Our Work

Here at the Office of Public Health Preparedness, our work focuses on:

  • Improving health outcomes of the whole community, particularly the most vulnerable, after emergencies.
  • Working to ensure equitable access to health and human services during and after emergencies.

Our goals:

Increase the Boston Public Health Commission’s capacity to manage small and large-scale incidents impacting our operations. 

Flu Clinic operations, 2009
BPHC’s more than 40 programs play a critical role in carrying out the mission of protecting, preserving, and promoting the health and well-being of all Boston residents, particularly the most vulnerable. At OPHP, our goal is to ensure these programs have the capacity to continue providing vital health, human, and social services to our residents during and after emergencies.

Respond to emergencies impacting the health of the City.

MIC Operations during the fourth of July, 2015
We lead the coordination of Boston’s public health and healthcare agencies through our Stephen M. Lawlor Medical Intelligence Center during a response to emergencies impacting the health of the City, with a focus on ensuring equitable delivery of services to our residents. We work to ensure multi-agency plans, partnerships, and trainings are in place to help us meet this goal.

Increase the City of Boston’s ability to achieve optimum health after disasters.

Emergency outreach for flu, 2013

If a disaster or large-scale emergency strikes the City of Boston, we would immediately activate response plans to meet the needs of the community. From the first day, BPHC would also need to take steps to ensure we can “build back better.” Our focus is to re-establish vital health and social services to the community while also improving organizational and community resilience.

Strengthen the community resilience of Boston. 
Logos
All residents, businesses, neighborhoods, social groups, and agencies are part of the community of Boston. We work to strengthen resilience within and across these partners by providing education and engagement opportunities, facilitating networking and connections among partners, and providing technical assistance to build skills and plans for organizations and individuals through our Get Ready, Be Safe, Stay Healthy program. This work also includes managing the Boston Medical Reserve Corps and serving as the Sponsoring Organization for the Boston Healthcare Preparedness Coalition.

Improve our internal infrastructure to maximize efficiency and promote innovation in the field of Public Health Preparedness. 
EID Session 1
We are dedicated to improving our internal capacity to accomplish our goals. In addition, we strive to serve as thought leaders in the field of Public Health Preparedness. We participate in local, state, and national forums to help shape public health preparedness policies and guidance and to ensure the needs of Boston’s residents are represented.
OPHP Year in Review

Year in Review
Take a look at our Year in Review for a quick summary of our accomplishments in FY 2018.

Funding

Learn more about our funding.
Last modified: Thursday, April 29, 2021, 3:44 AM