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From YouTube: Committee on Public Health on December 14, 2020
Description
Docket #1036 - Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of Four Hundred Ninety-Eight Thousand Two Hundred Ninety-one Dollars ($498,291.00) in the form of a grant for the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act Cooperative Agreement, awarded by the U.S. Health and Human Services to be administered by the Fire Department.
B
C
B
Pat's
here
with
I'm
actually
here,
okay,
so
then
we
can
begin
so
I'm
just
gonna
start
the
opening
here
and
then
we
can
get
started.
My
name
is
ricardo
royo,
I'm
the
district
five
city
councilor,
I'm
also
the
chair
of
the
boston
city
council
committee
on
public
health,
I'm
joined
today
by
councillor
and
flynn
and
counselor
anissa
isabi
george.
This
public
hearing
has
been
recorded
and
live
streamed
at
the
boston.gov
city
council
tv
it'll
be
rebroadcast
on
xfinity
rcn,
channel
82
and
files
channel
964.
B
we'll
take
public
testimony
at
the
end
of
this
hearing.
I
currently
don't
have
anybody
signed
up
for
public
testimony,
but
if
you
would
like
to
do
public
testimony,
please
email,
michelle
goldberg
michelle
a
goldberg
at
boston.gov
to
sign
up
when
you're
called
please
state
your
name
and
affiliation
residence
and
limit
your
comments
to
no
more
than
two
minutes
to
ensure
that
all
comments
can
be
heard.
You
may
also
submit
written
testimony
by
emailing
ccc.health
boston.gov.
B
Today's
hearing
is
on
docket
1036,
which
is
a
message
in
order
authorizing
the
city
of
boston,
to
accept
and
expand
the
amount
of
498
291
in
the
form
of
a
grant
for
the
first
responders,
comprehensive
addiction
and
recovery
act,
cooperative
agreement
awarded
by
the
u.s
health
and
human
services
to
be
administered
by
the
fire
department.
Today's
speakers,
our
panelists,
rather
will
be
eamon
miller
from
the
boston
fire
department,
lieutenant
patrick
hayes
from
the
boston
fire
department
and
kathleen
judge
who's.
B
B
B
D
Thank
you,
mr
chair,
and
thank
you
everyone
who's
with
us
today.
You
know
this
grant.
Obviously
it's
a
little
bit
of
a
formality
going
through
this
process,
but
it's
helpful
to
always
understand
what
these
funds
will
be
used.
For.
Last
week
we
held
a
hearing
around
the
physical
and
mental
health
and
well-being
of
our
first
responders,
so
I
think
that
this
grant
certainly
fits
into
our
desire
to
make
sure
that
our
first
responders
have
access
to
high-quality
programs,
and
certainly
when
we
have
external
funds
to
do
that
even
better.
D
B
E
Thank
you.
Counselor
arroyo
just
want
to
echo
what
my
colleague
counselor
sabe
george
said.
This
is
an
important
hearing.
It's
important
that
we
provide
our
first
responders
with
the
best
programming
services,
help
that
we
possibly
can
they're
doing
they're
doing
an
outstanding
job
for
our
city
for
our
residents
under
the
most
difficult
circumstances.
E
I
also
wanted
to
highlight
after
this
pandemic
is
over.
You
know
I
consider
this
our
first
responders
they're
gonna
be
dealing
with
a
lot
of
challenges
such
as
mental
health
following
this
pandemic
because
of
the
stress
that
they've
been
placed
in
in
their
families
as
well,
it's
similar
to
coming
off
a
military
deployment.
E
We
need
to
make
sure
that
we
have
the
services
programs
healthcare
available
to
our
first
responders
and
their
families.
That
is
going
to
be
a
critical
part
of
of
city
government,
going
forward
making
sure
we're
there
for
our
city
employees,
because
our
city
employees
have
always
been
there
for
us
under
the
most
very
difficult
circumstances
and
challenges.
So,
thank
you,
council
arroyo
and
thank
you
to
the
dedicated
pianos
that
are
here,
and
I
see
my
my
neighbor
from
south
boston,
mr
miller,
as
well
so
good
to
be
with
everybody.
B
Thank
you
so
much
councilor
flynn.
I
think
this
might
be
a
relatively
short
hearing.
The
only
question
that
I
have
for
the
panel
are
there's
two
really
one
just
for
the
public
where's
the
money
coming
from,
and
then
the
second
one
is
how
how
will
the
money
be
used
and
that's
that's
really
it
and
thank
you
for
being
here
today.
