of us have shared ample instances of unsafe riding on our town’s roads. There are significant pot holes, narrowing the roads further and the side of the roads remains cluttered seasonally with winter sand and debris making shared riding with higher speed vehicles quite unsafe.

Many of us have travelled far and wide and have seen bike paths regionally, nationally and internationally which are being actively used by residents of those are communities. We have seen them safely used for biking, jogging, running, kids going to school, people going to work, for skiing in the winter. They serve to reduce automobile pollution, which is also an important determinant of cardiac and respiratory health of both children and adults.

There is also benefit to the mental health of the community as it gives us a place to walk in relative quiet compared to our town’s roads. A place to relax but also a place to see and socialize with other residents, share outdoor activity which it turn helps to bring a community together.

We urge you all to support our rail trail initiative for the health of our town’s residents, our happiness and wellbeing, and for our environment and mutual enjoyment.

Keith C. Nobil, M.D.                                        Calvin Lee, M.D.                                Lisa Petras, R.N.

Sanjay Aurora, M.D., MPH                              David Forcione, M.D.                         Vicki Kvedar, M.D.

Natasha Shah, M.D.                                       Yuriy Levin, M.D.                               Joseph Kvedar, M.D.

Lydie Pani, M.D.                                             Marc Forgione, M.D.                         Jane Austin, MS, R.N.

Joshua Goldstein, M.D., Ph.D.                        Justin Yunes, N.P.                              Karen Hathaway, R.N.

Michael Aarronson, M.D.                                Jeff Newton, M.D.                               Patricia Glennon, R.N.

Patricia Underwood PhD, NP                          Leslie Smith Olson, R.N.                    Lisa Connolly, M.D.

Elizabeth Morrison LICSW, RN                       Caitlin McCarthy, R.N.                        Deborah Clark N.P.

Anne Ventola R.N.                                         Nicholas S. Kasdon, M.D.                  Charles Bockoff, M.D.

Nicole V. Thibodeau BS, RN                           Michelle Grifoni, MS, RN                    David Richman, M.D.

Sophia Lee, R.N.                                           Donna Bouley, R.N.                           Maura Sullivan, M.D.

Marc Pifko M.D.                                            Lee Ann Baldini, R.N.                        Mary A. Taschner, DNP, ANP-BC        

Nirmal Jain, M.D.                                          Tiffany Whalley, CMA                        Gary Mendese, M.D.

Anja Comeau, FNP-BC                                  Stacy Dillon RN BSN                        Janet Beaudoin, R.N.

Deidre Lamusta, R.N., BSN, CPAN                 Jessica Perkins, R.N.                       Lisa Nobil, R.N.

Ryan Millea, M.D.                                          Jose Abrego, M.D.