Warning to State Rep. Jon Santiago’s future grandchildren: He might be telling the truth about walking to work in a foot of snow uphill in both directions when he was younger.
State Rep. Jon Santiago hasn’t missed a beat in the latter part of this year, being deployed to the Middle East in a medical role as part of his National Guard unit, but never missing a vote at the State House on critical COVID-19 legislation and marching through a blizzard the day he returned to be vaccinated at Boston Medical Center for COVID-19.
“This is something I’ll tell my grandchildren about,” he wrote last month as he walked to the hospital for his first dose of the vaccine due to being a front-line doctor treating COVID-19 patients.
“I recently returned from my overseas Army deployment in mid-December and have been back at work on Beacon Hill and in the ER,” he wrote. “Many thanks to the neighbors and constituents who remained in touch and supported our office’s efforts while I was gone. Fortunately, I was able to stay just as involved while away, even casting votes and attending weekly community meetings… Throughout my tour of duty I remained engaged with our community and did not miss a single vote this entire legislative session.”
Santiago highlighted several of the important bills that were passed and signed into law this year, including the numerous COVID-19 relief packages, the Police Reform Bill and a landmark climate bill passed just this week.
Meanwhile, he also reported having elected a new Speaker of the House in Ron Mariano, of Quincy, after the resignation of former Speaker Bob DeLeo.
“Speaker Mariano has played an instrumental role in passing many of this session’s bills,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with the new Speaker and expect many good things to come.”
As an ER doctor at Boston Medical on the front line, Santiago said he is very concerned about COVID-19 and working to get more testing, tracing and vaccinations. That remains one of his chief issues at the moment.
“Recent months have brought a concerning rise in coronavirus cases across the country and the Commonwealth,” he wrote. “I have been advocating for increased testing and aggressive contact tracing since the early days of the pandemic for this reason. The vaccine campaign is also underway and cannot move quick enough.” For any constituent inquiries or neighborhood issues, contact Rep. Santiago at [email protected] or (617) 722-2130