And the Good morning.

For the record, my name's Ben Weber.

I'm the district six city counselor and the chair of the Ways and Means Committee.

Today is May 21st, 2026, and the exact time is ten fifteen AM.

Apologize for the late start.

So I have a few preliminary things to go through, and then we're going to have a presentation from the panel and then questions from my colleagues.gov slash city dash council-tv and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN Channel 82, and FIOS channel nine sixty-four.

The council's budget review process encompasses a series of public hearings that begin in April and run through June.

First, for a full hearing schedule, please look at our website, Boston.gov slash council dash budget.

You can give public testimony by attending any one of our hearings.

If you are looking to testify virtually, please uh you can sign up using the online form on our council budget review website, or by emailing the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov, or by emailing Karishma Choan at K A R I S H M A.

C H O U H A N at Boston.gov.

Yeah, once you're called on, you'll have two minutes to testify.

Uh please tell us your name, uh uh where you live in the city and if you're with an organization, your affiliation, and uh you'll again have two minutes to make comments.

Um, in uh you can also testify in person or virtually at the fourth of four of our listening sessions.

Our last one will be Tuesday, May twenty sixth here in the chamber at six p.m.

Again, you can testify at that hearing in person or virtually.

Uh, in lieu of testifying at one of the hearings, you can email written testimony to the committee at ccc.wm at Boston.gov.

You can also submit a two-minute video of your testimony through the form on our website.

For more information on the city council budget process and how to testify, please visit the city council's budget website at Boston.gov slash counsel dash budget.

Uh, in-person testimony again, will be taken following the first round of counselor questions, and in each person will be given two minutes to testify.

Uh, if you again, if you're online and looking to for a Zoom link, you can get one uh by emailing our director of legislative budget analysis, Karishma, at K A R ISHMA.

C H O U H A N at Boston.gov for the zoom link, and your name will be added to the list.

This morning's hearing is on docket number zero seven three three to 0740, an overview of the fiscal year 2027 operating budget for the Boston Public Health Commission.

This hearing, this morning's hearing will cover topics including the uh BPHC uh BPHC overview, emergency medical services, recovery services, and homeless services.

This is one in a series of hearings to review the fiscal year 27 budget.

This afternoon, we'll be hearing from uh the Boston Public Health Commission, where we'll be covering the topics of infectious disease, child adolescent and family health, violence prevention, and behavioral health and wellness.

So if your questions are on those topics, uh we can save those for the afternoon.

Uh again, that hearing is starting at three.

Uh usually started two.

We started three uh advocates, I think wanted to come and and speak, and so I really want to thank BPHC for being accommodating to that.

It really helps us uh, you know, um do our jobs.

Uh so these matters were sponsored by Mayor Michelle Wu and referred to the committee on April 8th, 2026.

This morning I'm joined by my colleagues Norva Arrival.

We have Councillor Flynn and Councillor Braden.

We've received letters of absence from Councillor Santana and Counselor Louis Gen.

I believe we may also have questions submitted by uh Councillor Coletta Zapata, who gets special dispensation for being on maternity leave.

I will read her questions for you to answer if I receive them.

That is not, unless somebody is on maternity leave or paternity leave.

I am not extending that invitation to any of my colleagues, so don't get any ideas.

Um so I'm just gonna introduce the panel and then hand things over.

Uh we're joined this morning by the Chief of Public, uh, the Chief of Public Health Commission.

Uh I don't know if I got that right.

Uh Dr.

Basola Ojikutu.

Uh, we're joined by the Public Health Commission budget director, Chris Valdez, and we're joined by the Chief of Emergency Medical Services and my constituent, Jim Hooley.

Uh, nice to see you.

Uh, and uh, I believe you're my constituent.

If I do I have that wrong, maybe I have increasing 14.

Yeah, I think that's me.

But if you were in Pepin's district, you're now in mine.

So, thank you very much.

It's really nice to see everyone.

If you have a presentation, the floor is now yours.

Great, good morning, Chair Weber and distinguished counselors.

I'm honored to be here today before you on behalf of the Boston Public Health Commission and our over 1400 dedicated employees who are working every day to build a healthier Boston.

For the record, my name is Dr.

Vasola Ojikutu.

I am the Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston and the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission.

This morning, I'll be providing an overview of the Commission's work and detailing some of our accomplishments over the past fiscal year, specifically focused on the areas of recovery services and homeless services.

I will also provide an overview of Live Long and Well, our city's first population health equity agenda, which is focused on closing gaps in life expectancy in our city.

I am joined by our budget director, Christopher Valdez, who will discuss details of our FY27 recommended budget.

Then I'll have the answer, I'll have the honor of passing it over to Chief Hooley of Boston EMS so that you can hear more about the many accomplishments of Boston EMS, which is one of the Boston Public Health Commission's six bureaus and a key partner in our efforts to protect and promote the health and well-being of Boston residents.

During this afternoon's hearing, I will provide uh further details on our work relating to infectious diseases, child adolescent family health, violence prevention, and behavioral health and wellness.

So this was a year of many challenges.

Public health has been under significant threat from the federal government, and we have faced national debates about the efficacy of vaccines, decreased support for populations who've been made vulnerable, challenges to DEI, and certainly challenges related to advancing health equity.

So this has created some real concerns for many of our residents.

But I want to assure uh city counselors that we here at the Boston Public Health Commission have remained unwaveringly focused on our mission, which is to work in partnership with communities to protect and promote the health and well-being of all Boston residents, especially those impacted by racism and systemic inequities.

I want to thank um all of you and the many people who've made it possible for us to maintain focus on our mission.

So something is not.

Oh.

Oh, sorry.

Okay.

Ethan to the rest.

So is it going to work going forward?

Okay.

So sorry about that.

Yeah.

Our efforts are centered around the idea of making Boston a healthy home for everyone.

This idea unites the six bureaus, four offices, and more than 1400 employees that comprise BPHC.

BPHC carries out our mission under the supervision of a seven-member Board of Health, and the Board of Health is made up of leaders in healthcare, public health, and organized labor.

They provide strategic guidance and recommendations to BPHC's leadership team and staff.

BPHC also acts as the city's chief health strategist, organizing cross-sector partnerships and collaborations to advance health equity and to address the social and structural determinants of health inequities in our health in our city.

I'm very proud of our work over the past year, and I'm looking forward to the year to come.

And now I will turn it over to Chris Valdez.

Thank you, Dr.

Ojikutu, and good morning, counselors.

In the next few slides, I'll be speaking about our FY27 budget, including its formulation, touching on our external funding, and providing a brief update on some of our capital improvement projects.

Now, as has been widely discussed, the increasing cost of certain components of our fringe benefits will be stressors on our FY27 budget, specifically the SBRS pension expense and health care premiums.

Now, unlike most city departments, EPHC is expected to fully cover its own fringe expenses as part of its operations.

And our appropriation includes a component intended to cover just the fringe costs associated with internal staff, namely the staff whose roles are funded by the appropriation.

Staff that are grant funded or otherwise externally funded must have their fringe costs recovered by way of a fringe rate.

In FY27, our pension expenses now scheduled to go up by 5%, and our health care premiums by just over 20%.

Had we applied the mayor's target reduction guidance for FY27 using our existing FY26 appropriation, these increases would have necessitated service cuts of over 4 million before applying any target reductions.

Recognizing this, OBM partnered with us to develop a process to treat our appropriation in the same manner as other departments, which do not include fringe in their budgets.

This was accomplished by first removing the FY26 values of our pension health care premiums and other post-employment benefits, also known as OPEB, from our FY26 appropriation.

Then a targeted reduction was applied to the balance as part of the mayor's departmental reduction guidance.

Finally, the new values for our pension health care premiums in OPEB were added back along with any departmental transfers to get a total FY27 appropriation value.

The targeted reduction was primarily achieved by increasing the budget for specific revenue streams, such as EMS transport billings, which are a direct offset to the appropriation value.

The end result is a year-over-year increase of 1.6% that preserves staff and services while also meeting the goals of the mayor's call for departmental reductions.

I'll now switch from internal to external funding for FY27.

The city appropriation is just one component of our total annual budget.

For FY27, we expect the appropriation related revenue streams to account for 72% of this budget.

Federal sources will account for 15%.

State sources 8%, and other sources, which includes the opioids settlements will be 5%.

For federal funds specifically, most of our funding does come from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Within this, the majority is from the Health Resources and Services Administration or HERSA, which includes the Ryan White HIV AIDS program in our infectious disease bureau.

Now the federal funding levels for BPHC did decrease between FY26 and FY27, but this was expected due to the window of ARPA activities.

We continue to monitor federal actions and litigations as part of our preparedness activities, and thus far BPHC has not had any federal grants formally rescinded.

Finally, a few notes on our planned city funded capital activities.

The expected completion of a new EMS station on the South Boston waterfront will be in 2026.

This will improve EMS response times in that area.

A state of good repair project at the Northampton Square Garage is expected to progress.

A key asset for BPHC employees, Boston EMS, BMC employees, and tenants of the property's residential building.

Boston EMS continues efforts to modernize the department's radio infrastructure, replacing outdated equipment, strengthening system reliability and coverage, and enhancing coordination with police and fire.

Lastly, in partnership with Do It, BPHC completed phase one of a server infrastructure upgrade.

Phase two begins in FY27, ensuring BPHC data and systems remain reliable, secure, and cost efficient.

I'll now hand the presentation back to Dr.

Ojiku.

So in 2025, we launched Live Long and Well, our city's first population health equity agenda.

As you all are aware, we have stark inequities in life expectancy and health outcomes across our city.

We often talk about data, but live long and well is really about action.

We are a city committed to closing these gaps and addressing health disparities.

So on this slide, we included components of the Live Long and Well Initiative.

So we lead with data, we're establishing new partnerships and strengthening old ones, sharing decision-making power with communities, focusing on upstream social determinants of health, supporting place-based strategies to address local needs, and investing collaboratively.

You know, the ultimate goal is ambitious to close Boston's life expectancy gaps, which exists by both place or neighborhood and by race by 2035.

But we certainly believe that given the fact that these gaps are so stark and so inequitable, we cannot afford to be anything other than ambitious.

Okay, so turning to our city's life expectancy data, just so you can see, some of you all are probably well aware of this.

If you look at life expectancy across our city, black Boston residents have the lowest life expectancy of all Boston residents.

Among black Boston residents, black male life expectancy is lowest, it's nine years lower than all other men in Boston.

And just for reference, the top four causes of death amongst black men from 2023 to 2025 are drug overdose, heart disease, cancer, most of them preventable, and homicide.

So turning to recent live long and well investments, I believe that the entirety of our work actually functions to support living long and well in our city.

But I wanted to show just a few special investments or recent investments that I think are important.

So last July, in partnership with the HRS Health Equity Foundation and the Boston Community Health Collaborate Collaborative, which is our Chennat Chip, we announced a $5 million investment in four community-led partnerships.

There are actually 12 total organizations in the partnership groups, the purpose of which is to build wealth and economic security in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, and those are the three neighborhoods with the lowest life expectancy.

The second of the total 10 million dollars, because we're receiving 10 million dollars from HRS Health Equity Foundation will be released in 2028.

Secondly, we designated one million dollars from the declaration of racism as a public health crisis to focus on black men's health, given the data that I just referred to.

We will have an RFP that will be released later on in June.

And for those of you who are not aware, we are holding a black men's health activation summit on June 3rd, where we'll talk through interventions that we believe are most important to address that life expectancy gap.

And then thirdly, in a new partnership with Dana Farmberg Cancer Institute, we're investing one million dollars in cancer prevention, connection to treatment, and community-based education and outreach.

So again, our work is about following where the evidence leads.

And there are a few ways that we do this.

I wanted to mention a number of strategies just because I think that they're important and they make our health department somewhat unique.

So the Boston Public Health Commission is the convener of the Boston Community Health Collaborative.

Again, that's our Chennat Chip.

It's a multi-sector collaborative of Boston Health Institutions, community organizations, and residents.

And over the past year, this collaborative completed a citywide community health needs assessment and drawing from that collected data, published a community health improvement plan.

So I think it's important to again emphasize that this is a big deal for our city.

As I said, Boston is unique in the fact that we are collectively bringing all of these folks together.

We often talk about how Boston is resource-rich, but coordination, maybe collaboration poor.

In this instance, we are rich in both coordination and collaboration, and we're rowing together in our efforts to combat health inequity.

The community health improvement plan identifies four key priority areas for collective action in the city of Boston.

They are access to healthy and affordable food, access to care, housing, and economic mobility.

I do want to move on to the Recovery Services Bureau, but I also want to mention on the previous slide that we do have a Center for Public Health Science and Innovation, and that's where we do all of our Health of Boston work, and I'm sure you all are familiar with that work over the years.

We do have a number of reports that will be up and coming, and we look forward to sharing that data with you.

But I'm going to switch gears now to talk about our recovery services bureau.

So the issues surrounding substance use disorder, as we all know, are deep and they're complicated and a challenge for us to address, but I think that we continue to make progress.

I'm particularly proud of our staff who are working every day to address these issues under very difficult circumstances.

So this slide provides an overview of our programs and services through the Recovery Services Bureau.

Through each one of these, we are committed to using every single touch point as a way to engage folks in the continuum of care and to hopefully move them along the path to recovery.

In coordination with our city partners, we're continuing to adjust our work to advance the mayor's priority, which is the goal of ending outdoor drug use and improving quality of life for Boston's residents.

Over the long term, we're confident that well-evidenced public health strategies and approaches are most effective in moving people along the path to recovery and stability.

As we enter the warm weather season, I think that there are a few initiatives that I do want to highlight to you today.

First, the Boston Public Health Commission is going to be leading the high utilizer table.