C
I
well
I
can
take
that
to
stop
if
that
works,
but
so
you
know
first
just
thank
you
to
the
counselors
for
giving
us
the
opportunity
to
share
our
grant
program
with
you.
You
know
this
is
a
grant
that's
from
samhsa,
so
it's
federal
public
health
agency,
it's
a
four-year
grant.
This
is
this
hearings
for
year
three
out
of
four,
so
we're
halfway
done.
C
Experts
in
this
space,
so
they're
huge
and
then
obviously
bpd
and
ems
as
well,
and
so
it's
this
is
really
a
joint
effort,
and
so
you
know
just
wanted
to
give
them
credit
too.
Samsa
has
three
goals
with
this
grant
three
mandates
really,
so
it's
increased
access
to
recovery,
services
for
families
and
individuals,
suffering
from
substance
use,
disorder,
big
part
of
the
grant,
is
it's
a
narcan
grant,
so
we're
charged
with
providing
narcan
and
distributing
narcan
to
our
first
responder
partners.
C
So
we've
done
that
the
past
couple
of
years
and
then
the
final
piece
is
just
really
enhancing
collaboration
and
in
coordination
with
these
other
city
agencies
and
other
organizations
in
the
space
across
the
city.
So
you
know
in
the
past,
since
the
last
few
years,
like
the
traditional
roles
of
first
responders,
has
obviously
changed
due
to
the
epidemic.
C
So
this
grant
was
an
opportunity
for
the
fire
department
to
get
involved
more
than
we
already
were,
and
so
we
have
many
activities
that
we
we
are
doing
now,
that
will
have
done
in
the
past
two
years
and
I'm
looking
forward
to
do
doing
in
year.
Three,
so
I
can
talk
as
much
or
you
know
as
little
about
each,
but
you
know
basically
there's
a
lot
that
we're
doing
a
lot
that
we're
proud
of
and
thankful
to
have
this
money.
B
B
B
That's
that's
perfect,
thank
you
so
much
and-
and
I
think
that
is
a
credit
to
our
boston
fire
department
that
we
are
who
was
selected
for
this
grant
with
that,
I'm
going
to
allow
for
the
counselors
who
are
president
if
they
have
any
questions
and
I'll
go
by
order
of
arrival.
Counselor
savvy
george,
if
you
have
any
questions.
D
C
C
We
supported
the
rollout
to
the
city
bit
the
marks
on
the
city
buildings,
so
we
bought
all
those
kits
and
helped
mount
them
in
the
city
buildings,
most
recently
the
libraries
and
city
hall
and
then
yes,
the
grant
funds
a
couple
of
different
activities,
our
knock
and
talk
program.
So
it's
a
partnership
between
public
health
and
us
where
we're
in
bpd,
where
we're,
following
up
after
an
overdose
at
the
homes
and
trying
to
get
resources
in
those
individuals,
help
and
treatment.
C
C
It's
an
alternative
response
vehicle
here
down
at
headquarters
that
responds
to
medical
calls
in
the
mass
cast
area,
and
that
was
a
three
three-month
pilot
program
that
was
hugely
successful.
We're
hoping
to
use
funds
for
this
year
to
ramp
that
back
up
in
the
in
the
summertime
when
the
weather
is
nicer.
As
we
know,
trends
indicate
outdoor
overdoses
are
a
lot
higher
when
the
weather's
nicer
right,
and
so
we've
had
to
scale
that
down
since
the
summer
and
ramp
back
up
our
knock
and
talk
efforts
as
we
expect
residential
overdoses
to
to
grow.
C
And
then
another
just
program
that
I
wanted
to
highlight
is
our
partnership
with
paths
bphe's
24,
7,
referral
center,
our
recovery
coaches.
Twice
a
week,
we
identified
a
gap
in
being
able
to
transport
individuals
to
detox
from
paths
they
have
one
van
and
they
have
taxi
vouchers
and
especially
with
the
taxi
vouchers
that
they
they
provide.
It's
not
always
a
warm
handoff
from
one
service
provider
to
another.
So
now
we
provide
a
van.
We
provide
two
recovery
coaches
twice
a
week
that
helps
transport
individuals
into
treatment
and
then,
during.
