BALTIMORE — Baltimore City Health Department will use a new $8.4 million grant from the CDC to hire at least 12 new employees and create a new electronic health-records system, over the next five years.
The department currently has 740 active employees.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded the grant Dec. 1 as part of a $3.2 billion package to help jurisdictions nationwide strengthen their public health workforce and infrastructure, said the health department in a press release today.
Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said in a statement that the pandemic put massive strain on the department, as it was one of the few city agencies working without interruption, which led to burnout throughout the department.
She said:
“These new positions will support our ability to provide training and professional development for our staff and create a healthy and supportive work environment for team members who have given their all to public health over the past almost three years."
The health department will use the funds to hire more administrative staff as well as other staff members, retain its current workforce and boost morale agency-wide. The grant will also go toward creating "an unprecedented investment" in the department's infrastructure by creating a new Electronic Health Records application that will give "seamless access" to records from other health systems, as well as other technical improvements.
