Norfolk To Participate In VDEM’s Health Equity Pilot Program
NORFOLK, VA – The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) and the Health Equity Working Group announced that the City of Norfolk has been selected to participate in their Health Equity Pilot Program yesterday.
As a part of the program, Norfolk has been allocated 20,000 cloth masks, bottles of hand sanitizer and public health materials and is set to begin distributing them this Saturday at the free COVID-19 testing event at Queen Street Baptist Church on Brambleton Avenue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the Impact Southside Mobile Pantry at The Banks of Berkley from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The Health Equity Pilot Program was established by Governor Ralph Northam in May as a state-local partnership focused on increasing equitable access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and public health information in underserved and historically disadvantaged communities that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. To date, over 500,000 cloth masks and 420,000 bottles of hand sanitizer have been distributed to over 35 localities statewide.
The city is committed to the equitable distribution of these resources to the communities most in need and at-risk of contracting COVID-19 and will continue to give them out at future events.