B
C
You
know
so
that
through
that,
since
that
started
like
75
people
with
help
placing
the
treatment
and
a
handful
of
folks
have
actually
followed
up
with
our
recovery
coaches
after
they
finished
detox
for
help
to
get
into
the
next
phase
of
of
recovery
housing.
So
we're
very
proud
of
that
too.
So
that's
a
couple
activities
that
we're
doing
that
the
year
three
we're
looking
to
build
upon.
C
Yeah,
so
I
the
so
year
one
we
did
about
thirty,
which
was
multidisciplinary
police
fire
ems,
some
folks
from
paths
even
had
an
individual
from
the
gavin
foundation
this
year
to
sort
of
scale
up
with
paths,
transportation
and
delta
being
new.
We
focus
just
on
in-house
and
we're
able
to
train
22
firefighters,
bringing
our
capacity
to
40
across
the
department
and
so
in
year.
Three
yeah
we're
definitely
looking
to
diversify
and
use
funds
to
kind
of
help
get
especially
the
folks
like
from
squad
80
and
street
outreach
team.
D
E
I
just
wanted
to
highlight
one
one
issue
is
we
we
often
read
about,
or
we
often
hear
stories
about,
city
employees,
but
I
I
sometimes
wish
we
would
hear
the
positive
stories
about
the
dedicated
work
of
our
city
workforce.
They
do
every
day
it
doesn't
get
recognized.
It
often
is
not
appreciated
or
unknown,
but
you
just
explained
a
tremendous
program
aim
and
that's
saving
lives
of
people
almost
every
single
day
and
that's
incredible.
That's
what
city
government
is
all
about
is
providing
those
types
of
services.
E
It's
the
boston,
place,
the
boston
fire
department
and
the
public
health
public
health
commission,
that
is,
that
are
doing
exceptional
work
under
the
most
difficult
times
in
our
city
and
country.
So
I
just
want
to
say
thank
you
to
the
fire
department
team,
the
police
team
and
the
public
public
health
officials
as
well
keep
up
the
good
work.
Thank
you,
council
arroyo.
E
B
F
Yeah,
thank
you
so
much,
mr
chair,
for
hosting
this
hearing.
I
just
have
a
few
questions
and
also
to
the
departments
who
are
here
great
work.
I
I
just
I'm
curious
about.
I
know
that
it
says
it's
a
collaborative
effort
between
fire
department,
the
boston
public,
health,
commission
and
ors.
Can
you
talk
a
little
bit
about
what
the
collaboration
looks
like?
How
are
you
all
getting
together
to
talk
through
how
this
grant
would
be
administered,
and
then
I'm
also
curious
as
to
who
else
is
at
the
table?
F
There
are
a
lot
of
great
organizations
and
groups
that
are
out
here
doing
work
directly
out
in
the
streets
to
address
substance,
use
disorder,
and
I'm
wondering
how
are
they
part
of
this
conversation?
And
the
last
thing
is
always.
You
know
I
always
got
to
ask
about
cultural
competency
and
language
access,
and
how
are
you
all
thinking
about
these
funds
to
ensure
that
we're
looking
at
these?
You
know
the
services
and
the
valuables
through
a
culturally
competent
lens
and
as
well
as
being
able
to
do
so
in
multiple
languages.
C
C
C
C
So,
as
you
know,
we
meet,
you
know
once
a
week
to
talk
about
issues
in
mass
cast,
but
also
that
just
lends
itself
to
discussions
across
the
city.
So
that's
where
we
coordinate,
we
also
have
you
know.
I
have
weekly
check-ins
with
jen
tracy
and
devin
locke
and
their
team.
You
know
about
any
sort
of
issues
going
on
in
the
space.
Like
I
said
in
the
beginning
in
my
remarks:
they're
the
subject
matter
experts,
so
we
really
follow
their
lead.
C
We
also
have
a
weekly
meeting
with
our
post
overdose
response
team.
So
that's
all
about
you
know:
police,
fire,
public
health,
harm
reductions,
specialists
from
public
health,
we're
coordinating
our
effort
on
where
to
go
and
what
addresses
we're
going
to
visit
that
week.
So
there
is
a
lot
of
coordination
happening
in
terms
of
partners.
Yes,
you
know,
I
think,
that's
room
for
us
to
grow
in
terms
of
the
non-profit
space
and
who
we
can
work
with
more
closely.