This is a new initiative that the city launched in the fall of 2025.

It's modeled on successful Boston Police Department hub tables.

Essentially, what it's doing is intensive case management for individuals who are homeless and have substance use disorder.

It brings together substance use, housing, outreach, mental health, and health care providers, along with city and state officials to work through a by-name list, very intensive work that's being done on a weekly basis and connecting individuals with the services that they need.

So to date, since the fall of 2025, the table has case-managed 30 individuals and 22 of those individuals have been connected to services.

We're also working to enhance CRT, the coordinated response team's diversion strategy by partnering very closely with clinical providers to develop a system that will expand the treatment and stabilization supports that are offered to individuals.

And our goal there is to ensure that individuals have access to the full continuum of care, including medication for addiction treatment.

We are also hoping to ensure that there's good communication with our providers.

They are quite important to the work that we're doing.

And finally, we continue to convene the Nubian Square Task Force, which is a group of providers and community members who meet bi-weekly in the Nubian area to address issues including substance use disorder, homelessness, and mental health concerns.

In addition to meetings, we coordinate outreach walks and a series of community events.

So I'd like to talk a little bit about syringe collection, which continues to be an area of focus.

I think it's important to be clear that discarded syringes on our streets are never acceptable.

So we take a multi-pronged approach with a number of different strategies that are listed on this slide.

So on the slide, you actually see four strategies.

One, the Mobile Sharps team.

These individuals respond to 311 requests and they do proactive sweeps.

They're working seven days a week, 365 days a year.

We also have our outreach team.

Some of you all know them as the Redshirts.

Again, they work seven days a week, 365 days a year, with 18 hours of coverage on the weekdays and 13 hours of coverage on weekends.

We also partner very closely with New Market, and that is the Back to Work Program.

This is a sustained partnership with the New Market Business Improvement District.

We have a 25-person team that we're covering, paying for essentially, who work throughout the South End, Nubian Square, and other nearby neighborhoods.

And then lastly, we have Kias stationed throughout the city where anyone can dispose of syringes.

I think at a previous meeting, I spoke also that about a peer collection program that works at our homeless shelters.

We are looking to move that forward because any additional help that we can get to ensure that there are no syringes on our street is quite important.

So all of these strategies are ongoing and really important to our effort.

I also want to mention that our goal at the Boston Public Health Commission is to strengthen the continuum of treatment and care for individuals living with substance use disorder.

So in FY26, we continue to provide pathways to recovery and to strengthen our work in treatment access.

So our PAS program piloted a new program to help clients actually stay in care.

PAS, as you all know, is an open door one-stop referral service that provides immediate barrier-free access to substance use disorder treatment, recovery services, and support.

In FY26 through April 30th, PAS made 1,274 client placements.

Secondly, on our Mattapan campus, we have worked to enhance our services.

This year we also strengthened our partnership with the community caring clinic to increase access to psychiatric and mental health services on site.

We also made permanent a former program that was a pilot, well, it was a pilot program, and now we've made it permanent that is focused in on residents being able to take methadone home.

So they're not leaving the site to go get methadone, it's actually available to them.

So that's really important.

And then lastly, we have Entre Familia, which is another residential program on our Matapan campus.

It provides bilingual and bicultural, gender-specific substance use disorder treatment to pregnant women and women who are postpartum, their children can also stay at the site.

So this year we invested in staff training and also launched a new outreach marketing program to help educate providers around the city on the services available at Entre Familia.

So this slide shows you some of I think the most important results of our efforts across many different areas.

We continue to note a decrease in overdose mortality in our city, and I want to thank the Recovery Services Bureau for all their efforts to educate, decrease stigma, and move people into recovery and distribute Narcan throughout our city.

So from 2023 to 2024, we noted a 39% decrease in overdose mortality, and we've seen a continued decrease 2024 to 2025.

It's about it's close to 9%.

So turning to the Homeless Services Bureau, essentially what we're doing in that bureau is trying to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

As you all well know, we operate two shelters: the 112 Southampton Street shelter for men and Woods Mullen for women.

These are city-run shelters, staffed by city workers.

Oh my gosh, sorry about that.

There's staffed by city workers, and we are one of the largest providers of emergency shelter in New England.

So I want to emphasize that our shelters are about more than just a place to stay overnight.

We actually work intensely intensively with guests, provide case management to prevent ongoing homelessness.

We provide stabilization services, medical care, workforce development, and support pathways to permanent housing and recovery.

Two of our low threshold sites are located within our shelters, so the Friends Floor is at 112 Southampton and Willows is at uh Woods Mullen.

So these sites provide shelter, harm reduction, case management, stabilization, and housing navigation to individuals living with substance use disorder.

Secondly, I'll mention our workforce development program, which provides job training and case management to homeless individuals.

This program follows a work-first framework.

So placing individuals into employment irrespective of their perceived readiness and providing them with a training ground that where they can navigate employment while living with co-occurring illness, substance use disorder, mental illness, and other uh concerns and challenges.

I also want to mention that because of all the work that we're doing, we have been successful in placing individuals into permanent housing, and that's really our goal to stabilize individuals and put them into permanent uh supportive housing.

In FY26, to date, 80 clients have moved into permanent housing and nine clients clients have moved into long-term treatment.

So I think these are really good outcomes.

Well, I actually had one more slide, but it seems to be missing.

I just want to tell you guys one last thing because I think it's important.

Um at the Homeless Services Bureau, I think we're doing really well.

I gave you some statistics already, but I just want to add that in FY26 through April 1st, 2,884 unique individuals stayed in our shelters, and that's you know, throughout the fiscal year.

We actually served 643,942 meals.

We've had 182 individuals formally over the course of the year placed into permanent housing, and 163 individuals receive job training and workforce development.

So there's an enormous amount of work that's occurring within our shelters.

Okay, so that concludes my presentation.

I know that was quite a lot, but I'm gonna turn it over to Chief.

Um I do want to take a moment to thank him for his many years of service and leadership, and I also want to thank the dedicated um personnel of Boston EMS.

Um, I want to emphasize that the work of EMS is really deeply connected to the remainder of the rest of the work at BPHC, and particularly Live Long and Well.

So I'll turn it over to Chief.

Thank you, Doctor.

Uh, see.

All right.

Well, good morning.

Uh uh.

Chairman, Madam President, councils.

Uh thank you.

Uh you know me uh trimu only Boston EMS.

And uh it's my you know it's been my pleasure to serve as a chief at Boston EMS for a couple of years now.

And uh we're the city's 911 pre-hospital provider and uh Bureau of the Boston Public Health Commission.

Oops.

It's too quick.

We'll go back.

There we go.

All right, our mission uh and you can read it there as well, is to compassionately deliver excellent pre-hospital care while protecting the safety and health of the public.

And we do routinely uh have a foot in public safety and in public health, as you'll see uh through all these presentations.

Okay, just uh some quick numbers for you.

Uh, although we're a relatively small public safety service compared in size compared to uh police and fire.

We're still one of the uh busiest, if not the busiest municipal service uh in New England.

Our department includes 440 uniformed members and uh 32 non-uniformed personnel.

We support the city's 911 EMS Dispatch Center, and we deploy 22.

I'm sorry, we operate the city's EMS uh center uh in conjunction with the Boston Police Departments 911.

And we deploy 22 basic life support and five advanced life support amuletces on during peak day and evening shifts.

The reduction uh on the overnight when call volume decreases.

Uh BLS units are staffed by two EMTs.

Our ALS units are all staffed by two paramedics.

When many communities have gone around to uh uh reducing staffing, uh some of them to uh providing one medic with one uh uh BLS provider, and in some cases uh some ambulances with one EMT and one uh uh lesser uh certified personnel.

Uh Boston uh has never embraced that.

In calendar year 2025, our members responded to more than 141,000 distinct clinical incidents, resulting in 95,503 patient transports.

Our alternative response model units, each staffed by one EMT and one Boston emergency medical emergency services team behavioral health clinician, handle over 1,830 patient encounters involving individuals from school-day children to older adults.

Boston EMS special operations team supported emergency medical coverage for nearly uh 1,000 events, and through our community initiatives program, we assisted more than 170 families with child care seat installations and coordinated over 68 CPR and AED certification classes.

Uh most recently, we completed uh updated training and service for all the municipal officers in this facility over at Court Street.

Uh we'll be doing the same at the library and other sites because it's important.

Uh they we consider them first responders.

There's been uh several successful resuscitations in this building thanks to the uh training that's been offered.

And I'm I'm sorry, the training that uh members in this building have undertaken.

We thank them for that.

All right, managing volume and response times.

Uh there's one little logo you'll see up there that uh shows we are in fact pretty busy.

If you we are uh checking the uh uh the logs, the mileage for uh if you take all of our ambulances added up in 2025 alone, we logged enough miles to circle the globe 37 times in a city that's only 48 square miles.

Uh to address uh rising call volume and the continued impacts of the county hospital closure.

We did officially add a 24-hour ambulance in Dorchester this fiscal year.

Uh we were doing it uh from the beginning when Carney closed.

We were doing it on uh with spares and with people on overtime.

Uh this year that's been adopted.

It's uh official part of uh uh regular coverage where it's uh it's part of our minimum staffing now, ambulance 21.

Additionally, the department expanded night shift coverage in Jamaica Plain and Rosendale by uh making ambulance 17, which is based out of the Faulkner, uh, an additional uh regularly staffed unit.

And when we anticipate heightened demand during such upcoming uh FIFA, sale Boston events, Fourth of July, Boston Marathon, and other things.

Uh, we increase our resources throughout the city, uh, not just for those events, but to make sure that our neighborhoods are uh protected.

To date, we've supported more than 3,000 patients who have experienced low acuity behavioral health needs through the Telebest 911 call transfers from our dispatch center and from uh dispatch of our alternative response model or ARM uh units.

In 2025, we expanded the ARM unit operation to seven days a week, 16 hours a day.

And uh that was in addition to our um and the call sign for that unit is uh during the 90s squad 90, squad 9192 would uh donate just a different unit doing it that day or that shift.

Uh squad 80 uh last year was expanded from uh days to evenings as well.

Squad 80 handles a lot of the uh uh homeless, some of the substance abuse, and some of the uh encampment type calls that we may get around uh the city.

Uh and one thing we're talking about when Dr.

Ojikuda was mentioning about the services for outreach, needle pickup, uh squad 80, and uh uh we have supervisors and uh deputy supervi uh deputy superintendent who's on daily check-ins every morning with the street outreach teams, with the Boston police, street outreach, uh uh representatives from Boston Public Schools, uh, to look at hey, where are there either new spots cropping up, is there more activity on parks, say over at Jim Rice Field, or is there something else going on in Nubian, or is it perhaps a new encampment coming up on over off of West Ford Street by the and uh they they share that information uh five days a week and uh they use it to uh uh direct operations from there and to make sure that all the team players are getting the updates, and we're not just hearing about it uh you know, weeks after something is reported.

To date, uh I'm sorry, although call volume continues to rise, uh, and it does.

Our priority one median response times have shown steady improvement, uh, dropping from 7.5 citywide to uh to 6.8 minutes this calendar year uh from January 1st to mid-May of 2026 compared to the same time last year.

Uh that represents uh 9.3% reduction, which was good because we had been uh steadily increasing uh citywide.

And uh that that reduction has uh held through across uh all the districts, so we're happy to say that as well.

Uh personnel.

Well, two slides for that.

Our personnel are highly skilled, trained clinicians who are deeply committed, and on average, our current department members now have served uh 10 years.

Uh prioritizing our personnel isn't just a value that we talk about, it's reflected in how we we budget and allocate our resources.

More than 89% of our budget dollars goes directly to members' wages, associated fringe benefits.

Uh the remaining funds support essential investments such as uniforms, personal protective equipment, medical supplies, ambulances, and other resources that equip our members to perform their duties safely and effectively.

Prioritizing our personnel is also investing in them as people, including their wellness, their professional development, and their advancement within the department.

In 2025, we promoted 22 members into paramedic supervisory and command ranks, and we provided 14 paramedic school scholarships to our department EMTs.

We're currently in the process of a uh another round of paramedic promotions.

We have six paramedics who are uh will be shortly entering uh uh internships uh uh doing their training with us and getting uh clinical internships uh uh provided for us through uh Tufts uh hospital, Tufts Medical Center.

Over the last uh three years, our non-retirement attrition, uh, you know, not people who are leaving because they've attained retirement age, but our non-retirement attrition among badge members, uniform members, has steadily decreased from 40 department 40 members in uh 2022 to 15 in uh 2025, which would uh represent a uh 160% uh reduction.

Uh f uh well, continuous personnel.

Uh in 2025, uh Boston EMS continued our year-round recruitment efforts uh with a full-time deputy superintendent and program manager who attend countless events, uh career fairs, uh schools.

We've interview they've interviewed hundreds of candidates and we've awarded 120 scholarships for EMT courses at the Boston EMS uh EMT class, which we conduct twice a year, and at uh partnership with Cambridge College.

For interview individuals are interested in working with us, but they've not yet uh attained their certification as EMTs.

The scholarships are funded through grants secured in partnership with the worker empowerment cabinet here at the city of Boston.

Uh like the cadet program, that's another pipeline to employment.

Uh the cadet program is uh great for uh uh young folks, uh city city uh folks who are looking for uh uh careers in the MS.

And uh it's a at the most the six-month program.

Typically, uh they've uh attained their paramedic, excuse me, their EMT certification within uh four months, four and a half months.

They've got to do uh uh a lot of community service during that time.

They get familiar with us, they're uniformed, uh they uh uh get a lot of uh realistic training alongside of our members here, so they get a real uh flavor for uh what it's like uh to uh then join us as as recruits.

