Job Description

Established in 1805, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the NYC Health Department) is the oldest and largest health department in the country. Our mission is to protect and improve the health of all New Yorkers, in service of a vision of a city in which all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, how old they are, where they are from, or where they live.

As a world-renowned public health agency with a history of building transformative public health programming and infrastructure, innovating in science and scholarship to advance public health knowledge, and responding to urgent public health crises from New York City’s yellow fever outbreak in 1822, to the COVID-19 pandemic we are a hub for public health innovation, expertise, and programs, and services. We serve as the population health strategist, and policy, and planning authority for the City of New York, while also having a vast impact on national and international public policy, including programs and services focused on food and nutrition, anti-tobacco support, chronic disease prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, family and child health, environmental health, mental health, and racial and social justice work, among others.

Our Agency’s five strategic priorities, building off a recently-completed strategic planning process emerging from the COVID-19 emergency, are:

1) To re-envision how the Health Department prepares for and responds to health emergencies, with a focus on building a “response-ready” organization, with faster decision-making, transparent public communications, and stronger surveillance and bridges to healthcare systems 2) Address and prevent chronic and diet-related disease, including addressing rising rates of childhood obesity and the impact of diabetes, and transforming our food systems to improve nutrition and enhance access to healthy foods

3) Address the second pandemic of mental illness including: reducing overdose deaths, strengthening our youth mental health systems, and supporting people with serious mental illness

4) Reduce black maternal mortality and make New York a model city for women’s health

5) Mobilize against and combat the health impacts of climate change

Our 7,000-plus team members bring extraordinary diversity to the work of public health. True to our value of equity as a foundational element of all of our work, and a critical foundation to achieving population health impact in New York City, the NYC Health Department has been a leader in recognizing and dismantling racism’s impacts on the health of New Yorkers and beyond. In 2021, the NYC Board of Health declared racism as a public health crisis. With commitment to advance anti-racist public health practices that dismantle systems that perpetuate inequitable power, opportunity and access, the NYC Health Department continues to work in and with communities and community organizations to increase their access to health services and decrease avoidable health outcomes.

PROGRAM AND JOB DESCRIPTION:

The New York City (NYC) Bureau of Tuberculosis Control (BTBC) is committed to preventing the spread of tuberculosis (TB) and eliminating it as a public health problem in NYC. The core goals of the bureau are to identify all individuals with suspected or confirmed TB disease and ensure their appropriate treatment, ideally on Directly Observed Therapy (DOT), and to ensure that individuals at high risk for progression from latent TB infection to TB disease complete treatment and do not develop disease. To fulfill its mission and goals, BTBC performs a number of integrated activities and provides patient-centered services in collaboration with local health care providers, laboratories, community partners and others. With a focus on public health and the needs of individuals with TB and their families, these activities support effective TB prevention and control.

The Office of Disease Investigation and Case Management (DICM) conducts case investigation, case management, contact investigation and DOT. With DOT a trained health care worker observing patients ingest each dose of prescribed anti-TB medication. In NYC DOT is the standard of care for monitoring patients on treatment for tuberculosis hence, DOT is offers to all patients taking treatment for TB who are not hospitalized, in a prison, or an in-patient treatment facility. To ensure that all patients have equal access to DOT, observations are conducted in person in the community, in person at a DOHMH- TB Chest Center, or remotely using video technology (vDOT). BTBC offers two options with vDOT, live VDOT (LvDOT), which is real time observation of a patient ingesting TB medications using a smartphone, tablet or computer programmed with a video conferencing application. The second option is recorded VDOT (RvDOT), with RvDOT the patient records a video of himself/herself ingesting TB medication and send the video to a secure cloud server and the observer watches it later and records the observation in the patient record. We are seeking a Community Coordinator to join the DICM team as vDOT Coordinator.

This person will collaborate with community providers who treat persons for TB disease, suspected or confirmed to increase enrollment of their patient on vDOT. With latitude for independent judgment, performs supervision, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring and/or evaluation for vDOT activities in the BTBC. We strongly encourage people to apply and contribute your diversity in thought, racial identity, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability status, veteran status, and/or LGBTQI+ status to enhance the work of the DOHMH and promote the health of all New Yorkers.

We welcome applicants who share the vision for a city where all New Yorkers can realize their full health potential, regardless of who they are, where they are from or where they live. DOHMH extends this vision of wellness by providing every member of our team and prospective job applicants dynamic benefits: Benefits - NYC Health, and a robust Worksite Wellness program with a wide range of offerings. As a current or prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. Please review the notice to see if you may be eligible for programs and how to apply at nyc.gov/studentloans.

DUTIES WILL INCLUDE BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO:

Oversee the daily operations of enrolling patients on vDOT including downloading vDOT software onto patients phone/tablets/computer

Conduct trainings for patients on the proper use of vDOT application and to complete medication ingestion

Train DOT staff how to observe LvDOT and view RvDOT

Train staff how to record observations in the EMR and probe for side effects to anti-TB medication

Train staff who to add the vDOT application to patients device,

Participate in weekly case management meetings

Conduct pouch review and community audits

Supervise staff in various titles and levels,

Assign work to staff,

Conduct routine quality assurance reviews of vDOT activities,

Inventory control for DOHMH owned phones

Conduct data entry quality assurance reviews in the EMR,

Work with DOT team evaluate productivity of area of responsibility and make recommendations for program improvement,

Provide DOT data for quarterly cohort reviews.

**IMPORTANT NOTES TO ALL CANDIDATES:

Please note: If you are called for an interview you will be required to bring to your interview copies of original documentation, such as:

• A document that establishes identity for employment eligibility, such as: A Valid U.S. Passport, Permanent Resident Card/Green Card, or Driver’s license.

• Proof of Education according to the education requirements of the civil service title.

• Current Resume

• Proof of Address/NYC Residency dated within the last 60 days, such as: Recent Utility Bill (i.e. Telephone, Cable, Mobile Phone)

Additional documentation may be required to evaluate your qualification as outlined in this posting’s “Minimum Qualification Requirements” section. Examples of additional documentation may be, but not limited to: college transcript, experience verification or professional trade licenses.

If after your interview you are the selected candidate you will be contacted to schedule an on-boarding appointment. By the time of this appointment you will be asked to produce the originals of the above documents along with your original Social Security card.

**LOAN FORGIVENESS

As a prospective employee of the City of New York, you may be eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs and state repayment assistance programs. For more information, please visit the U.S. Department of Education’s website at StudentAid.gov/PSLF.

"FINAL APPOINTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT & BUDGET APPROVAL”

Qualifications

1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties described above; or

2. High school graduation or equivalent and six years of experience in community work or community centered activities in an area related to the duties as described above; or

3. Education and/or experience which is equivalent to "1" or "2" above. However, all candidates must have at least one year of experience as described in "1" above.

Additional Information

The City of New York is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual's sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.