C
One
thing
that
I'm
looking
into
now
in
year,
three
is
we
do
distribute
naloxone
to
first
responders
and
off
the
office
and
recovery
services,
but
I'm
trying
to
see
if
it's
allowable
within
the
federal
guidelines,
of
the
grant
to
be
able
to
set
up
a
request
program
for
naloxone
from
some
of
our
non-profit
partners
where
they
could.
We
would
set
up
an
mou
with
them
and
then
they
could
request
naloxone
from
us
directly
and
we
could
provide
the
naloxone
and
any
training
that
they
needed.
C
So
that's
something
that
we're
looking
for
forward
to
this
year
with
the
funds
and
then,
lastly,
definitely
cultural
competencies.
Obviously
a
huge
part
of
this.
Our
recovery
coaches
are
trained
through
c
car.
So
it's
a
national,
nationally
recognized
recovery,
coach
training
academy,
it's
a
week-long
sort
of
retreat
environment
workshop.
If
you
will
and
there's
a
whole
unit,
it's
a
whole
day
of
training.
C
I
was
talking
with
our
counterparts
in
new
hampshire,
their
ems
has
this
grant
and
they
just
rolled
out
a
whole
cultural
competency,
training
for
their
grantees,
and
so
she
was
able
to
send
me
a
lot
of
their
documents,
so
we're
looking
at
that
now
and
potentially
setting
one
up
using
their
templates
in
you
know
in
year,
three
and
then
lastly,
the
language
piece.
Yes,
we
in
year,
one
we
translate
all
of
our
documents
that
we
leave
behind
at
the
our
team,
our
post
overdose
response
team.
C
We
translate
into
seven
different
languages,
so
we
have
those
available
so
that
the
people
with
language
barriers
did
have
access
to
the
information
we
one
of
our
members
of
the
team
speaks
fluent
spanish,
so
she's
providing
interpretation
services
at
times,
and
then
we
just
updated
these
materials
again.
So
we're
gonna
have
to
re
like
with
city,
branding
and
stuff
like
that,
so
this
year,
we'll
translate
them
yet
again
into
different
languages,
so
that
we're
ensuring
that
people
are
getting
the
information
they
need.
B
D
D
I've
done
this
with
ems
and
with
bpd
outreach,
but
that
the
three
groups,
especially
are
coordinating
services
to
avoid
duplication
of
services,
so
that
you
know
we're
not
knocking
on
the
same
door
repeatedly
that
we
are
spreading
out
sort
of
our
resources
so
that
we're
touching
more
residents
who
are
in
need
of
additional
services.
But
just
thank
you
for
your
work
and
thank
you
for
your.
D
You
know:
continued
sort
of
management
and
in
creativity
in
this
effort
using
these
funds-
and
you
know,
although,
where
you're
halfway
through
you
know,
you've
done
the
two
years.
You've
got
two
more
ahead
in
this
grant.
I
hope
that
there's
a
continual
effort
to
seek
out
more
resources,
for
you
know
years,
five,
six
and
beyond
so,
but
thank
you,
mr
chair.
I
am
all
done.
B
F
F
F
F
Okay:
okay,
sorry,
I'm
just
curious,
really
quick
in
terms
of
just
any
way
that
there,
if
there
is
already
a
system
in
place
in
terms
of
just
kind
of
accountability,
in
terms
of
like
what
your
goals
and
deliverables
are
for
this
grant
and
how
you're
making
progress
is
that
information
anywhere
that
we
can
just
kind
of
keep
you
know
up
to
date
with?
Is
that
part
of?
C
Yeah
definitely
great
question
so
as
required
by
the
grant.
We
have
manual
progress
reports
that
we
have
to
submit.
So
we
definitely
can
you
know
I'm
happy
to
send
those
along.
We
also
have
we're
required
to
have
a
program
evaluation,
so
we
have
two
evaluations
completed
now.
I'm
definitely
happy
to
share
that,
and
then
I
have
some
other
literature
that'll,
be
you
know,
high-level
summaries
of
stuff
that
I'm
happy
to
share
that
with
your
office.
F
C
C
You
know
whether
it
be
an
apartment
number
or
something
like
that,
but
we've
played
with
going
out
doing
our
post
overalls
response
different
days
different
times
during
the
week
to
try
to
get
better
engagement
numbers
up.
So
it's
definitely
a
fluid
program
where
we're
constantly
trying
to
try
different
things
to
ensure
that
we're
successful,
but
that's
just
an
example.