Unlike the other cadet programs uh in the city, ours is but a six-month max, which then would uh if you pass everything, it would uh qualify you then to uh apply for our recruit program and uh it should put you in a good position for it.

You know, unlike you know the other departments where uh the statute is they have to give two years of service for that preference.

Uh, but the um scholarship program is uh has been good for us because we've been able to uh attract people, maybe thinking about it.

They already work in a hospital, they work in uh, but they do registration, or they do other things, and they uh they want to get into the clinical side, or they have uh they know somebody who's an EMS and they've been maybe a little bit you know intimidated, or they look at the cost of some of these EMT programs, and uh that that's a bar.

Some people maybe already have young families, whatever.

This way they can keep their day job at uh uh working in the bank or working as a server or bartender in many cases, or something else, and uh uh they're able to take that part-time EMT program and uh but we're also able to keep an eye on them as they go through there.

We find out uh who's who's really interested in us, uh and we've had some uh good recruiting efforts to that.

And the reasons we were able to close some of the gaps in our hiring is uh uh has been because of these concerted efforts uh along the way.

In total, we hired uh 30 cadets last year and 67 new EMTs in uh 2025.

We just started another recruit academy in April, and uh we plan to start another one in January of this uh coming year.

We're also currently accepting applications for a uh upcoming cadet program, which will should start this late summer.

Equipment and systems.

Uh as I said, the ambulances uh we put miles on them and uh uh we're uh we as our members we're we're we're we're we're frustrated at the uh at the rate of uh delivery from uh vendors, but uh uh we've uh but we're not frustrated the support that we've uh received from this body and from the mayor uh and from the public health commission uh because we uh we do have uh uh 26 ambulances on order, and uh we we've with the funding that's been secured, and uh we look forward to getting those in.

Uh during the manufacturing delays, Boston EMS took receipt of 14 ambulances uh this fiscal year, which had been ordered in 2023, and we'll receive ambulances ordered in fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026 over the course of the next fiscal FY27, which hopefully is going to account for 26 additional ambulances in the coming 12 months, which will be uh a welcome uh uh infusion to the fleet.

We'll be able to uh retire some of the trucks that uh have given us a long service.

It'll be a good uh also it'll help our mechanics maybe uh draw uh uh a breath of relief as well.

We're also uh in the final stages of a multi-year uh CMED or Central Emergency Medical Direction system upgrade, which will go live next month.

Uh that's a system that allows us to uh speak with uh communicate with uh all uh licensed ammunition services within uh region four, which is I believe sixty-one cities and towns in Metro Boston coordinate with all the hospitals, uh, uh assist in uh disaster management uh throughout the region.

We're also in the final stages of uh our uh uh multiple year investment in the uh radio upgrade system here, uh, along with uh Boston Police and Boston Fire.

We've uh they've been building out uh uh transmitter and reception sites uh across the city, putting in redundant recovery pathways so that you have like uh two fallover layers of backup uh which will really help in times of uh uh any kind of uh system outage anywhere.

Also uh excuse me, after a multiple years of investment in fiscal years 25, 26, and 27.

All members of Boston MS will soon have uh upgraded uh encryption enabled uh uh capabilities in our portable radios.

Uh the Boston police and part of their radio upgrades, they on their patrol channels and uh been certainly for some or other they're you know more uh uh confidential or undercover work and stuff.

They they have they've always had some encrypted channels.

They've had encryption to a lot of their uh uh uh patrol channels.

Uh it's important to have interoperability and public safety so that we can either speak or hear or listen to each other.

We already can do that up in dispatch.

We made sure that that was done.

We've already added encryption to all of our supervisors, command staff radios, so that we can uh uh uh we can all uh hear and observe uh each other's uh operations, which are uh which is vital during uh certain operations and certain uh big events.

Uh but soon we will have that available for all of our members, and so that's an important investment, as well as uh some of the other investments that we're doing in upgrading our uh uh personal protective equipment uh in uh all of our units.

Whoops, I messed up.

I went too quick.

I don't know how to go, won't go back, but we can help with that.

Okay, that's all right.

Uh the last one size set.

Well it was just a uh diagram, a drawing of the uh South Boston waterfront station.

Uh but I just want to give you a quick update on that.

Uh this summer we look forward to the opening of the new two Bay Airmill station uh in the South Boston waterfront.

It's uh uh we're grateful uh to the city.

Uh particularly I want to uh mention uh Council Flynn uh for his uh long time uh support and advocacy for uh a station uh uh that that won't just uh help his district in South Boston, but uh that's gonna help us with downtown, help us uh in backing up uh East Boston as well, too, as uh all of our units uh uh constantly, as we see on the mileage, get moved around to uh to to back up each other in other areas.

We try to uh dynamically redeploy units where we need them.

So it's uh uh it's an important capital investment uh and it shows the investment uh to our department, to our personnel, uh director of facilities, the countless work that's been that's been done in this week.

We appreciate uh uh everybody's efforts on this, and we we will have it open this summer.

We haven't had a date for a official uh ribbon cutting yet, but uh uh we'll make sure you all get advanced hopes of that.

Thank you.

I just want to conclude by wishing uh uh everyone uh especially our members here today, and anyone who may be watching uh happy national EMS week and extending the gratitude to the members of Boston EMS who continue to rise to the challenge and meet the needs of the city of Boston and its residents every day.

Uh I know you all offered a resolution yesterday.

Thank you for that.

Uh and with that, ready for questions.

Okay, thank you.

Uh is the I have some more slides now.

Uh okay, that's for the afternoon.

Okay, great.

Um, okay.

Well, thank you very much.

Uh we're gonna go to councillor questions.

Uh if anybody is here to give public testimony, we're gonna give uh have that after the first round of questions.

Just like to acknowledge in terms of constituents, we're joined by Lord Mayor Richie Garnley.

Thank you for for being here.

It's nice to see you.

Uh and uh see anyone, any other Lord Mayors in the room.

So I can introduce anyone else.

Um okay, so uh we're order of arrival.

We have been joined by uh Councilor Fichero, Councilor Papin and Counselor Culpepper.

So we're gonna start with Councillor Flynn, and you know this is there's a lot to cover, so we're gonna go with seven minutes, uh counselor, and uh then get to uh second round.

You don't have to use all seven minutes.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and also want to welcome uh Rich Goneway, your decorated Vietnam veteran, but also a strong veterans advocate throughout throughout Boston throughout Massachusetts.

I want to say thank you to my friend Richie, um to Dr.

Ojakutu and to Chief and to the budget director.

Thank you for being here for your important work.

Um I just did some research about and I have a strong respect for the EMS workers that are out there every day.

Um a lot of calls that are come in every day from residents, visitors average about 90 to 100 priority one calls a day, probably over 400 total responses a day.

Um certainly it gets busier during during the weekends and and other times as well.

Um let me ask let me ask a brief question if if if it either doctor or chief if you can answer it, and just a quick question because we don't have much time response from that from the time that comes in for the ambulance to arrive to to be on scene, be on site.

Um is the time response up?

Is it down?

No difference.

No, uh, bring up the exact numbers here again.

Uh no, we uh excuse me.

So I'm sorry, thank you.

No, and answer your question.

Yeah, we uh uh w when we look at our our response times.

Uh the one where you do key on uh is our uh for our priority unless we have priority one, two, three, and even some other lower priority calls that may not uh necessarily even have a response associated with them, but uh priority ones are the ones that are more urgent that they pop to the top of the dispatcher's screen.

The call type dictates it.

You know, for example, uh cardiac or uh pedestrian struck.

Although we do have a law code for that as well, too.

If it's somebody just reporting an injury afterwards say, but um our priority priority one uh response times uh has uh had been seven point five, and it has dropped to six point eight minutes uh plus count a year.

Uh which you know, in uh seven point five minutes was previous.

Was previous, and now it's six point out of six point eight, which when you look at the the volume of calls, uh, that it still took a lot to you know to six.

Even though our goal is obviously our goal uh that we had set many years ago was six, and we were routinely uh attaining that until we'll probably back uh the back before COVID when call volume kept going up, uh staffing, uh, and then the numbers of the ambulances that we were fielding out there, they weren't uh they weren't adequate.

Uh we we did put in for uh well additional personnel for several years in a row, and thank goodness we were able to get approval for that, and now with the conclusion of these uh upcoming classes will actually get to uh to staffing level that that was approved uh over the last couple of years.

Okay, non non-priority one has the time response gone up or down or stayed the same.

Uh I would I can get those exact numbers for you, but I think the uh the lower priority ones have probably stayed about about the same, the priority tows and threes.

One of the things that also helped Council was uh uh a lot of we've been we've been able to uh uh uh make available units a little bit more for the priority one calls by uh utilization of some of the uh other services such as units, the uh non-transport, like squad 80, squad 90, the uh the arm.

When we when we talk about the uh couple of thousand uh calls for people with uh maybe some behavioral health or uh uh people who may require say uh a best team intervention.

A lot of those patients uh don't necessarily need to go to emergency rooms.

In fact, that's probably not the best place for them.

Uh many times we can uh get people uh uh transferred to the uh uh call-in and uh do some telemedicine with them with telebest with them, but if not we can go out and spare an amulet from uh going to a call to keep them available.

Okay, I'm gonna go over to Dr.

Ojakutu.

Thank you, Chief.

Um, Dr.

Ojakutu, I've been working with you and your team for a long period of time on doing a study about the Asian community.

Uh want to say it hasn't been released, it hasn't been published.

We made significant progress.

Want to thank you and your team for being professional for working with me.

More importantly, working with the community to identify what the challenges are and how we can support them.

Do you have any um any follow-up or any feedback uh Dr.

Ojakutu?

Thank you so much, Counselor Flynn.

Um for your leadership in this regard, and we have been working very closely with you and your team on um revising, redoing actually a study on the health of the Asian population in in Boston.

Um, because of uh your advocacy, we met with uh more than 50 partners stakeholders in the Chinatown area specifically, but you know, even more broadly to really think through who it is that we are not capturing and really take a good look at the data.

And I think the product that we will deliver sometime toward the end of the summer, I believe is our timeline is going to be better than um what we started with and will really be an asset.

So thank you for your support.

Thank you, doctor.

Thank you to your team.

My final question, and I'll come I'll come back at the next one.

Doctor, one issue that I've I've worked on for for a long period of time, HIV.

Um, my father was probably the first mayor in the country that that established a needle exchange.

Um, very controversial, if you think about it at the time, was very controversial.

But um HIV is an issue that my family has been very involved in.

What are we doing in terms of um supporting people with HIV or AIDS, but also providing education assistance to people before you know that might be um susceptible, but how do we prevent it and what do we what are we doing on some of those initiatives?

So thank you so much again, Counselor Flynn, for your question and for your support um in this area.

Um as you know, I'm an HIV doctor and infectious disease physician at MGH, and it's something that's very important to me also.

Um we within our infectious disease bureau have a number of different programs that are both looking at prevention, so issues related to education and access to PrEP and care and treatment through our Ryan White Services Division programming.

So we do a w a wide array of work across the continuum.

I think we've been successful in many ways, though we always have more work to do.

Um one of the things that we are very much so invested in is the ending the HIV epidemic program, and we receive funding as a jurisdiction where you know we know that there are um people you know at risk.

Uh so we've been working very closely uh with communities, particularly um communities who are at higher risk of HIV infection.

So we can talk more about the specifics of programming, but it's certainly a priority at the Boston Public Health Commission.

Thank you, Dr.

Ojakutu.

Maybe after the budget is over, could I meet um your team just to go over um get an update on um HIV outreach?

Absolutely.

Okay, thank you, Doctor.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

Thank you, Council Councillor Flynn.

Councillor Braden.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh good to see you all.

Um I'll probably start with Dr.

Ojakutu.

Um, in terms of public health tracking of infectious diseases.

I know every day we hear of some new thing happening somewhere in the world, and people travel, and there's always that.

I'm just wondering in terms of the support from uh federal government for tracking of infectious diseases.

Like that's public health that's one of the foundational roles.

Um are we do we see a cut in funding and are we still doing uh wastewater monitoring for infectious diseases and all of that?

Absolutely, thank you, Councillor President Breden, for that question.

Uh, another one that's incredibly important to the work at the Boston Public Health Commission.

So I'll answer a couple of those.

Um, first, in terms of the federal support.

I think that's been an ongoing concern, particularly as we've seen this Hantavirus um cluster that came with the the Dutch cruise ship and now the um the uptick of cases in uh Ebola cases that um have occurred in primarily in the DRC.

So the CDC essentially um convenes these partner meetings that we attend and we hear updates, but a lot of what we're hearing now because the CDC is not the lead agency is secondhand.

So that has been a challenge, and I think everyone across the US has noted that that is an ongoing challenge and wondering why we are not part of the WHO and why we're not deploying immediately to lead the response.

But we are trying to stay on top of things.

I mean, we are in a city where we have many, many experts in all of these areas, and we will actually be holding um a convening, I believe next week, to talk about um hontavirus and Ebola and think about how we should as a city prepare.

And the Boston Public Health Commission is leading this in conjunction with the state and with mass medical society.

So we're certainly you know driving forward this idea that we need to be at the cutting edge of what's happening.

Um in terms of our wastewater program, because you also asked about that.

That is a key, it's a quintessential aspect of our work.

It is what we're doing in terms of surveillance, particularly as we look ahead to um the World Cup and you know, many people coming to the city, you know, tall ships, everything that's happening this summer, that is a main part of what we're doing in terms of surveillance.

We have other components, but that is a main part of it.

So we're looking at continuing to look at respiratory viral diseases, certainly along with measles, the typical you know COVID flu and RSV, but also measles, and then we've added a list of other infections so that we will be again leading the way on the cutting edge of understanding what's happening in our city.

