Location: This position is based out of Amesbury, MA. It provides services to the municipalities that comprise the Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance - Amesbury, Merrimac, Groveland, Georgetown, Newbury, Rowley, and West Newbury.

Reports To: Works under the policy direction of the MVPHA Advisory Board.

Caveat: This position is grant-funded and is subject to appropriation under the Massachusetts Public Health Excellence Grant for Shared Services, Department of Public Health. This is not a union position.

Salary: $75,000

The Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance (MVPHA) is a regional resource created to enhance the public health offerings of its member communities and deliver efficient, effective, and equitable public health services to its 330,000 residents. This position is part of a Public Health Excellence Grant between the towns of Merrimac, Groveland, Georgetown, Newbury, Rowley, and West Newbury and the city of Amesbury. This is a grant-funded opportunity and is subject to the availability of funds. This position is administered by the City of Amesbury, however the work will take place across the seven municipalities and the work location is expected to be a combination of remote and distributed across the municipalities.

Employer: The City of Amesbury

Definition: Public health nursing is a specialty practice within nursing and public health. It focuses on improving population health by emphasizing prevention and the social determinants of health. This position is responsible for administering and implementing Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance’s public health nursing functions including but not limited to planning and implementing interventions to support the health of residents, facilitating collaboration across the municipalities, conducting public health clinics, educational programs, and communicable disease investigations, providing referrals, and administering immunizations throughout the communities of the regional collaborative. Additional duties may include: participating in and directing population health-focused emergency preparedness, coordinating childhood vaccination protocols, supporting local health agents with mental health cases, assisting citizens with navigating the Massachusetts health care system while getting appropriate care and supporting home visits.

Duties: Merrimack Valley Public Health Alliance Under the general direction of the Director of Inspectional Services, the Regional Public Health Nurse will perform the following duties:

● Health Education, Health Fairs, and Referrals: Uses data on community health needs to provide health education, promote optimal health, and prevent disease. Presents health education programs in schools and/or community organizations as needed. Instructs in prevention and care of a wide variety of health problems. Provides education, information, support, and guidance to client/family/community, and makes appropriate referrals based on findings.

○ Designs, organizes, and leads community educational events, health fairs, and trainings on public health topics including, but not limited to, harm reduction, substance use prevention, maternal and child health, and community health literacy.

○ Collaborates with MVPHA regional staff and individual municipal employees as needed for health education and prevention programs.

○ Infectious Disease/Immunizations: The PHN develops and engages in educational and outreach activities and programs to promote increased immunization coverage, awareness of vaccine-preventable diseases, chronic and communicable disease prevention, and community public health.

● Public Health Nursing Program Activities: Performs professional public health nursing services focusing on prevention including communicable disease investigations, infectious disease control, tuberculosis, immunizations, and primary care. May provide emergency preparedness services and other services.

○ Infectious Disease: Provides tuberculosis control, other communicable disease investigation, vaccination clinics, and deals with emerging public health issues. Conducts risk assessments, performs screening tests, and administers treatment per protocol.

○ Provides blood pressure and cholesterol screenings at health fairs and/or nursing office hours

○ Utilizes the state-wide MAVEN system to report surveillance data of communicable diseases and provide MAVEN support for MVPHA communities as needed

○ Provides flu clinic surge support for MVPHA communities as needed

○ Assists with regional Tuberculosis surveillance coverage, performs TB testing as needed, and/or provides information on how to obtain testing through the state

● Regional Support and Task Forces: Collaborates with the Regional Inspector on regional and community task forces, specifically around compulsive acquiring and hoarding.

○ Identifies the need for additional regional groups and works with regional staff to establish them.

○ Will have the ability to identify hoarding symptoms in early stages and provide support.

○ Provide mental health services and work with regional staff to support residents.

○ Builds relationships and drives collaboration with community organizations, strategic partners, and other stakeholders throughout the MVPHA shared service arrangement.

○ Collaborates with other municipal departments, such as the Council on Aging and Police and Fire departments, as needed.

● Infrastructure: Collaborates with other MVPHA shared staff to establish regional policies and procedures related to the functioning of the Alliance and addressing regional community health issues.