Hartford health department presents budget, highlights Hart team crisis response and rodent-control gains

Hartford Health and Human Services Director Ebony Jackson Shahid told the Operations, Management, Budget and Government Accountability Committee that the department’s FY26 request focuses on protecting core public‑health services, improving revenue through an electronic medical record and expanding outreach through a newly licensed mobile clinic.

The presentation outlined staffing and program changes and detail on community programs: the Hart Team alternative crisis response, the city’s three‑inspector rodent control unit, a documentary on vaccine hesitancy funded by an immunization grant, and several senior and maternal‑child health initiatives.

Why it matters: The department described both new operational tools and continuing fiscal uncertainty tied to state and federal grants. Committee members pressed staff on whether grant funds are being spent on schedule and how programs supported by one‑time or ARPA replacement funds will be sustained.

Jackson Shahid summarized work the department said is intended to strengthen prevention and frontline services while improving billing and revenues. “We implemented an electronic medical record, CureMD, for improving billing,” she said, and added the department created a licensed mobile clinic “to be used as an education tool for the community.”

Hart Team crisis response

Patricia McIntosh, deputy director of social services, gave a detailed update on the Hart Team, which the department described as a three‑year‑old alternative crisis response model. McIntosh said the Hart Team has handled roughly 4,400 responses and that about 80–81% of those calls were handled without police, fire or EMS co‑responders. The team also deploys for targeted outreach; McIntosh said Hart Team outreach reduced warming‑center calls in a high‑call area by about 75% after targeted visits.

Committee members asked how the Hart Team is funded. Mohammed Corte, the department’s MSO, said initial funding came from COVID‑era savings and a mayoral allocation of $5 million to launch an alternative crisis response program; current…