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Detroit health chief briefs committee on services, infant-mortality efforts and Narcan rollout
Summary
Detroit Health Department leaders told the Public Health & Safety Committee about core programs — maternal and child health, immunizations, lead testing and HIV/STI prevention — and said opioid-settlement funding has funded Narcan wellness stations placed in high‑need locations.
Denise Feirazo, Detroit’s chief public health officer, told the Public Health & Safety Committee that the city’s health department operates about 40 programs and employs roughly 300 public‑health professionals serving Detroiters citywide. "Our mission is to address the public and population health priorities of Detroiters," she said, listing services that include lead testing, food‑safety inspections, immunizations, and maternal and child health supports.
The presentation, given at the committee’s 10:20 a.m. session, emphasized programs intended to address rising infant‑mortality rates and other persistent public‑health challenges. Feirazo highlighted the department’s "Rides to Care" program, a free transportation service that partners with Uber Health to take pregnant people to prenatal appointments and to bring caregivers and infants to pediatric visits for up to a year after birth. She also noted six WIC clinics across the city and lead‑prevention work that includes in‑home testing and referrals.
Deputy Director Christina Floyd reviewed the department’s finances and contracts. She said the FY26 health‑department budget is roughly 20% general‑fund supported, with about 80% coming from service fees and federal and state grants, and called out grant sources including CDC and HRSA. Floyd said many operational functions — leases, maintenance and security — are handled through citywide contracts and that the department uses some external vendors for medical equipment and program delivery.
Angel Tomczyk, director of HIV/STI programs, discussed prevention and outreach efforts and said the department distributed more than 90,000 condoms in the previous fiscal year. "We make it easy to get condoms," Tomczyk said, describing mail‑order distributions, outreach sites and a mobile 'Pull Up' clinic that offers testing and care in nontraditional hours at Palmer Park.
Committee members pressed for specifics on several items. Feirazo said the health department will expand Narcan placement using opioid‑settlement funds and has already deployed about 50 "Narcan wellness stations" in motels and transit hubs; the stations include naloxone and fentanyl test strips. She also said the department completed a community health improvement plan based on outreach to roughly 6,300 residents and plans to produce an annual "state of the health" report for the charter‑mandated August presentation.
On the state Rx for Kids program — a separate state initiative to provide medication access for children — Feirazo said the department is in conversations with the program team and exploring how Detroit might participate, but cautioned that matching funds would be required.
The presentation concluded with committee members thanking the department and asking staff to follow up with more detailed budgets and placement data for Narcan stations and other targeted interventions. The committee recessed the 10:20 discussion to call the 11:00 public hearing on secondhand goods.
