DEPT OF HEALTH/MENTAL HYGIENE
ONLY PERMANENT EMPLOYEES IN THE TITLE AND THOSE THAT ARE REACHABLE ON THE PUBLIC HEALTH ADVISER CIVIL SERVICE LIST ARE ELIGIBLE TO APPLY.
AGENCY DESCRIPTION
Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.
As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.
Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:
1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems
2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods
3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness
4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health
5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change
Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.
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The Bureau of Hepatitis, HIV, and Sexually Transmitted Infections (BHHS) oversees the City’s response to viral hepatitis, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Its mission is to improve the lives of New Yorkers by ending transmission, illness, stigma, and inequities related to viral hepatitis, HIV, and STIs. The ACE (Assess. Connect. Engage.) Team oversees the City’s response to HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and viral hepatitis, including testing initiatives; prevention, care, and treatment programming; epidemiology and surveillance; training and technical assistance; community engagement; social marketing; policy advocacy; and racial equity and social justice initiatives. BHHS works to end viral hepatitis, HIV, and STIs in New York City using an approach that is strengths-based, community-driven, an intersectional, accounting for how factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, sex, and socioeconomic status, among others, come together to impact public health.
This position will be supported by funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, earmarked for Disease Intervention Specialists (DIS) Workforce Development. Over the next 4 years, this grant aims to hire, expand, train, sustain, and support DIS to strengthen the capacity of public health departments to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other infections such as sexually transmitted infections including HIV, viral hepatitis, and tuberculosis, and to prepare for future public health challenges. This position involves conducting confidential disease investigation and disease intervention activities for persons diagnosed with, exposed to, or at risk of acquiring HIV and certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Providing education and training to providers and community groups; monitor disease trends; assist with research and evaluation to improve sexual health and wellness.
Duties will include but not be limited to:
– Interview HIV-diagnosed persons to elicit HIV-exposed partners, locate and notify partners, and administer HIV rapid testing in mobile settings to notified partners.
– Engage HIV-diagnosed persons and their partners with HIV prevention and ancillary services. Link HIV-negative partners to PrEP providers for evaluation and counseling.
– Gather relevant medical (symptoms, treatment, etc.), demographic, and behavioral information from: diagnosing provider, historical health department records, Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIO), etc.
– Use HIV transmission network data to identify and reach out to not in care persons, including contact tracing. Connect persons who are not in HIV care with HIV clinical care providers.
– Document case investigation activities in electronic case investigation form (eCIF).
– Educate providers about reporting requirements, up-to-date treatment, and screening recommendations.
– Participate in the Incident Command System to support emergency response needs as requested; attend all emergency response and ICS trainings.
– Serve in an activated role reassigned to COVID-19 work within Surveillance/Epidemiology or Clinical Operations groups. including but not limited to COVID-19 related investigations.
– Conduct patient and provider interview, medical record review of COVID-19 diagnosed persons to fulfill surveillance and case investigation data requirements.
– Conduct COVID-19 contact tracing and notification efforts. Administer and facilitate COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION **IMPORTANT NOTES TO ALL CANDIDATES**
Please note: If you are called for an interview, you will be required to bring to your interview copies of original documentation, such as:
– A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: A Valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver’s license.
– Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.
– Current Resume
– Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e., telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)
Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting’s “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples of additional documentation may be, but not limited to college transcript, experience verification or professional trade licenses.
If after your interview you are the selected candidate, you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment. By the time of this appointment, you will be asked to produce the originals of the above documents along with your original Social Security card.
“FINAL APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET APPROVAL”
TO APPLY
Apply online with a cover letter to https://a127-jobs.nyc.gov/. In the Job ID search bar, enter job ID number.
We appreciate the interest and thank all applicants who apply, but only those candidates under consideration will be contacted.
The NYC Health Department is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and culturally responsive workforce. We strongly encourage people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender and gender non-conforming persons to apply.
All applicants will be considered without regard to actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, age, prior record of arrest; or any other basis prohibited by law.
Minimum Qualifications
1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, including or supplemented by twelve semester credits in health education, or in health, social or biological sciences; or
2. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college, and six months of full-time satisfactory experience in a health promotion or disease intervention/prevention program, performing one or more of the following: interviewing, conducting field investigations, assessing health risks, making referrals, or collecting and analyzing epidemiological data; or
3. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, and four years of full-time satisfactory experience as described in “2” above; or
4. Education and/or experience equivalent to “1”, “2” or “3” above. Undergraduate college credit can be substituted for experience on the basis of 30 semester credits from an accredited college for one year of full-time experience. However, all candidates must have a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, and either twelve semester credits as described in “1” above or six months of experience as described in “2” above.
Additional Requirements
A. To be assigned to Assignment Level II, candidates must have, in addition to meeting the minimum qualification requirements listed above, at least one year of experience as a Public Health Adviser, Assignment Level I, or at least one additional year of experience as described in Qualification Requirement “2” above.
Preferred Skills
– Patient interview, contact tracing/partner notification, medical record review, and community outreach experience. – Excellent written and oral communication. – Fluent English and either Spanish or French/Creole preferred. – NYS Driver’s License highly desirable must be able to work alternative hours (evening and weekends).
55a Program
This position is also open to qualified persons with a disability who are eligible for the 55-a Program. Please indicate at the top of your resume and cover letter that you would like to be considered for the position through the 55-a Program.
Public Service Loan Forgiveness
As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at https://studentaid.gov/pslf/.
Residency Requirement
New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.
Additional Information
The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual’s sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.
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