Health & Human Services

SDHHS will hold an Informational Session for interested applicants on Monday, November 18, 2024 beginning at 5:00 p.m. at the Raymond A. Jordan Senior Center, 1476 Roosevelt Avenue, Springfield, MA 01103.

Interested applicants are encouraged to attend the Informational Session on Monday. The full ORRF Grant Program Guidelines are available below. 

Mayor Sarno and Health & Human Services Commissioner Caulton Harris announce Springfield’s Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund Grant Program Guidelines

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton Harris announced today, November 6, 2024, the city’s Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund grant program guidelines. 

The Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF) was established in 2020 to receive and administer funds from certain legal settlements relating to allegations brought against companies in connection with the opioid crisis. Over the next 15 years, Springfield Department of Health and Human Services (SDHHS) will receive approximately $7,000,000 settlement funds to be used for substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery.

The goal of the city and SDHHS is to use Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF) investments to improve pathways to treatment, care, and recovery services for People With Lived or Living Experiences (PWLLE) by building capacity of community-based organizations, particularly those based in communities that are historically underserved and have experienced a disproportionately high rate of opioid- related overdose deaths. ORRF investments will be used to level the playing field for community organizations, catalyze pilot programs, evaluate innovative approaches and treatment, and diversify the pool of providers available to fight the challenge of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) crisis throughout the City of Springfield.

The Springfield Department of Health and Human Services is investing ORRF to build system capacity and assets by closing gaps in the OUD ecosystem and improving linkages across community care systems to foster a longer-term comprehensive continuum of care model of addiction. Recovery often occurs along different pathways and PWLLE will use one or more assisted pathways (such as mutual aid groups, medical treatment, recovery support services, medication, etc.). The SDHHS and multiple stakeholders determined, through a six-month community input and priority-setting process, that treatment and recovery support would be more effective when delivered through well-coordinated services and collaborative approaches across sectors.

This Request for Proposals (RFP) is designed to make it easier for PWLLE to begin and complete their recovery journey by closing gaps in the ecosystem, increasing accountability across sectors for transitions in care, and creating strategic learning opportunities to deepen and build grantee organizational and community capacity. 

The full ORRF Grant Program Guidelines/RFP are available to view/download here.

 

Opioid Recovery Remediation Fund Survey for Springfield Residents

The City of Springfield requests your response to the Opioid Recovery Remediation Fund Survey that we’re conducting. 

Click here to learn more.

 

 

Before You Get Vaccinated

For patients (both children and adults) to be vaccinated: the Screening Checklist for Contraindications to Inactivated Injectable Influenza Vaccination will help  determine if there is any reason you our your child shoud not receive the inactivated injectable influenza vaccination. If you answer “yes” to any question, it does not necessarily mean you (or your child) should not be vaccinated; it just means additional questions must be asked. If a question is not clear, please ask your healthcare provider to explain it.

Click here for the Screening Checklist for Contraindications to Inactivated Injectable Influenza Vaccination.

Clic aquí para ver cuestionario de contraindicaciones para la vacuna inyectable contra la gripe.

 

Vaccine Information Statement - Inactivated Influenza Vaccine

 


Vaccine Insurance Information

Click here for the 2020-2021 Adult Vaccine Insurance Information Form

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION

We are currently monitoring the Novel Coronavirus situation and will provide further updates as needed. We encourage you to check out the following information from the State of Massachusetts and the CDC:

 

The new MDPH website provides relevant up-to-date information on the state of the novel coronavirus for all residents: mass.gov/2019coronavirus.

Additional details and guidance regarding the novel coronavirus, is available from the CDC: 2019 Novel Coronavirus.

Fact Sheets from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health can be found here.

 

Springfield Department of Health and Human Services  is working closely with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 

News and Events

Job Opportunity

The City of Springfield Department of Health and Human Services is looking for a nurse to join the Division of nursing. The applicant must be licensed in Massachusetts. Responsibilities include but are not limited to the application of professional skills and knowledge in the performances of a wide variety of public health nursing duties in connection with communicable disease control, mass immunizations, and related programs.  Public Health Nursing is a great opportunity to give back to the community. Please follow this link to check out the description and to fill out the application.

About the Department of Health and Human Services

The Department of Health and Human Services provides environmental health, community nursing and health education services. The mayor appoints its director.

The department issues burial permits, records dog bites, and baits sewers for rats. It also licenses and inspects stores, massage therapists, restaurants, caterers, bakeries, day camps, pools, and trailer parks as well as septic tank cleaners and trash removal services. In addition it provides vaccines for immunizations including polio, tuberculin, tetanus, and MMR, and maintains an immunization-tracking registry. It follows up on cases of tuberculosis and other communicable diseases such as hepatitis and shigella.

Community nursing services are offered on a rotating basis at a variety of sites, generally community centers and housing projects. Services consist of blood pressure readings, health screening, and referrals. To obtain a complete list of sites with days and times of nurses' visits, call 787- 6740.

A nurse provides health care six mornings and two evenings a week for homeless people at 769 Worthington Street. Call 734 - 7140 for more information. Dental services for the homeless are also available two days a week at this location. Call 731 - 9575 for more information.

Health education and prevention programs include the following:

  • Substance Abuse Prevention Program - a speaker's bureau of women who are former drug abusers.
  • Violence Prevention Task Force and Trigger Lock Give-away Program.
  • Tobacco Control Unit - enforces tobacco control laws, runs smoking cessation programs and education programs, and promotes a ban on smoking in restaurants.

Other programs include:

  • Mayor's Office for Citizens with Disabilities - advocates for physically and mentally challenged citizens.
  • Mediation training to provide volunteers to help resolve disputes in the public schools and neighborhoods.
  • Child Maternal Health Commission - volunteer health professionals who have volunteered to help reduce infant mortality.

Health Department Inspections

The Department of Health & Human Services Division of Environmental Health is to protect the public health and environment of the City of Springfield through education, inspections, sampling and monitoring, and enforcing federal, state and local codes as they pertain to public health issues. Download forms:

More info: Health Department Permits & Fees

Plastic Bag Reduction

The City of Springfield will discontinue the use of plastic bags at all retail establishments in the city effective June 01, 2020. To learn more about this ordinance and what bags can be used please click on the link below.

https://ecode360.com/34210689

Page last updated:  Monday, September 30, 2024 10:28 am