Good.

So sad, that we haven't, it's very the US is not taking a lead in the in the World Health Organization and helping other less um resourced countries um respond to potential outbreaks.

Um I had a question for uh Chief Oli about the um response time.

She said that the median response time uh citywide was 6.8 minutes.

And I'm just curious because I just did a quick check to get uh I'm wondering about advanced life support service for Alston Brighton, how long it takes uh an ambulance to get from Boston.

Um Brigham and Wim Brigham Beth is real, as I understand that's the base to Og Square.

Um I I just did a quick Google search for how long it would take me for get from Og Square from the YMCA to BI, and it was 21 minutes at 11 o'clock this morning.

So I'm really wondering like I know this is a median response time.

What is the longest time it takes for an advanced life support ambulance to get to sort of the Oak Square end of right on the edge of the city, like out to Oak Square or Cleveland Circle?

This uh morning.

Uh this probably a lot of factors obviously they can influence that, you know, time of day, where where units are coming from.

Any uh you know, similarly to uh units going to Pyde Park, Lowell Mills, anywhere else, right?

It's some this depends where you're where point A to point B, right, starting out.

Uh I don't we can do a little bit better than 20% minutes.

I would imagine even at your very best, you would be good doing good to make it in 10, but that would be cutting the time in half.

But I think even that is ambitious.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, we we do have uh, right.

We we currently do have uh two other units in assigned to cover the Austin and Brighton areas, granted they're BLS, but as I was pointing out earlier, uh our clinicians there are also uh very good, very well trained, very well equipped.

Uh so and the population of Alston Brighton is now 87,000 people, and we have about uh eight to eleven percent of those folks are elders, um, concentrated a lot of the time in in senior living buildings.

Um I'm just wondering in terms of your estimation of the service level that we we would expect for a population that size.

Like I know is there any plans to increase service to that area?

And I know we've asked for a two, we were hopeful that we would get a two-bay ambulance station at the with Stuart Healthcare at the farmer St.

Elizabeth's.

I think that's probably in abeyance right now, but we also hopefully get a two-bay, uh, a new two bay over on Western Av, uh in a lab facility, in the basement of a lab facility, and that's not happening.

So all our hopes to have a new facility have been dashed recently.

So, you know, in terms of just um the this the EMS facilities action plan that was, you know, removed produced several years ago.

Like what what's the plan moving forward?

What actions are are we might be anticipated with improving our infrastructure in Alston Brighton?

Because I do know that the EMS station is in pretty rough shape out there.

It's it's really not up to standard for what you would expect as a as a you know of uh of a visit, and it's it's pretty grim.

So um what are the plans given that we're in a bit we're stuck with these other potential opportunities that we thought we had.

Okay, well, for uh Austin and Brighton, we uh as you said, we've we've always explored trying to get uh additional sites out there.

The current site that we have on the one hand, it's it's roomy.

We've been able to on times be able to deploy, certainly we are able to deploy uh additional units out of there.

We've run uh training trucks out of there if we need to, and or we've or would when we have supported some special events in Austin and Brighton, we've been able to deploy out of there as well, too.

So it is uh a good asset for us.

Uh yes, it's a uh older building, it's owned by Harvard.

Uh we have a uh reasonable lease there.

We've had a long partnership.

Uh we maintain a lot of the stuff on the inside, and we've been uh you know clearing out a lot of different things over there, but with the idea of we're still in there, uh, just an update on the uh the lab building.

A lot of stuff has slowed down on Harvard's development over there, but it is still very much uh in the agreement that's that's in place with uh with Boss with planning or I guess was BPDA back then was that that that was part of the whole mitigation that they had to provide that space uh the two Bay in there for us.

So that's good.

Um they also uh part of the deal that's over there was that service would remain uninterrupted so that even if they are ready to bring the wrecking ball in and clear that spot out, before they would do that.

There's the uh uh swing space, which again not not a palace, but it's a uh uh it's a two-bay facility right on speedway.

It's 70 yards up the street from there.

So the idea is what they'll be able to keep our service out, uh at least our presence out there uh uninterrupted while they do do any new construction.

So that was good, and that was uh uh represented by like senior vice presidents over at Harvard that that was the desire.

They knew that was their obligation.

Yeah, so that's so I have some confidence in that.

Yeah, and they also entertained, I think, two like 25 year leases or something.

Just uh, no, that's good, but I think as well, like given that all of our those construct lab construction is basically halted.

Right.

I'm not holding my breath to expect that that'll happen anytime soon.

Thank you.

My time's up, but thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, but but uh one last thing that like basically any place if we can if they build it, we will come, you know, uh like the line from uh the movie there, but uh similar to like if there's uh part of the study that was done with the city too, was like if there's any other new facilities going up somewhere, you know, where we have a chance to uh partner, come in with them, be it a library, be it a school, be it any sort of facility.

If there's economies of scale by by jumping out public works or updates, you know, that would give us the the ability to house uh additional units we could do it.

And with when I mentioned that we're adding uh an additional six paramedics to our uh ALS ranks there, we we do want to expand uh to be able to put an additional ALS unit on.

And you know, it's has been determined like where's the optimal site to launch that from, but we are in the process of expanding our ability in that as well.

Okay, good.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

Field of dreams, I think.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh okay, Councilor Fitzgerald, seven minutes.

Thank you, Janet Cosner.

Um, Dr.

Jakutu, Chief Hooley, thank you so much for all you do.

I know we've uh we both talk a lot.

Dr.

Kudu, we uh as the chair of the public health uh committee here, we talk quite often.

And so uh appreciate all the work that you guys do in our collaboration on a lot of the issues um that are affecting our city.

Uh so many places to begin, but I guess I'll just sort of jump right in.

What you talked about uh a new pilot in your PATS program.

Um could you just elaborate more on what that new pilot is?

I don't know if I'm as familiar as I should be with that.

Uh well, let me start by thanking you, Councillor Fitzgerald, for your support in a lot of the work that we're doing.

I think it's been an incredibly important to have your leadership at the table for a lot of these discussions.

Um so just to clear clarify, so PASS is one of our um, I think most important programs because essentially what we're doing is directing people to treatment, and we're doing so on a voluntary basis for the entire city, not just for Mass and Cass.

So I think that's really really important.

Um, and as I said, PASS has made you know more than a thousand client placements, and I think it's been going on for a long time, so I think that's incredibly important.

One of the things that we've tried to do this year is um really focus in on understanding where people are going to make sure that they have a warm handoff from one step to the next, and to follow them.

Okay, so part of this new program is to really think about how we keep clients in care as opposed to just referring them off to care.

And so that is really what we've been doing is focusing in on client follow-up and navigation, and that's part of this pilot to kind of see how that works and how much effort it takes to put you know put that kind of system in place.

Because as you know, that's the major issue is that oftentimes we have people bouncing back and forth, and yeah.

So Path has been around for some time, but this is a good thing.

Oh, yeah, pass has been around for a long time, but this is a po this is a pilot that we're working to strengthen, that we're working on to strengthen our efforts.

And when you say that the number of the thousand people, that's through the pilot or through paths.

No, that's the pass.

That's the pass entirely.

And that's been around.

Okay.

And I I think there was something that there are sites that you discussed.

Where are those sites located?

Matapan campus.

It's the matter.

Right.

So you're you're asking about the two sites that I mentioned, transitions and entree familiar.

Yes, yes.

So we have a full continuum of services that we offer through the Boston Public Health Commission, um, and the pieces that we are focused in on on the Mattapan campus would be transitions, which is 65-bed facility, we have men and women there.

This is a a TSS, you know, um transitional support services for short-term residential treatment for substance use disorder.

And then we have entree familiar, which is specifically focused on women who are either pregnant, postpartum, have children who are living with substance use disorder.

Great, thank you.

Um obviously we've been especially at Mass and Cass, but really citywide to your point again.

We've been working with um CRT a lot.

I noticed they were there, they're not mentioned, but it's still uh I know an important component to the work they do.

How do they fit into paths?

Because I know that there's their own sort of uh other, you know, um selected providers we're working with and trying to get placement.

Um and I think there's some some decent numbers.

I don't have this as a fact, but since the fall, maybe um, you know, putting about 900 people in a recovery with about I I think I heard last night it was like 65% of those people go on to the next level of recovery, which is I think actually the more important number, right?

It's not just detox and back out and sort of saying who's taking that next step in the in recovery.

Um is there coordination there with PAF as well?

So, yes, there's coordination with with CRT.

We're all in partnership together, um, as you you know, CRT, NEST, Boston Public Health Commission.

So what we're doing is again for the entire city, and it's something that's been very long-term, and it is about putting people in treatment for a variety of different substance use disorders.

It's not, you know, just for opioids and certainly not just again for the mass and caste area.

Um, so it's a it's different in in that respect, but I think we're working hand in hand, and sometimes you know, CRT refers to PAVs because PASS is looking for detox beds in the same way that CRT is.

So I think we're working together, um, just meeting this overwhelming need.

So we I think we have to maintain both strategies, and so uh those uh the individuals that paths place, uh the type of treatment that they go to that is the mostly TSS?

No, no, no.

So we refer straight to detox, similar to CRT.

We sent to CSS, we sent to TSS, you know.

I mean, I think we we do the continuum and we try to get people on medication for medication assisted uh treatment, you know, uh for opio use disorder.

We really look at the entire um services that may be available and do what's in the best interest of the patient.

Sure.

And transportation to these programs, is that provided through you all?

Yes, we do offer transportation to programs.

Okay, um within the CSS and recovery based programs, uh, what safeguards supervision standards and clinical protocols are in place to protect the individuals actively working towards recovery from exposure to the ongoing listed substance abuse that could occur.

Because if um or just uh, you know, I guess the ones that that we run, right?

There's still some issues of use on site, things like that.

Oh, I see.

How is that how is that documented?

How is that um, you know, is there some to make sure it doesn't happen, and what is the sort of protocol around when it does?

So I I'm just gleaning from your question.

Maybe you're referring to like our low threshold that's inside of our shelters for example.

Yes, right, exactly.

So just to say, you know, in 112, we do have 75 beds, friends floor, so that's low threshold within 112, a very large facility.

Similarly, in Willows, you know, we have um a number of beds.

So I think um that's a challenge, yeah, right.

Um we established these low threshold spaces because we wanted to provide uh a space, a spot for people coming out of the tent encampments.

And I think we did that and we did it well, it's been successful, but it is a challenge to provide people with sort of um uh sorry, provide people with um this sort of separation per se from people you know who are living in recovery.

And for some people, I don't know that that makes a huge difference, but some people, of course, it does.

So it's it's an ongoing challenge, and I don't think that there's a perfect system per se for anyone.

Gotcha.

Thank you very much.

Um, I know it in the state budget we're looking to get some money to go towards some of the uh what the uh mass and caste working group was working towards.

I think uh hopefully I think there's eight million dollars going into BSAS that I hope that we can use.

Uh I know that's statewide, but I hope that there is a uh I would act, I would ask for your help in lobbying for a concentration of that money at least uh to go towards the efforts that we do here in the city, given that it's probably the biggest one.

So look forward to your collaboration on that.

And I'll just lastly say uh I also want to get our working session on Kratom uh scheduled so we can work towards that because I prefer to get that citywide ban um and get that stuff off.

I see.

So uh I just want to not forget about that either.

So I just wanted to mention uh thank you very much.

I do have more questions, but I'll get them to you in the next round, Mr.

Hooley.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chip.

Okay, thank you.

Councillor Pepin, seven minutes.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and good morning, everyone.

Thanks for being here, Chief Director and Chief.

Um, really excited for this hearing and also just congratulations to the MS on your week yesterday at the city council meeting.

I was able to introduce the resolution, and I'm just very thankful for the work that you all do.

It's I was able to visit last year your headquarters over in West Roxbury, and I fell in love with everything about EMS.

Um, I even thought I wanted to become an EMS um employee, and then I got in the car with deputy superintendent Sean Alexander and I said maybe not.

Not kidding, shout out to him.

It was just so much adrenaline.

We were driving.

And I'm I'm saying this not on as a joke, but serious, seriously.

It's I don't know how you do it.

Because when you get in that car and you hear the alarm, the computer send you a message that there's a car coming in, and you don't know where you're gonna walk into.

You don't know what's expecting you behind the other side of the door, how you're gonna respond to that.

I I did it for a couple of hours and I was I was like shaking.

I was like, wow, and I was just so impressed with the work that EMS does.

So just thank you to every single one of the employees to anyone out there listening.

You guys do heroes work.

And I do want to give a specific shout out because this happened very recently in my district.

Um, I'm gonna read it super quickly.

Where are you?

I'm taking my time because this is important.

So on Friday, May 8th, um B Boston EMF Lieutenant Ed McCarthy.

He rushed into a building on Cummings Highway in my district, and he did that while the building was literally on fire, knocking on doors, making sure that people were getting out, and he did all this before the Boston Fire Department even showed up on scene.

Um so I just I just want to thank him for that.

He helped save the lot of residents in my district.

So thank you for that.

Um I want to obviously I'm gonna focus some of a good portion of my questions towards EMS specifically.

I get a lot of questions from residents, especially in Hyde Park about the timing, about the access to to hospitals.

We are, if not the dish the neighborhood, one of the top two neighborhoods furthest away from hospitals, um, especially with the closure of the Carney, and then we either have to go to Milton or the Faulkner and JP or RSC or anywhere else.

Wanted to ask you, I was able to get some updates from you all last year.

Want to ask if there's any updates or any improvements on the timing of ambulance showing up from a resident its home to a hospital.

What is that looking like?

What is the potential of expanding or adding a second ambulance to the Hyde Park region?

Shout out to the A18 ambulance, they do a great job.

