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The police department in Springfield, Massachusetts and the city’s health department are looking to share information they hope could prevent opioid deaths.
If public health department professionals could get the names and home addresses of people who have survived drug overdoses from the police, they could do outreach with referrals to treatment and counseling programs and supply family members with overdose reversal medications, perhaps saving countless lives.
But laws that protect the privacy of people who interact with the police and the healthcare system stand in the way of such a simple exchange of information.
Nonetheless discussions are underway to see if there is a legal avenue for collaboration, according to Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris.
‘Has he ever been here?’: Tucker Carlson’s description of Springfield doesn’t mesh with reality, residents and officials say
Updated Feb 26, 2021;
Posted Feb 26, 2021
Fox News host Tucker Carlson referred to Springfield, Massachusetts, as a place famous for burned-out buildings and murders during his Thursday night broadcast. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)Getty Images
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Fox News’ Tucker Carlson whose on-air statements a court determined shouldn’t be viewed as facts opened Thursday night’s show smearing Springfield in a story about cultural friction at Smith College in Northampton.
“One place is famous for burned-out buildings and murders,” Carlson said, according to a transcript of the show. “The other has wrought-iron gates and a nationally known art museum on campus.
Reminder Publishing photo by G. Michael Dobbs
SPRINGFIELD – The ongoing issue of whether or not a bio-mass plant should exist in Springfield near the Chicopee border received renewed attention last week with Sen. Edward Markey coming to Springfield to announce his support for efforts to prevent its opening.
City Councilor Jesse Lederman, who has long advocated against the plant proposed by Palmer Paving at its Page Boulevard property, reached out to Markey who was here in the region visiting the Holyoke Soldiers Home on Feb. 18.
Lederman, accompanied by fellow colleagues on the City Council including Tim Allen and Michael Fenton, was joined by state Sens. Adam Gomez and Eric Lesser as well as neighborhood residents and members of The Springfield Climate Justice Coalition (SCJC).
Are smaller vaccination sites the key to reaching residents within Massachusetts’ urban centers?
Updated Feb 13, 2021;
Posted Feb 13, 2021
One of the 10 National Guards m edical personel stands outside the doors at the Eastfield Mall vaccination site. (Douglas Hook / MassLive)
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As the vaccine slowly drips through to municipalities across the state, city leaders look at where they could open their own sites for residents.
Springfield houses the only super vaccination site west of Worcester at the Eastfield Mall, which has seen problems with understaffing and overbooking for the Pfizer-BioNTech dose. On Feb. 1, people 75 years old and over were able to book a vaccine at sites across the state. With a limited number of appointments statewide, officials question how many city residents are getting vaccinated at the site.