SOUTHWICK – State grants will fund public health nurses in several small towns of western Hampden County, Southwick’s health director said last week.

Tammy Spencer told the Southwick Board of Health that state officials are supporting her grant request for a shared nursing staff based in Southwick and also covering Blandford, Granville, Montgomery, Russell and Tolland.

The grant will pay for one full-time and one half-time nurse to be shared by the communities. The nurses would be Southwick employees, but would provide services in the other towns under an intermunicipal agreement. Their salaries would be paid by a three-year state grant, which Spencer said could be renewed for additional years at the end of that term.

Spencer said she needs to consult with health officials in the other towns to see what functions they would like the nurses to perform. She said she knows that Granville, Southwick and Tolland, for example, are interested in a having a nurse who can connect townspeople with health resources, particularly for elderly residents in coordination with the local councils on aging.

She noted that the state has health programs to serve economically disadvantaged communities in large cities, but residents of rural towns face their own challenges in gaining access to health care. She noted that the state-run vaccine center for the region is at the Eastfield Mall in Springfield, a long drive from western Hampden County.

“That’s our inequity, here,” said Spencer. “Public health nurses would help.”

A public health nurse would be qualified to run a local vaccine clinic, she said, or to make house calls to administer the vaccine to residents who can’t travel.

Spencer said she would also like to see a public health nurse hold health screening clinics and other events promoting public health. She said a nurse could work with the Senior Center to perform well checks or discuss healthcare goals with individuals who need help.

Board of Health members voiced their support. The grant will particularly benefit the smaller towns that don’t have any professional staff, said member Mikenzie Cain.

“Right now, those other communities have nothing,” said Cain. “It’s a huge accomplishment for public health in general.”

Though some towns will use the nurse for public outreach, others may want a nurse primarily to track public health data and enter it into state computer systems, Spencer said.

The grant-funded nurses would replace a multi-town coalition that provided nursing services until this July.