But why don't you just put that question out there and see what you guys were thinking about?

Okay.

Thank you.

And thanks for your uh kind words, thanks for the resolution.

Yes today and uh uh been yes, uh McCarthy did uh a great job.

And I was just actually I was coming back from a well uh awake I was listening to on the radio was uh one of one of our members' mom uh who had passed and heard it all going on live over the radio.

It was uh yeah I'm thank god it wasn't like five and six in the morning or it was uh where it was in the afternoon.

But uh yeah, they got a lot of people out.

In fact, fire was taking some people out on the ladders afterwards, so uh it was it was a little uh little little show winded himself for a little bit, but then uh insisted on staying and then was back on the job the next morning.

So that's uh thank you.

I'll pass that on to him with your personal remarks on uh, yeah, uh as I was mentioning earlier.

We we we have seen uh some some reductions uh again, we've moved the needle a little bit, and certainly in the priority one response times uh in every section of the city.

Uh less than you know less than uh less than a minute, but we we at least we've been able to turn a tide that have been going the other way for a while.

We've seen uh in roster uh travel times uh w like for example I I know in Dorchester, but I could also I can look at the travel times from say Rosendel say uh I knew uh transport times went up certainly in Dorchester because you took the Connie out of it, but our actual response times got a little bit better with the uh addition of uh the additional uh ambulance that was out there.

So uh it does it does make a difference.

Uh we did uh uh formally add an ambulance uh 17, which is principally for Rosendale, but is based out of the Flockner and Jamaica Plain.

Uh uh on the night shift, we added that on there, as well as uh the we've been routinely uh adding uh additional units in the 20s, like a twenty-two or twenty-three, and a lot of the ones we we do try to keep out that in because we know that between Hyde Park and West Roxbury that even if the call volume say is not as much as say uh maybe central Dorchester or downtown, the travel times are longer and the the transports to the hospitals are a bit longer, and then getting units back out there.

So that is something that we are very cognizant of, and when we do add additional units, we really do take that into consideration.

And uh we will be looking for that.

We we we we do have another recruit class coming out.

We would love to be able to add to the uh um uh standing compliment, uh minimum staffing as we call it.

Yeah, and uh we always take a real careful look at that where we can do that, yeah.

If there's anywhere that I can advocate for the new graduating class, potentially couple to go to extra high park.

Um I would love to advocate for that.

I don't know if that's a letter or something, but um yeah, we'll love to to advocate for more um potentially a second ambulance in the A18 area.

Yes, or uh or what we call uh like zone impact units that uh that we'd be out again, they're they're not just I'm here just for Hyde Park or I'm here just for Roger and Force Rogers.

We we're somebody you you move the resources around.

Uh you know, we started doing that uh you know s you know several years ago downtown where Amy I'll say it is supposed to be a backup day one to weigh 15, what have you uh or two way seven, but you know that you know it is this clear the need for us to uh add at least another zone impact unit or two, and that's usually what the ones in the 20s are right now, but we'll uh I'll get back to you on specific plans for that.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Councillor Culpepper, uh, seven minutes.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Good morning, uh Dr.

Ojoutu and I remember when I my first week here, someone said to me, make sure you meet Jim Hooley.

He's the best we got.

And so just want to thank you.

Uh Director Hooley for joining us this morning.

Uh Dr.

Ozaku, I wanted to really uh commend you for the community-led mental health crisis response pilot that is looks like it's gonna get up and going.

And I wanted to uh especially recognize the uh work that went into it by the Boston People's Response Campaign, the the city school and the Boston Liberation Health Group.

Um and to all my city council colleagues who have continually fought to turn this model into a reality.

Uh I think everyone deserves a lot of credit for making sure that it happens.

Uh and when you look at uh where we are today, you look at uh we talked a lot to the uh Boston Police Commissioner about mental health responses and working on some hearing orders dealing with the response from the dispatcher for the Boston Police Department when there's a mental health call and being able to identify whether that's a mental health call once you do how do you handle it?

Do you call the EMTs?

Do you send the police?

So we're working on that.

But yeah, just I'm sorry, Council Colpe, I'm pausing your time.

I'm just we so we're having two hearings today with with uh BPHC, and maybe this isn't your question, but mental health, we will be talking about that this afternoon.

So that's where you're going.

So I can't talk about the mental health pilot.

You can talk about it, and I think you know, Dr.

Ojakutu may be able to talk, but there will be plenty of time to talk about that.

Do you want me to hold the pilot until this afternoon?

I think yes, I think there are I think that is for this afternoon.

Uh, which I announced at the beginning, but it's I didn't well, you know.

They may just defer.

You can ask me a question, they may just say, well, we can answer that this afternoon.

If I defer it till this afternoon, then I'll get double the time to talk to them.

Divided in two, yes, you'll be getting double divided by two.

Okay, well, uh just want to commend you and uh even Council Webb commending you two for the work to help to get this pilot off the ground.

Um I'll save these questions, Doctor, for later.

We can talk more about the mental health crisis response pilot.

Um, but uh when you look at your budget, and we know that the the opera funds are now gone and they were 15% of your total budget, the offer funds.

Cool.

The 15% of our budget is federal funding, but that's not all ARPA.

Actually, it's very little of that as our.

How much of that was offered?

In FY27, it's going to be probably our projection is going to be less than a million, probably, because it's the RPS be spent by December 31st of this year.

So most of our spending happened this fiscal year, not next year.

Right.

For fiscal year 27.

That's what that's what that's what I'm talking about.

Right.

For next year, they'll be down 15%.

No.

But the total budget will be down 15%.

No, our total budget, 15% of our total budget will be made up by federal funding.

Right.

But it will be down in fiscal year 27 at 15%.

No, no, no, it's down.

It was around 50 million in 26, it'll be 40 million total in 2020.

41 million.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In 27.

And so when you look at the loss of those funds, what specific programs will be impacted by the loss of those funds.

So many of our programs are actually transitioned already because this was expected.

A number of our recovery programs are actually being funded by the opioid settlement.

One of them was actually the wastewater work, and that's being transferred on to our city project under the health science and innovation.

How much was that opioid settlement?

The opioid settlement right now, we have a four-year plan to spend just under $18 million.

But the entire value is currently expected to be around 40, but that's up till 2040 or so.

About 40 million.

Yeah.

And the uh I heard you mentioned Dr.

Oduk to the syringe collection workforce.

Yes.

That's 25 person team.

Right.

So we actually have four different programs to collect syringes.

We have our mobile uh team, our team that actually goes out in response to uh 311 requests.

So those are red jackets.

Uh so yeah, we also have the registers, so that's our outreach team, and so they do proactive sweeps throughout playgrounds, parks, um, schools, and then we also have the new market bid team, and they have individuals who are responding to you know concerns, but they're also doing proactive work throughout the neighborhoods, and then we have kiosk where people return syringes.

So we have four different ways to pick up syringes.

And so under the back to work program, how many are there under the back to work program?

The total 25-person team?

So we cover, we pay for 25, but there are additional um, there are additional FTs, and I would have to get back to you on the total number.

Okay, and the uh for fiscal year 27, are you going to expand that more into the Nubian Square?

Because we're now beginning to focus more on Nubian Square.

Can you just talk about that a little bit?

Sure, absolutely.

Um, thank you, Counselor Culpepper.

I think there's been uh a lot of intentional effort to meet the needs in Nubian Square and you know, broader in Roxbury, not just in Nubian Square.

Um, so New Market actually, the back to work program actually already expanded into newbie, and so they're working there, as well as our outreach teams and other services.

Certainly, we respond to 311s in Nubian.

And interestingly, if you look at our 311 data, which we follow very closely, we've seen a decrease in 311 calls compared to this time last year.

So I think we're doing the proactive work to pick up needles in the area, but certainly, you know, we are very intensely focused on you know the Roxbury area as well as all of our neighborhoods to ensure that there are no needles that are um anywhere on the city streets.

26 seconds.

I I got it.

I know I'm my time is winding down.

I want to talk a little bit about the laundry services for the homelessness shelter.

And there was a proposal that the group of students propose for uh doing laundry services in-house.

We know that well, let me ask you this the laundry services for the homeless were about a million dollars.

I'd have to get back to you on that exactly.

Let me let me look up real quick.

Okay, what can we assume that it was about a million dollars?

That's the information I have that it was about a million dollars.

And so the students, a group of students are created a proposal to bring laundry services in-house that would significantly reduce the cost.

Uh are you are you aware of that proposal that the students propose?

So I am not aware of it.

However, I think any workforce development opportunities are a good thing, and we'd be happy to review any proposal that the students have uh developed.

Yeah, I've got the proposal right here.

During the break, uh we can look at it and uh Mr.

Chair.

Uh all due respect to you and my colleagues.

I will wait until the second round for my additional questions.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um, okay, and again uh I've got a couple questions uh from the uh from East Boston here uh from uh district one counselor Coletta Zapata, who and I'm only doing this if you're on maternity leave or paternity leave.

So uh please all my colleagues, none of my colleagues get any ideas.

So I'm just I'm gonna ask some questions from uh Councillor Collectip, and I'll have a couple questions and we'll go to public testimony.

Um, again, this is Councilor Cleta Zapata.

Okay.

Um in the fiscal year 27 uh budget.

What resources or staffing are being allocated towards the domestic and sexual violence prevention initiative?

Is that for this afternoon?

That's for this afternoon.

Okay, sorry.

Uh uh, are there um uh okay?

I think this is also this afternoon.

Um uh could you discuss drink spiking this morning?

Or are we doing what are we doing in terms of victims of drink spiking?

What resources do we have in place?

Well, what I will say about drink spiking, I think it's an incredibly important issue is that we're in preparedness mode for FIFA and World Cup and all of the activity and travel that will come into the city, and we've created some community education materials around you know the potential awareness to raise awareness around drink spiking, but I don't have any um we don't have any uh programs that are currently existing that are focused on drink spiking.

Okay.

Um I apologize and then community safety programming is that this afternoon.

Okay, this was this afternoon, and then uh um I don't know, I don't know if this is uh BPH's BPHC's role in addressing uh public health impacts from persistent noise issues.

Is that do you think?

That's also I can talk about that this afternoon because it's um community initiatives bureau.

Okay, I'll put those aside till this afternoon.

Thank you very much.

Uh okay, so just a few questions here from the chair.

Um can you talk about the uh the uh the national opioid settlement fund?

Uh so what's the status of that?

You know, we hear from advocates that maybe that um that it's not being allocated or there's money being held, but I I'm just trying to figure out what what's happening with the fund.

I know on the website it's like 18 million has come in and we've allocated it, but is there any money being held back and or do we have plans for what's coming in the you know each year?

So as it stands right now, we have a little under 18 million available, um, and we've allocated that, budgeted that out for the next four years.

Um that's being budgeted in a number of different categories.

So one is housing, two is case management, three community activities, so community outreach, and that's primarily Narcan distribution, and then we also have, you know, just general um distribution of Narcan community education and supports.

We do have some money that um is available and that we are going to put out for RFP soon that will go to communities uh to do what we call boots on the ground sort of services, um, particularly around overdose response and awareness and decreasing stigma.

So that's the opioid settlement fund dollars that we currently have available.

There's no money beyond that that's you know unbudgeted at this time.

Why does it take so long?

I mean, we we have the money now, eighteen million, I think we get a million a year for the next 10 years or so.

Um like why would it take four years to get that money out the door?

I mean, just right.

So get it out the door.

I would say that all of the money is officially budgeted, so it's going out the door.

Like, for example, we s we um have community-based organizations that have received funding.

We have folks at uh Elliott Community Services who've received funding, we have folks in low threshold, particularly um, you know, uh victory programs who are running uh, you know, uh one of our low threshold sites.

They're receiving funding, it's just it's just spending it.

But so it's it's out the door, it's not you know, sort of sitting with us unutilized, it's definitely being being used.

And I think it's been very successfully being used, particularly given our decrease in in overdose mortality and the other metrics that we've been following.

Okay.

For the I guess the coordinated response team, can you talk about like what you know what's what's the it's been a great resource?

Uh we've had you we've reached out to them a couple times in Jamaica Plain.

There's sort of, you know, especially in the warmer weather, there's some I don't know whether there's encampments or just areas where people gather around the Forest Hills T station.

How is that team working and what's the plan for it in the future?

So the coordinated response team is within the mayor's office.

It's not within the Boston Public Health Commission.

We do work with them and mainly what we do, we try to provide additional supports as needed, particularly around transportation and referrals to treatment, but then also working with providers and the high utilizer table that I mentioned.

So they are doing their work, their deflection program, and they're doing that in conjunction with NEST and BPD.

Um that's the coordinated response program.

And is it I mean, like what's your in your expert opinion?

I guess is that uh an important part of this, you know, sort of network of services that we can provide, or you know, like how does that play in terms of your planning for addressing these issues?

So I think it's it has been important in moving people, it has been effective, I should say, in moving people out of the particularly the mass and caste and sort of south end area.

Um it really is focused in on the mayor's goal, which is to end outdoor substance use and improve quality of life or in that area as well as in other areas as you mentioned, um, because you know other neighborhoods are certainly called.

So I do think that that is of critical importance.

Um as I presented and then responded to a couple other questions.

We have lots of pathways that are focused in on the full spectrum of substance use treatment and supports as well as co-occurring mental health issues for people.

So I think our focus as the health commission is really on health, though obviously I'm concerned about you know quality of life, and of course, I mentioned harm reduction and syringe collection.

Okay.

Um and then I I guess uh just another area, another um in my district, talking about low threshold housing, uh, and and I I've been supportive of the Lindia and and the envisioned hotel uh sort of transition to you know more long-term housing.

