Hampden County
Shared Public Health Nurse Assistance Program - FY14 CIC

The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is pleased to receive $110,000 from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance (EOAF) to expand the efforts of the Hampden County Shared Public Health Nurse Assistance program.  With this funding, the PVPC and partner communities will continue to diligently work together to address long-term unmet needs and service local public health gaps by expanding the existing Shared Public Health Nurse Assistance Program and offering supplemental shared public health nursing services among twelve (12) participating municipalities. The expansion of the program includes a community-wide public health assessment and the hiring of a Public Health Community Educator.  These services will work in coherence with the established services of the shared public health nurse which includes but are not limited to disease surveillance and reporting on MAVEN; public health education; assistance with setting up, administering and billing of flu clinics and flu vaccines; and establishing blood pressure screening clinics.

This effort was put in place due to the realization that Hampden County ranks lowest among Massachusetts' Counties in both health factors and subsequent health outcomes.  This is reflected by the fact Hampden County has the Commonwealth’s highest rates of smoking, adult obesity, excessive drinking, motor vehicle crash fatality, sexually transmitted infections and teen birthrate.  Moreover, Hampden County also ranks worst in air pollution, access to healthy food, and access to recreational facilities.  These rankings have challenged local public health across the region for more effective delivery of services. 

For this grant period, the twelve (12) Hampden County communities that are participating in this program includes the city of West Springfield and the towns of Blandford, East Longmeadow, Granville, Ludlow, Palmer, Montgomery, Southwick, Tolland, Monson, Hampden, Brimfield and Montgomery.  The PVPC and the Oversight Committee will be doing outreach to non-participating municipalities in the hope to expand its services to include other communities within the Hampden County.

For more information, please contact Joshua A. Garcia, PVPC Municipal Services Coordinator, at (413) 781-6045.