Long before my role as president of the American Public Health Association, I was a normal woman from Flint, Mich.

Flint is home. It is where I committed myself to public health over the last 40 years, started a family, developed rich friendships and found my voice. It is where I learned to speak the truth clearly and directly, and it is why I believe that our nation’s inability to fix lead in our water systems is slowly killing us all.