I mean, how have those facilities uh you know uh are they providing the services, are they uh you know helping sort of deal with this problem?

Are they exacerbating it?

I you know how what kind of role do those facilities play in the city's ability to you know, so I think that's I think that's a that's a great question.

These facilities were established as we were trying to move people out of the tent encampments into more stable settings.

And um, unfortunately, you know, we had six, we now have three uh locations for them, including the Envision Hotel and 112 and Willows.

So we do have some beds, but not as many as we had before.

Um we've looked at outcomes, and we're still looking at outcomes for people going into those sites.

We've noted um improvements in uh access to medical care, psychiatric care, um access to MAT or or Medicaid assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, um, improvements in quality of life, quality of sleep, lots of great data there, and we've moved 200 of those people on to permanent supportive housing.

So they are moving onward.

Envision hotel will move, as I understand it in talking to Sarah Porter um and the victory programs.

They are, you know, that that's the longer term plan.

But it is good to have places where there is, you know, sort of, if you will, churn, meaning people, you know, sort of coming in and out as opposed to staying currently, so that if we do have people who are on the street and people in encampments, we do have a resource available to them.

So I think it's an incredibly important intervention in the grand scheme of all the things that we've done for the city.

Okay, and we've lost space, is that we have, yes.

Okay, so more important than before when we had extra space.

Yes, okay, just I'm just trying to figure how to respond to questions about that.

So I guess uh uh for uh Chief Hooley uh Rivermore, the facility, you know, how has do you have data on how that has impacted response times?

Has it helped with response times?

I know that's something we talked that was discussed when it was opening.

Um, well, in the long run, the strategic run it's certainly helping because we're we're we've been able to run uh successive training programs out there, put train more people to be empties, uh train more recruits, field more people out on the street.

Uh uh shorter term uh with the addition of a couple of ambulance base out there, we've which was a real bonus to the academy itself was uh a godsend, but being able to get a couple of bays out there was uh also very logistically important for us.

Uh we were able to uh uh relocate uh ambulance five, uh 24-hour amulets from the Faulkner facility, which is technically JP, uh, put them out there to start and end their shifts every day from there.

Uh, ambulence 17, the which was the uh principality amulets that covered Rosendale that they used to have to change out of uh uh 2001 River Street down in Mattapin, pick up the truck there, drive back, go back through a shift change, and uh and do that uh two times a day.

Uh now they begin and end their shift out out of uh the Faulkner.

So that brings them that much closer to like uh a response zone that we usually want to have them in.

And then we've again we've added that, been able to add that on to uh uh a night shift on out there as well.

That and so a lot of that we get all dissolved, say is one of the bonuses of having Rivermore between the training site and the uh and the garage with the uh additional bay that was out there too.

We've been able to uh routinely field other ambulances out there, uh, principally the last uh year.

It's been where we put training trucks out, the ones they we call the May 90 something that series, that's a two recruits and a training officer.

We put them out, deploy them from there.

Sometimes we were able to run two of them out of there because we have a third bay that we use for a uh to do simulation training, but that can be pressed into service as an extra bay.

So that does give us another spot out there to send ambulances from.

So I think that that helped uh that there's been again the tremendous incremental uh uh reduction in the uh response times and for uh uh West Roxbury as well.

So it it's certainly helping.

Okay, thank you very much.

Uh so we're gonna go to uh public testimony and then for a second round of questions from my colleagues.

Uh okay, uh Jason uh Yudkins, uh Miles Royal, then uh, sorry, Rory, um Doring, and uh James McKee.

In that order.

Uh, you can use either one of these microphones.

Um whenever you're ready, you'll have uh two minutes.

Just introduce yourself and I'll start the timer after that.

So I'm requesting from the council an additional couple minutes because there's seven of us.

A lot of them would like to yield their time to me, so I can go through my entire speech if that's okay with the council.

Uh that that's okay just a little closer to the microphone.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, and then I know there is two people that have submitted testimony to you, Councillor Weber, and then someone on Zoom, just so that it's on the record.

Okay, I'm gonna I'll set the timer at uh I mean I don't understand.

You're gonna give five people's testimonies.

How much time are you looking for?

Yeah, uh probably about four minutes.

I'll take four minutes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, counselor.

Uh, first I want to start off with thank you for recognizing Boss EMS during EMS week.

Uh and your membership and we I know our membership appreciates your support and appreciation all year long, but especially this week when you recognized us.

So good morning, council, and all of our distinguished guests here today in our panel.

My name is Jason Yekins.

I stand before you as president of the BPPA EMS division.

Representing the EMTs and paramedics of Boss EMS.

We recognize Boston's in a difficult financial climate right now, but let's be clear.

Boss CMS cannot be placed can be, sorry about that.

Boss EMS cannot be placed where the city chooses to cut, freeze, or delay any investment.

We have allowed this to happen in the past quite frequently and often out of professionalism, sacrifice in the belief that goodwill that we'll do more with less eventually will be recognized, appreciated, and corrected.

Yet we continue to wait.

The demands placed upon our EMTs and paramedics have grown too great, the consequences too serious, and the needs of the city too urgent.

EMTs at Boss EMS are incorrectly compensated every single day.

Let me reiterate that for this council, because it is so important for all of you to know.

Our EMTs that I represent are not properly compensated in so many different ways.

We have the front line of public health in the city.

When someone calls when someone has nowhere else to turn, they call us.

When someone can't afford primary care, they call us.

When someone overdoses, stops breathing, suffers traumatic injuries, experienced psychological crises, or collapses into cardiac arrest, they call us.

No matter the neighborhood, no matter the hour, no matter the danger or stress involved, Boston EMS comes.

We need continuous investment into our system so we stay operational.

We need more ambulances, personnel, modern EMS stations, improved personal protective equipment, and a reliable infrastructure.

Historically, EMS is often treated as an afterthought.

But when crisis occurs, Boss EMS is always there and is always ready.

We proved it during the Boston Marathon bombing, major city events, active shooter incidences, COVID-19, and this summer with the 250th anniversary, tall ships and FIFA.

Our EMTs and paramedics are against all odds, and they will arise yet again to the occasion to be yet another example of how Boston EMS will function with limited funding.

We do this all because we care deeply about the citizens of Boston and because human life matters.

But there comes a point where dedication and goodwill can no longer justify inequities.

Today, a five-year EMT at Boss EMS is paid nearly 60% less than a firefighter.

60.

Despite responding to many of the exact same emergencies, standing shoulder to shoulder, while often handling significant higher call volume and enduring constant physical, emotional, and psychological stress.

Explain to me how this is possible, and yet we're asked and told to quietly accept it.

And this is why retention continues to suffer.

Dedicated professionals leave because they simply can't afford to stay.

I'll repeat it.

Dedicated, experienced, compassionate professionals leave Boston EMS every year because they simply can't afford to stay.

That should be alarming to everyone in this chamber.

Wages is one factor, and I'll remind you, 60% less.

We're here today to ask: does Boston want to continue to have a world-class EMS system capable of meeting the growing needs of this city?

Or are we willing to allow for a subpar department to blossom from the lack of funding or direct support?

I ask all of you today, do not place EMS on the back burner.

I know you all would want highly trained, experienced professionals arriving quickly, equipped properly, staffed adequately, and operating at the highest level possible.

If you want the best, demand it.

Stand beside us, support us, fight for what we deserve.

All we want, do all we want is to be treated equally.

Because until you are standing into someone's home during a cardiac arrest, a pediatric arrest, with a family yelling, crying, praying, begging for their child to breathe again, while everyone else that responded to that same call looks towards those EMTs and paramedics praying they will do the impossible.

You cannot fully understand what Boss EMS carries for this city.

Property can be replaced, human life cannot.

So I urge this council, invest in our growth, improve our infrastructure, support retention and recruitment.

The members I represent perform one of the most difficult, thankless jobs in public safety with remarkable professionalism, compassion, and heart.

The people of Boston deserve the best EMS system possible.

Help us continue to provide it.

I'll be here if you guys have any questions for me.

Okay, thank you.

Miles, uh Rory, then James.

You get two minutes, and if I cut if I try to make you wrap up, it's you can blame Jason for that.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

My name is Miles Royal, and I am an EMT with Boston EMS, working ambulance for in the South End, and our EMS legislative aid for our union.

First, I'd like to say happy EMS week to all the working members of Boston EMS and across this great nation.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today in support of Boston EMS and emergency and our emergency medical services across the city.

Every single day, Boston EMS responds to the most critical moments in people's lives.

We answer calls in homes, schools, shelters, nursing homes, facilities, businesses, highways, and on sidewalks.

We respond to cardiac arrests, shootings, overdoses, mental health emergencies, traumatic injuries, respiratory distress, and calls involving our most vulnerable residents.

Boston EMS responds to 140,000 plus emergency medical incidents every single year, making it one of the busiest municipal EMS systems in New England.

When someone calls 9-1 because a loved one cannot breathe, is overdosing, or is suffering from a medical emergency, they are not thinking about budgets or staffing shortages.

They're expecting highly trained professionals to arrive quickly with the equipment, medication, and support needed to save a life.

That expectation only becomes reality when the city continues to invest in EMS.

Funding improvements for EMS means investing in advanced life support paramedics, BOS support EMTs, new and more additional ambulances to the fleet, updated medical equipment, modern station, and continued training.

All of this so providers can deliver the highest standard of care possible.

It means ensuring that ALS units are available when seconds matter during strokes, heart attacks, or severe trauma.

It means improving response times and reducing the strain placed on already extended crews.

Supporting EMS not only is about ambulances and equipment, it's also about supporting the people behind the uniform.

EMS providers regularly experience traumatic incidents that most people will never witness in their lifetime.

We carry the weight of pediatric deaths, suicides, violence, overdose, and repeated human suffering while being expected to immediately move on to the next emergency.

The mental and emotional toll of this work is real, and I want to thank you all for being here.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Rory and uh James.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Rory Deering.

I'm an EMT with Boston EMS.

Boston EMS crews spend long hours inside and around ambulances every day.

And an aging fleet creates growing concerns not only for reliability but also for health and safety.

Older ambulances often produce increased tailpipe exhaust emissions, exposing providers, patients, and the public to diesel fumes and poor air quality while vehicles idle at hospitals, on scenes, and at stations.

These emissions can contribute to respiratory irritation, headaches, and long-term health concerns for frontline workers who already operate in high stress environments.

Modernizing the ambulance fleet with newer clean air vehicles is an investment in public health, workforce safety, and a healthier environment for the communities we serve across Boston.

In the meantime, regular, proactive vehicle maintenance for the fleet that we have is the best strategy to protect our workforce, our patients, and the public.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, James, last up.

Hello, my name is James McCabe.

I'm the vice president of the BPPA EMS division.

We represent the EMTs and paramedics of work for the city of Boston.

First off, I want to thank all the city counselors, Chief Hooley and Mayor Wu for all the advancements in staffing that we have had recently.

Boston is a world-class city that is known as a medical hub for not only North America but the world.

We want to ensure that EMS system for that city remains at the forefront of the country to be commiserate with that world-class medical attention that Boston has become a beacon for.

That being said, the unfortunate violence that occurs in this city throughout the year, the victims of that violence are treated by our members.

And the positive outcomes for that treatment is the thing that has been touted time and time again about Boston being the safest city in the country.

Without the skill and knowledge and the ability of our members, those numbers would be drastically different.

I know the members of Boston EMS are amongst the most humble people you will ever meet, despite their daily life-saving care.

That is a positive trait.

But we as a service have not touted our excellent work that has been done in the past.

And unfortunately, I think being humble has led to a massive disparity in pay received for our members in comparison to other first responding agencies of the same responding, sorry, the same responding agencies that we arrive with on the vast number of our calls.

And speaking on disparity, currently EMS is not considered essential work.

Our people and our work are essential for the daily functioning of not only our city but every city across the country.

We see the news and we are aware of the economic challenging decisions that you in this room will have to face in the coming weeks.

We are here to ensure that our service continues forward to reflect being at the forefront of medical treatment and the ability to respond to all the citizens and the visitors of the city of Boston to assist in their medical needs, and is not halted but continues pushing forward.

Thank you for your time.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, yeah, is that it?

No.

Okay.

Thank you very much for your testimony.

We have one person uh virtually.

If you're online, you'll get an invitation to join as a panelist.

Nicole May.

Oh, no?

Maybe.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry.

You hear me now?

Yes, we can hear you.

Uh uh, whenever you're talking about.

I'm sorry, this is George.

This is George May.

Okay.

I thought I'd change that.

Yeah, no.

Uh I my daughter had control of my zoom for a while, and I was coming on as some, you know, some strange fifth grade fictional character.

But uh, okay.

Uh so yeah, whenever you're ready, uh you get started.

I'll start the timer.

You'll have two minutes uh to speak.

Thank you very much.

Good afternoon, and thank you.

A few minutes of your time to speak about Boston Mess.

My name is George May IV.

I have worked at Boston Met since 2006, so about 20 years.

I'm a state certified paramedic, and my current assignment is A7 Nights out of East Boston.

I'm a pass, I'm passionate about my job, my career, and the careers of all EMS employees, and also about the people of Boston.

Yes, I did do the work.

I did it a call, that awful call at the airport and uh at the Boston for the bowl call last week.

Sorry, it's a little hard for me.

Susan.

This call was a very dynamic call working with Massport Fire and State Police.

One piece of equipment that was missing from the Boston Mass employees that were on scene with myself and my partner, was an individual PFD, a life jacket.

We had to transverse multiple objects, rocks, and get into a boat to assist the patient with the severe injuries, and also traverse back to the ambulance and bring the young lady to the hospital.

Equipment is a very important part to all staffing members of Boss CMS.

