Danbury eyes new health services facility
DANBURY — With the coronavirus pandemic bringing health to the forefront, the city looks to open a building downtown for the public to access health services more easily.
“Really, the goal is to give the health department the room they need to provide the services they provide in a clean environment people can either walk to or drive through,” Mayor Dean Esposito said.
The city is exploring a couple of potential locations, including buildings that have a drive-thru, in the city center and Main Street area that would be close to public transportation and easy for pedestrians to reach, he said. Among the services the city’s health department could provide there are COVID-19 testing and vaccinations.
“We’re looking for a space that we could accommodate COVID testing and vaccinations, not just for COVID, but childhood vaccines, travel vaccines, influenza, any of those programs,” said Kara Prunty, the city’s health director.
The building would allow the health department to bring back programs its outsourced, offer school physicals and allow training space for public health volunteers, the Medical Reserve Corps and the Community Emergency Response Team, she said.
“We have a lot of programs that we
would like to implement and expand upon,” she said.
Esposito doesn’t have a cost estimate for the project or a building size in mind. The layout still needs to be designed. He plans to evaluate that with Prunty.
“I want to make sure it’s adequate for the future as well,” he said. “We’re forward thinking on that, as well.”
He’s not sure when the building would open. That depends, in part, on funding.
“I got to tell you, in my mind, it’s as soon as possible,” Esposito said.
The project could be paid for through means like the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding, which was intended to help local communities to recover from COVID, he said. The city is “actively” looking for grants for the project, he said.
At least one staff member would likely stay in the health department’s existing office in City Hall for easier access to the Permit Center. The health department is in charge of activities like well and sewage system permits, in addition to community health. The rest of the office space would be divided up by other departments in City Hall.
Danbury’s health department offered COVID vaccinations out of Rogers Park Middle School for several months after the vaccine was approved. Since then, the department has worked with partners to offer testing and vaccinations in the community. Most recently, the department has coordinated with the Connecticut Institute for Communities to offer vaccines for young children out of CIFC’s facility.
“Through this COVID, they’ve stepped up their services,” Esposito said of the health department.
“They’ve increased their staff.”
The health department has about 22 full-time employees and at least another 20 to 25 part-time staffers, Prunty said. Some employees are paid through grant funding, which goes until 2023, she said. She, the mayor and finance director have been working to develop a long-term budget plan for staffing.
Many employees have been out in the field, rather than in City Hall during COVID, Esposito said.
“They’ve been out on the road almost every day,” he said. “They're out doing the testing and overseeing the vaccinations, so they’re really out and about most of the time.”
Contract tracers for COVID-19 work off site, but could be brought into the new building.
“Having them in-house would be a huge help,” Prunty said.
The city is facing another wave of COVID cases this December, but officials are already worried about another pandemic.
“Obviously, we have to prepare for the future because God forbid something like this happens again,” Esposito said.