NH election 2022: Mark Hastings announces run for Dover's Strafford 21 House seat

My name is Mark Hastings, and I am running for the NH House of Representatives for Strafford County District 21. District 21 covers wards 1,2,3,5 & 6 in Dover. I moved to Dover from Wilton after I retired from Southern New Hampshire Medical Center (SNHMC) in Nashua. My wife and I built our home on Erik Drive. We have several grandchildren in the area and enjoy the seacoast region.

I was born in Fort Devens, MA. My father was in the U.S. Army and a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam War. As was the case with most military families, we moved several times around the country finally settling in my father’s home state of NH when I was eleven years old. I grew up in the town of Mason with four brothers and one sister.

After high school graduation, and brief tries at college and working in a steel mill, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1974. I served with the 86th Medical Group at Ramstein Air Base in what was known then as West Germany. I received an honorable discharge in 1978 along with the USAF Commendation Medal.

Upon returning to NH, I worked as an EMT at a local hospital and served on a volunteer ambulance service while attending the nursing program at New Hampshire Technical Institute (NHTI) using my GI Bill benefits. I received my RN license in 1981 and have worked in rural, inner-city and community hospitals. Most of my career was focused on trauma and emergency health care. I met my wife working in an emergency department. She too is a retired RN.

I retired from SNHMC as Director of Emergency Management and EMS Coordinator. Responsibilities included working with hospital staff, and local, state, federal, military agencies. The complete list can be viewed on my Facebook site @ElectMarkHastings. In 2020 I was asked to come out of retirement to work with SNHMC, the City of Nashua and the NH National Guard during the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.

In addition to my clinical duties, I was an educator to EMS, physicians, nurses, law enforcement and fire services. I sat on the educational advisory boards for the Nashua High School EMS program, the NHTI paramedic program, the New England EMS Institute and the Homeland and International Security Program at Rivier University. I served on the State of NH Bureau of EMS Trauma Medical Review Committee and was recently appointed by the Governor and Executive Council to serve on the Trauma and Emergency Medical Services Coordinating Board which is involved in EMS rules making for the State of NH. I was a volunteer with the Nashua Police Athletic League and served as vice-chair of the governing board.

My interest in being of service to the residents of Dover and NH originates from my past career. I would like to be involved in the legislative process in further combating the opioid crisis, and in support of public safety, and public health initiatives.

The opioid crisis is affecting too many people both as a direct result of using opioids and the collateral damage to the public via car crashes, crime, and injuries and/or illnesses from used syringes. In a recent report from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, researchers studying trends and using predictive models have declared the opioid crisis will continue to accelerate with “explosive exponential growth”. Dover and NH will need plans and resources to fight this war.

Public safety wise I would focus on efforts for the collaboration between law enforcement, fire services, and EMS in dealing not only with the opioid crisis but also with natural and human-made disasters. On my Facebook site you will find links to past projects and publications I was involved in.

Public health wise, we all have seen the struggles as health care services respond to the opioid crisis, emerging diseases, and shortages of access to medical and psychiatric care. There are occasional efforts from the federal government to respond but as we have already seen, the response is stodgy. Local and state resources and responses need strengthening.

So, with these three areas highlighted, and anticipating others, I ask for your vote. As noted, my Facebook site is @ElectMarkHastings. My email is MarkHastings4DoverNH@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: NH election 2022: Mark Hastings announces run for Dover's Strafford 21 state rep seat