Massachusetts Boards of Health Aid Package
Good morning Boards of Health,
As part of a $15 million aid package allotted by the Legislature last week, the Department of Health and Human Services has informed us there is substantial funding dedicated to cities and towns to help with their response to this public health emergency.
CMRPC is the designated regional entity for distributing these funds In Health and Medical Coordinating Coalition (HMCC) Region 2, which covers central Massachusetts. We will be coordinating with the following “unaffiliated” communities to assess need and allocate funding:
Map of CMRPC Assisted communities (also listed below)
Auburn
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Barre
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Blackstone
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Boylston
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Brookfield
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Charlton
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Douglas
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Dudley
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East Brookfield
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Hardwick
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Hopedale
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Mendon
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Millville
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New Braintree
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North Brookfield
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Northborough
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Northbridge
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Oakham
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Oxford
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Paxton
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Rutland
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Southbridge
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Spencer
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Sturbridge
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Sutton
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Upton
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Uxbridge
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Warren
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Webster
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West Brookfield
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Westborough
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Bellingham
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Franklin
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Medway
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Milford
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Petersham
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Phillipston
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Brimfield
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Holland
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Wales
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The money is being distributed first to the 14 largest cities in the Commonwealth and through the 15 existing health districts known to DPH, including the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, Montachusett Regional Public Health District, Central MA Regional Public Health District here in Worcester County. "Unaffiliated" municipalities, i.e., those who don't fall into either of those two categories, are being assigned to various regional entities for funding purposes, including several regional planning agencies, MHOA and MAHB.
The money is supposed to be for things like extra nursing capacity and expenses related to quarantine and isolation, but I also encourage you to think outside the box about what costs your municipality is incurring related to COVID-19. At this point, we are asking for a very high-level summary of your budgetary needs in response to COVID-19. We were given just 24 hours to aggregate responses and funnel them to the DPH on needed funds so we can cut checks as quickly as possible. Please complete this survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BQBX88W by 4pm today, March 18. From what we’ve been told, it is very likely there will be another round of funding in the future.
Please see the attached MEMA Situation Update for more information. If you have questions, please reach out to Janet Pierce at jpierce@cmrpc.org. Leave a phone number in your email and we will call you back to answer questions to the best of our ability.
Thank you
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