Town Administrator Michael Mullen and Public Health Nurse Nicole Mello are pleased to announce that free COVID-19 test kits are now available to Town residents through grant funding.
A total of 900 at-home COVID-19 test kits have been made available to the Town of Dighton through the Department of Public Health’s (DPH) Public Health Excellence Grant, a recent grant awarded to a shared consortium between Dighton, Attleborough, North Attleborough, Berkley, Taunton and Rehoboth. The grant seeks to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of local and regional public health by expanding opportunities for sharing of public health services.
“We are pleased to be a part of this shared consortium that has an increased focus on allocating additional health resources to our community members. We encourage our community members to take advantage of these available kits while they can,” Public Health Nurse Mello said.
The tests will be distributed to residents in two rounds, the first being next week and the second being later in the year.
The first distribution of test kits will begin on Monday, Aug. 15 on a rolling basis. Residents will be limited to two kits per household and they will be available for pick up at the following locations during their business hours:
- Board of Health Office, 1111 Somerset Ave.
- Dighton Public Library at the Town Hall Campus, 979 Somerset Ave.
- Council on Aging, 1059 Somerset Ave.
The second round of distribution is expected to be held in late November/ early December.
These kits have been made available at a time when the Town of Dighton has been placing an emphasis on strengthening public health programming through the Board of Health. Town residents approved funding for more dedicated public health nurse services at last fall’s Special Town Meeting, which immediately led to the coordination of a town-wide community flu clinic with Manet Community Health Center last December.
“The Public Health Excellence grant aims to level the playing field so all communities have equitable access to the resources required to prioritize public health programming,” Town Administrator Mullen said. “We are pleased that the grant is already making it possible for the Town to offer COVID-19 test kits at no cost to Dighton residents, thanks to support from DPH and our regional partner communities.”
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