Our own PPE, ballistic vests, turnout gears, our use or equipment, to name a few.

I hope you take this into your consideration outside of your most important assets, which is your all your employees of Boston MS.

Again, thank you for your time and your consideration in this matter.

Okay, thank you.

Um, so we're gonna go to a second round of of questions.

I don't know if the panel had any.

I mean, the the last Mr.

May, no, okay.

Any response to that?

Okay, um, Counselor Flynn.

Uh see, uh, we're gonna go with five minutes for a second round, okay.

Whenever you're ready.

Thank you, Mr.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair, and thank you again to the um administration team that is here.

Respect the work you're doing.

I listen closely to every every comment, including the public testimony from the frontline workers from the frontline EMTs and in paramedics.

They highlighted some concerns that I was that I was aware of, um, but it's important for the public to be aware of as well.

They talked about retention.

They talked about recruiting.

They talked about a salary that at times is not all respectful to them and their families, unable really to uh support a family, and they're they're going, they're saving lives every day, they're saving lives of residents and visitors that come to our city and the salary is is still low.

And well, let me ask a question.

Um, Chief, or to or to Dr.

Ojakutu.

Why is the salary low and what are we gonna do about increasing the salary?

Well, well, the little established practice since I got hired here, was uh there's I've always been a member of well, uh a couple of different unions asked me, then B BBPA.

But we also have the uh the superintendents, the deputy superintendents there in uh Cena, and all of the uh wage skills, wages, hours, working conditions are all part of the uh collective bargaining agreement, and uh similar to police fire, public works, there's a collective bargaining process.

That's the yeah, no, so that's the that's the reason the salary is established, but I I don't know if there is something that the city officials in terms of elected officials are not doing, and I'm not blaming senior leadership at your at your department.

I don't necessarily think elected officials understand how important this job is, and because we don't understand how important this job is, we don't advocate for the right resources, the right support, the right training, the right equipment, and salary.

Um yes, uh the the salary is negotiated through collective bargaining, we all support collective bargaining, but it's also even probably more important that city officials have to acknowledge that the salary of EMTs and paramedics is low.

I remember when the the salary of the police was very low.

I remember when the salary of firefighters was very low.

I I was born and raised here, so I remember I remember I remember those days, but to me the salaries increased at police, the salaries increase increased at fire, but here we are with EMTs and paramedics still trying to put food on their table for their kids.

So I don't think it's a collective bargaining issue.

I think it I think there has to be a result from elected officials in Boston that we value EMTs, we value paramedics, we value their professionalism.

We have the best hospitals in the world.

Um these EMTs and paramedics are providing exceptional medical care, certainly, but they're still not receiving a decent wage, and when you don't receive a decent decent wage, you start looking for other jobs because you just can't afford to put food on the table for your kids and for your spouse to pay your electorate bill, send your kids to an after school program.

So I think we have to come together as elected officials and finally acknowledge we have field, we have failed to address the needs of EMTs and paramedics as it relates to how low the salary is, and if we want to maintain probably the best EMTs in the param and paramedics in the country, we have to treat them with respect.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you.

Okay, uh Council Braden.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Chair.

And just to follow on on on uh where Councillor Flynn has left off, um I'm just curious how much um what's the regular what's the sort of uh um salary for an EMT uh and a paramedic at this point in time?

What are we good?

Uh I don't know if my contract broke with me, the the current one, but I uh at least I know uh the starting for EMTs, FY26 uh base pay is one thousand three hundred and fifteen ninety-eight a week plus a hundred and fifteen uh and fifteen cents has a hazard duty uh per week.

Uh so that so they step one for uh EMTs when they come on is seventy-four for eighteen.

Some of the differentials.

74 for 18.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um the other question I have is you do the does the EMT service generate revenue coming in for services provided?

Like if you have if you transport someone to a hospital in an emergency situation, you do you bill their insurance to pay for the service, and how much money does that bring in?

Yes, we do.

It brings uh it's just under 40 million, but that's actually in our budget.

But yeah.

And where where where was that?

Where's that in the budget book?

In the budget book, there's a line that says program revenue EMS, and it's a negative number because it actually reduces our appropriation because it offsets the amount the city pays.

40 million.

Yeah, it's roughly 40 million.

Okay, and um then the other question I had was I know we had a we had a shooting on Memorial.

I know the shootings all over the city, but this is across this across the river and in um in Cambridge, we had someone um shooting at cars with a long gun.

Um what what sort of preparedness do we have for incidents of mass casualties?

Like if there's an incident at the airport or there's a multiple pile-up on the highway, or how do we train and prepare for those those that those incidents?

And what sort of preparing are we doing for this summer?

Like we've already mentioned infectious diseases, but uh have we have we have we prepared for any possible mass casualty events around the all the events that are happening this summer?

Uh yes, and uh we uh that's so that we we start in the academy and we routinely do it up uh with the idea that uh yeah, large events you might have a larger, you know, maybe a unified command structure to begin with, but everything really starts from uh from the really from the ground up.

You know, if uh uh the first unit of the scene of a multi-car accident or if there's a bus involved, they they do uh whether it's uh EMT, BLS supervisor, uh they do a scene size up, they look for hazards access, how many number of patients do we have?

What are the what are the acuities?

Start sorting it out, established command, established sites direct, call for resources you need, and then it it keeps growing from there.

There's you know, different phases of of mass casual or multiple casualties.

It doesn't have to be hundreds to stress the city, it could be uh two dozen serious, right?

Or or several critical, or maybe somebody who's in trapped that might take a lot of work for a couple people to get one person out versus the people who that you can assist over to the curb.

So it but yes, we we try to do that.

We were in and we've really seen recently been doing uh uh refreshers with people, you know, with spot visits in the field.

I'm gonna try and get another question in to Dr.

Ochakutu.

So I'm gonna run and speak quickly.

Um but but uh when you get out of it.

And I'm gonna run out of time, Jim.

So I will follow up.

Thank you.

Okay.

It sort of illustrates the the incredible work that you folks do every day.

Dr.

Ojikudu, in terms of uh immigration enforcement, are we seeing um deterrence of immigrant families seeking health care and um I know a lot of the burdens may be picked up by our community health centers, and and how are we supporting them in that in this moment of sort of increased uh stress on our immigrant families?

So I appreciate the question, Councilor Breden.

Um so yes, we are seeing um situations where immigrant families are not seeking out care.

A lot of this we are hearing from the community health centers, but we're also hearing it from the hospitals, and some of it is it obviously anecdotal reports um at this time about, you know, people just being afraid, and it's not that necessarily that there's you know immigration present, visibly present.

Yeah, but people are certainly afraid, and I think that's been documented, you know, across the country, you know, over the course of the last, you know, years since all this immigration enforcement has has occurred.

In terms of supporting them, so we do meet with our community health centers, and we have been discussing strategies, education, outreach to um uh non-U.S.

born individuals, and certainly um through our mayor's health line, we've been working to provide people with guidance and support, as well as you know, health make sure that their health insurance is up to date, but really providing them with assurance that they need to be seeking out care and um that our community health centers and our hospitals, they're they're safe spaces for people.

Yes, that's that's been the messaging.

Yeah.

Very good.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Councilor Fitzgerald, five minutes.

Thank you, Chair.

Um and if people have questions and come back for a third round after this.

Um Chief, thank you for being here.

Um what do we think of the biggest operational challenges that EMS faces uh currently that funding uh additional funding if used appropriately could help address?

Uh like if you, you know, if you had an increase in the money, how would you use it?

What would it go to to think, you know, if you had to prioritize the issues that EMS does have internally, uh, what would be the best way to apply that funding to get the biggest bang for your buck?

All right.

Well, uh obviously our as you've you've heard uh uh not just from the membership but from my my earlier uh remarks, you know, eight, you know.

Uh maybe now, you know, close to 90% of our uh of our budget goes for personnel and our personnel are what really makes uh whether the uh trucks have 5,000 miles or 100,000 miles on them.

Uh we still need two EMTs, two paramedics, what have you, right?

Uh to work in them.

And if we want to put additional units on, it's uh, you know, as uh we've been trying to keep pace with uh uh uh staffing and approving.

Uh we've we've been able to add folks uh almost every single year last year where it was uh 12 additional ones that get uh uh provided uh this year with some of the you know constraints on a budget.

We're we're holding at that, but uh well we haven't completely realized the ones that were approved for last year, but we're getting there.

So obviously, if if we were able to uh uh have more sites to deploy from, we're talking about like where do you start and end your shifts, where do you put them and where you uh uh the number of units out there, make sure it would be strategic about where we're gonna put resources, which shifts where, what type of resources, uh those are things to to uh you know yes, from physical point of view, yeah, we want to do that responsibly as I know you didn't say like, oh, if I just give you a wish book, but uh but as far as uh you know given thoughtful thing to do it, uh yeah, it would be uh uh personnel, retaining personnel, being able to uh you know expand in the different ranks.

Uh because the there's a lot of things that uh we're able to do.

Uh yes, mostly we're you know, 911 service will respond to the emergencies.

But as several of you that have been out and uh and who are written or observed, hey, not everyone's going right to an operating room or right to a CCU.

Some people wind up in uh uh waiting rooms for hours because of uh uh what's happening in hospitals.

So are there other things we could do to get people to alternate care and some of the things we're that we have been doing with some of these other models that could make everybody's life a little bit easier, make the whole system more efficient.

So if I could in summary then then, people for that.

Yeah, in summary, personnel first and foremost, whether it's keeping, retaining, giving raises, et cetera, to those that are there now, but then you think about adding locations would be the second piece, right?

Adding locations, yeah, that's where we're starting.

Yep.

Um and in that, I know you said there's a 24-hour Dorchester um ambulance now.

Yeah, you know, yeah.

Is that the one that's out of the Carney or is there is that a different one at all?

No, that uh that's paramedic three?

They're uh 16 hours right now.

Uh uh there day and evening.

They're the ones that have been in there since that garage was put.

Uh, it's 21.

I believe they they shift change out of uh uh River Street over at Lowell Mills.

Okay.

Up up by there, and uh, so that's the 24 hour one.

So yeah, typically they would if they were clear, they may be told to post on a Carbon Square, but again, they're usually going to or coming from somewhere else.

Okay.

Um do we support expanding the 24 hour ALS uh in the neighborhoods in high-demand neighborhoods like Dorchester?

Yes, yes, that's part of our uh uh desire here with uh adding additional paramedics.

Great.

And then um your current budget, do you think it is relative to the amount of calls you get and work that is done?

I mean, does it it's kind of a it's more of a philosophical question than a statistical question, but um I guess I I guess all to say with with the work that you guys do on the front lines, um does the budget match up correctly to the work that's being done.

Trying to think, I don't know I don't know if I've ever thought like say if it took number of calls divided by dollars, but but as far as uh I think again, we know we have a budget, we we do uh we work to maximize every part of it.

You work within your means, and that is that is the that is your job of right it and um but I think um just to Council Flynn's to advocate with him too.

I would think that uh I would prefer to see, and knowing we're in tough fiscal times now and and everybody wants to see a higher budget, it's extremely difficult on our end in these past several weeks to try and manage through all this stuff, but um that the work that these guys uh men and women do uh deserve to be compensated more because it's uh not until you or a loved one needs them, right?

Do you really go gee?

I wish they were paid well and motivated and trained properly to respond to me or my family member at this moment.

So um I thank them for what they for what you and uh and uh everyone on the street does um with what they're given.

So thank you so much.

No, thank you.

And uh for the record, there's no disagreement here on what you said from me, okay.

Uh but no, no, I understand that.

As a matter of fact, I I've I don't in my tenure coming in to these hearings.

Uh we would never come in looking for less.

That's certainly not.

For sure.

You know, we try to take out county that and and uh and again certainly if uh hit you up, is that maybe not the right thing, but explained uh why we sought a lot of help with the uh a lot of the capital uh you know improvements, you know, the rate, you know, 20 something million for the radio infrastructure.

Yes, I mean I know that's not money in people's checks, but but that's uh the quality of service.

Well, yeah, but it's money that's not in the operational, which doesn't necessarily taken away from that.

So I'm just trying to uh whatever we can do things there, or we have anything we do to enhance uh revenue without and again we don't do anything crazy.

Uh we we use that uh but we still you know come to the city looking for a sizable supplement every year understood.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Okay, thank thank you.

You sure Chief Hooley you could distinguish yourself from all the other panelists that we hear from by just asking for less uh for your your department.

You'd make a name for yourself.

I can't promise that'll happen any time.

No, just kidding.

And uh again, thank you for all the really important work that you're doing.

But um, so Councillor Culpepper, five minutes for a second round, and then you will have time for a third round if people need it.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Dr.

Old Cool too.

I just wanted to go back to that.

Uh the issue dealing with the uh laundry cleaning for the homelessness and what I have here is that it costs um fiscal year twenty five nine hundred and thirty seven thousand six hundred and seven seventy six cents.

Um the study, the feasibility study that was are you familiar with this?

I am now.

Okay.

And so uh where are we with it?

I think the proposal from some of the students from Harvard with regard to this was to bring down the uh homelessness uh cost significantly, and so with the feasibility study and the this proposal, have you considered this?

So I'd like to take a look at this.

I can give it to you when we break.

Okay, it's it's pretty extensive.

Uh 20 pages, it goes through the whole gambit of laundry for homelessness.

Uh and it talks about uh what it would cost, what the range was.

So I'll just put these aside.

I can give this to you when we take a break.

Uh Mr.

Hooley, I was looking at the number of vacant positions that were vacant for more than six months.

I think there was 32 vacancies for more than six months.

Are there still 32 vacant positions?

So the list that was provided uh did not include any of the uniform positions because they go through a special.

Oh, it did not.

No.

Okay, if you're often like proposed.

So if you included that, how many more vacancies would there be for more than six months?

Well, that's the problem is that the six-month period is the problem with those.

Pardon me.

I mean, these vacancies aren't six months old is the problem.

They're there, that's the difference with the uniform vacancies.

Right.

Well, well, let's say stick with this 32 position, the ones you gave us.

And how many of those have now been hired?

Of the 32 that were on the list that you gave us?

That have been hired as of now?

No, they're vacant as of this as of now.

Oh, so they're vacant as of now.

Yes.

And so none are gonna be removed for fiscal year 27.

No.

Okay.

Of the non-uniform, how many I can't say, this is a separate R5 submission.

Okay, but I mean, we don't have this commission wide.

So yeah, uh, he's he's addressing the uh commission, the entire commission.

Uh I'm not aware of it.

Was this the entire commission, the list that we have here?

Yes, that was commissioned.

I thought this was, yeah.

Uh but it does exclude all uniform positions from it.

Okay, okay.

So it does not have any of the EMTs or lieutenants or captains on that list.

There's, but there are six lieutenants, three captains, five deputy superintendents, two superintendents, and six paramedics.

I'm just looking at the information you gave me, uh, with regard to the 32, provide the number of vacancies.

Your response was uh provided to the number of vacancies that are longer than six months, unless the job title was 32.

Those were uh yes, the Boston Health Commission across the board.

Yes.

Okay.

I wanted the same information if you have it for the emergency DMS.

Do you have it?

I can provide that to you.

Okay, okay, okay.

So let me move on to something else then.

Uh, but uniform FTEs.

I don't believe we have any vacant.

No, we don't treat them.

Yeah, but no, I mean, we're we have an academy class that's in, they're not counting towards the regular compliment in the field right now, but we're actually uh we've I was looking, no, I was looking at that information okay, but that's that's not that's not where I was going.

Looking at but you can talk about it if you want.

I wasn't really going there, but you can talk about the academy class.

Right.

My next question was going into the diversity of the academy class and talk about those numbers a little bit.

Yeah, that that last question.

Can they answer?

Yes.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And we'll have a third round, right?

Uh, yes.

Okay.

Yeah, Chiefly.

I think yes, I was like, Yes.

Uh I don't have the uh exact breakdown for the class.

And I'm not sure I could try to get that from uh from the commission.

I know that, but they do uh people self-report that when they file it on so we can we can get those numbers for you.

Right, through the chair.

If you could pass that through the chair, that's the way we get the information.

Okay, sorry, yeah, okay.

Absolutely.

We could do that with uh recruit class, with uh everything we could do it by rank, we could do it by uh positions.

That's um we'll break that all down for you race, gender.

Thank you.

Yep, okay.

Uh thank you very much.

Um just uh for from the chair, just set the timer.

Um for uh in terms of long-term vacancies.

I think for BPHC, there's some positions that are like epidemiologists maybe and a couple sort of um have to recovery clinicians.

So uh what is the strategy for?

Are we gonna be able to fill those vacancies?

How we're gonna is it what's is the problem that it's we don't pay as they could earn more elsewhere?

Uh what what's the issue?

So I think there are a number of issues.

Um we do you know have a residency requirement?

Um we also uh comparable pay may not, you know, it may not be comparable to other places.

You know, I think that we offer exciting opportunities.

We do a lot of um recruitment work, uh, but we haven't been able to fill um, you know, a number of positions they have you know been unfilled for you know, a period of time.

So yeah, I guess if you had to how much of the of the challenge is the residency requirement and not the salary, if you could sort of sort by those.

I mean, is it like some epidemiologist is working out in Newton or something and you know is would want to work here, but uh is that is that the issue, or is it the pay if you or is it just both together?

I would say that it's it's really both, and it's hard to tease them apart.

Okay.

Um I mean, do you sorry?

Take some water.

Um do you think we'll be able to fill those positions soon, or what's the strategy?

I guess we can just hold those positions open.

Um, well, I think that there are a couple of things.

So we are really working hard through our HR department um to do outreach, to do recruitment.

Um we do uh widespread you know, searches and certainly national searches for the more uh managerial and higher level positions.

So there is a strategy.

We want to make sure that we are updating our postings, making it more desirable, you know, in terms of what we're offering people.

We we have put forth um an effort to do what we call sort of a workforce improvement initiative, so in essence that makes our place a good place to work and desirable benefits.

You know, we're doing a compensation review.

So I think there are a lot of HR strategies that are moving forward to make you know BPHC um a place where people do want to work, and I'm hopeful that we will uh be able to hire those positions that have been unfilled for an extended period of time.

Okay.

Uh, uh and then we're talking about mass and cast the the I think it's like the can't the camping ordinance is they're supposed to be the tent ordinance.

Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry.

There's supposed to be like an annual reporting, uh, there is a reporting requirement.

It's is uh for an annual hearing with the city council.

I think is the do you do you have reporting on that?

Or have you given a report since this was passed uh three years ago?

Um, and half years ago.

There is an annual reporting requirement, and we have been reporting um on a regular basis about, you know, strategies, implementation and outcomes.

Okay.

What's the outcome?

Right.

So we definitely um seeing less uh outdoor congregation.

We've noted more people being deflected if you were.

So if they're going to treatment, if they're going um on a carceral pathway, more people are being deflected because that's part of the program.

And I think that there's been um decrease in or decrease in syringes and increased quality of life, uh, you know, that's been reported by the surrounding neighborhood.

So those are all the sort of outcomes that we're looking for.

That report actually comes through the mayor's office.

It doesn't come through BBHC, so you know, we can follow up with them to follow up with you so that you can have a better sense of the specific details.

Okay.

Um, okay.

Thank you very much.

That's that's this morning's questions.

That's it for me, but my couple colleagues here.

It looks like third rounds uh how about uh give you three minutes and see if we can wrap up this morning's hearing and and come back this afternoon.

Councilor Flynn.

Sorry, we have a technical issue.

We're just going to take a quick recess, uh, just on the microphone.

All right, man, we're not all Again, quick third round here, and we're coming back at three.

Counselor Flynn, uh three minutes.

And then Councillor Culpepper.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

And to Dr.

O Dakutu or to the chief.

He referenced something I wanted to follow up on that he responded to a call at the at the waterfront area, but there was a piece of equipment.

I don't necessarily, I didn't necessarily hear it all, but there was a piece of equipment that was not available to him.

I I heard life jacket, but was it life jacket?

Um can you give me some background information on that?

Um I wasn't aware of that.

Not if that life jacket wasn't available, um just wanted to ask what what happened, Chief.

Well, prior to uh prior to today, we did not have uh personal flotation devices stocked in every ambulance.

Uh that was something that we did endeavor to take on.

We we uh financed that through a UASI grant.

And actually I got a message during this that they were actually being distributed, they're actually being uh put in the units today based on that incident.

Well, no, based on prior time, it took a little while to get the stuff in.

We we've always had uh uh flotation devices uh like down for the uh when we have people on the harm unit or we assign them to any of whether it's the Boston police, the state police or the Coast Guard.

Okay.

Similarly, when we put people out on the uh hard unit uh boats, anything to do with operation sale or parade of sale.

Okay, the uh but the there was a specific request and uh a need to find a spot in the ambulances where regardless of whether you're working uh in East Boston or the waterfront.

Yeah, this could be a uh uh, you know, uh turtle pond up in the game parkway.

You know, the the idea would be if you're going out and about the water, we get it out and they gotta make sure I get a our policy out with to when it'll be required and uh supervise the responsibility to make to ensure that people do use them when they go near the water.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chief.

That's a that's very important, something I support.

We'll do everything I can to advocate for that in the budget and any other type of critical equipment that we need.

Um one final question, and I know we've talked about this in the past, and I know I know my time is up, but whether it's traffic enforcement offices or EMTs and paramedics or Boston police.

I like like you, I have zero tolerance for um anyone assaulting um a city employee.

Um how serious of an issue is it for Boston's EMTs and paramedics?

They're going they're responding every day and every night to violence in the city, uh shooting, a stabbing, a hostile crowd.

Um, how serious is assaults to EMTs and paramedics and personnel in what is the policy of of your team and and in ensuring that um we provide the safest environment, and I I was on the city council when that person stabbed a paramedic or an EMT, uh right near the um right down the road here from the uh courthouse.

Um what would it what are your thoughts, Chief?

Well, it starts from well, starts from the beginning from the time a call comes in.

You try to identify you know, it does any obvious hazards, risks, right?

Uh uh violence fight or something on C.

And sometimes there isn't.

Uh sometimes it could be just somebody who hears uh a loud disturbance in the background, which is supposed to be maybe somebody portrays somebody's having a medical emergency.

Uh lots of times our dispatchers uh our call takers who are our EMTs, not this fame call takers.

They'll they'll pick up even in the background that uh hey, uh hold off, don't go in.

Uh sounds like something could be going on in the background.

So we try to communicate that out.

Uh a lot of the calls then automatically uh dueled with the Boston police or or in some cases it could be transit or state police, depending on the venue, or if it's you know, say at the airport.

Uh we also uh so a lot of call types do require that, and uh the idea is to try to identify it as much as you can before, but we also uh we if if we recognize something at the scene, you know, we if it's okay to you know not go in.

It's okay to back off call for assistance, right?

So we try to do there is uh to is to everywhere that we can to identify uh the unsafe situations before you walk into them, then uh but we do also uh any time there is any report of of somebody who gets even threatened, but if but if if if there is an assault if something happens is that we do look for law enforcement uh to uh to pursue it.

We do we do uh uh make sure that one, that we support our members, that we uh get uh get them uh uh prepared to come back to work, but also uh to follow it through sometimes months later when it does go to court or if it does come to a hearing or somebody's trying to you know plead out to a lesser charge.

We want to make sure that uh uh that the justice system knows that uh what happened and you know the threats that were done that were either made and also the fact that we people lost time or what it what it could have done to make somebody even want to change their careers that that and and usually the the judges are pretty good about uh taking that into consideration.

Yeah, it's well thank you, um chief.

I'm out of time.

I've literally seen EMTs and paramedics um on scene at a at a call in a hostile crowd is yelling at them.

Um, I don't know, I don't know why they're yelling at them, but they're a hostile crowd, and they're almost on top of them, and the emts are still working on the person trying to save a life, even as they're in a difficult environment, a dangerous environment, I should say.

I so I just want to say thank you to our EMTs and paramedics.

My point is they don't get the recognition or respect that they have earned from the residents of Boston from the city of Boston, I should say.

I think the residents of the Boston certainly respect them, uh, but we have to make sure the city of Boston uh does as well.

Mr.

Chair, thank you.

Okay, thank you very much, Councillor Culpepper.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh Chief Hooley, I had a couple of follow-up questions, uh with regard to the EMS community course, the EMS community course, yeah.

Uh the uh community assistance, uh I'm sorry, community course.

Well, community emt class, yes.

Yes.

And you had 80 students in the last year?

Yes.

How many were students of color?

Uh I I can also get you down that breakdown as well.

I will tell you that uh the ones that were we're re recruiting we're uh for that.

We try to be uh very uh very forward in mind that we're we are looking for diversity.

We are looking uh to bring in people from uh uh various racial backgrounds, people with language capability.

Uh that's something that you know, despite what we might hear from Washington, uh, isn't anything that we've ever backed away from that uh that it's something that uh we believe is necessary.

Not not just not just the right thing to do, or something that uh we should do, but it's uh it's necessary.

It's necessary if we're gonna deliver the care that that we you know espouse that we want to do, uh that we want to make sure that we have the capability to uh to recognize a lot of different situations uh to be able to uh support uh the programs the Boston Public Health Commission has going as far as you know health equity, because if uh if if we're not all in on that point, then we're gonna be missing something.

So we learn a lot from our employees of Colorado, for our employees who come from who grew up with key uh creole spoken home or whatever.

You learn by working with those folks, and that helps you when you're trying to examine that next patient.

So you hired sixty-seven new EMTs in 25.

In 2025, you hired that.

Yeah, we grew yes, we graduated to recruit classes that came to that number.

How many of those were graduates of color?

And I I promise you get that too.

I will get you that as well, too.

We do track that.

And we do uh we're again we're we're we work uh very hard to that end.

We recruit uh a lot of the uh uh scholarships for the MT class uh uh whether he's there or at Bunker Hill, uh, are we we look to that to really help diversify?

Yeah, 22 promotions in 2025.

Yes.

Can you give me the breakdown by what the promotions were and then the breakdown by a race?

Yes, happy to do that.

Uh Mr.

I had one question for Dr.

Odir Kuttu regarding the books, the boots on the ground, RFP.

You talked a little bit about when will that be released?

So just to make sure everybody, so I'm re uh Councillor Culpepper is referring to the opioid settlement dollars um community response, RFP.

So in June, we are we are planning to release it, so it's it's rather soon.

And how much will that how much will the RP be for?

How much are you gonna release?

The total is six hundred thousand dollars.

Okay, okay.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Dr.

Odakutu and Chief Hooley and Budget Director Valder.

Uh Dr.

O, I'll give this to you when we take a break.

Are you giving me more time?

If you have you have one more question or something, you know, but uh we are coming back this afternoon.

No, good.

I'll come back at three.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Okay, thank you very much.

We'll try to get the the data uh maybe hopefully to you before three.

I think so.

Uh I mean I I think they uh I think all this data should be readily available on uh hiring and and you know, hiring and promotions.

So we will we'll talk about it.

Okay.

Well, thank you very much.

Uh I'm gonna adjourn this hearing.

Okay, yeah.

We're gonna uh so this morning's hearing uh is adjourned.

We'll come back uh at three o'clock for uh for the other subjects.

Okay, so thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Skew.