Disease Control Specialist I/II

Prince George's County, MD Government • Full-time • Hyattsville, Maryland, United States • $46.62k - $72.80k / year • 1w ago

Nature and Variety of Work

Come join our team!

Prince George’s County Government provides a dynamic and inclusive workplace where employees can thrive, learn, and grow across its 30 diverse agencies, all dedicated to serving the County's residents with essential resources and services. Nestled just minutes away from Washington, DC, Prince George's County combines urban vibrancy with serene surroundings, offering an ideal setting to live, work, and enjoy life.

The Prince George’s County Health Department is currently seeking qualified applicants to fill a Disease Control Specialist I/II, grade A18/21 position in the Family Health Services /STD HIV Prevention Program.

About the Position

This is professional, dually allocated, investigative work performed in order to identify, control and/or prevent the occurrence of communicable/infectious disease in the County. Subject to extensive public contact, incumbents perform routine investigative assignments in order to attain compliance with applicable programmatic/public health regulations, standards and laws. Field and office work is performed under close supervision of a higher level Disease Control Specialist and independent field judgments are made only on routine assignments, within the framework of established standard operating procedures. Work performance is evaluated in terms of quality, quantity and conformance with established guidelines, procedures and regulations.

Upon satisfactory performance, and after one year at the entry level, incumbents may be non-competitively promoted to the II full performance level at management's discretion.

About the Agency

The Prince George's County Health Department's (PGCHD) vision is that all Prince Georgians are their healthiest at every age and every stage. Their mission is to lead, engage, and empower our community to work collaboratively towards disease prevention, health equity, and total well-being. The PGCHD works to protect and support the public’s health through numerous services that range from restaurant inspections and disease tracking to care coordination and health promotion. The department is composed of four divisions: Behavioral Health Services, Environmental Health and Disease Control, Family Health Services, and Health and Wellness, supported by the Office of Administration, Office of Human Resources and the Office of the Health Officer. The mandate of the department has been, and will remain, broad. This plan emphasizes improving core functions and operations, including protecting the public from health threats, implementing strategies to support healthy living, and maintaining a focus on vulnerable populations, while developing efficient internal processes to support these activities.

Examples of Work

Assists higher level personnel by performing routine, entry level professional investigative work regarding communicable/infectious disease.
Assists in providing primary prevention to reduce the incidence of communicable disease through vaccination efforts and disseminating information.
Provides secondary prevention efforts to decrease the prevalence of known or suspected infectious disease.
Investigates cases of persons and/or animal illness involving known or suspected infectious disease.
Identifies contacts to reduce their risk of disease and transmission of infection.
Disrupts the chain of disease transmission by coordinating appropriate individual treatment.
Engages in outbreak investigations; collects and calculates information on incubation periods, type and duration of symptoms, and demographic variables.
Maintains registries and conducts surveys which provide indices of morbidity and mortality.
Calculates rates and proportions of disease in the community; formulates charts and graphs; and prepares related reports.
Documents investigations utilizing appropriate and required forms.
Prioritizes individual caseloads in order to ensure adequate and timely disease prevention and intervention.
Cooperates with other agencies of the health department, state and local agencies and the private medical community during the course of a disease investigation.
Monitors medical/behavioral compliance of chronic carries of infectious disease.
Participates in special projects as assigned.
Participates on the Emergency Response Team according to established Health Department guidelines.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university, with a major in or a minimum of thirty (30) semester credits in one of the biological, physical and/or social sciences

An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

EACH APPLICATION MUST INCLUDE INFORMATION THAT CLEARLY DEMONSTRATES THE ABOVE QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS POSITION.

Additional Information

Job Location: 3003 Hospital Drive, Cheverly, MD

Conditions of Employment: Upon selection, the candidate must:

Meet all training and performance standards and demonstrate proficiency as required by the agency.
Wear and use agency protective apparel and equipment in the performance of their assigned duties, if applicable.
Successfully pass preemployment checks which may include reference checks, background investigations, and drug screenings, where applicable.

Be willing and able to serve as an essential employee. Essential employees are expected to report during standard or non-standard hours as operations necessitate, or during emergencies. Essential employees are expected to report or remain at work when other County employees are granted Administrative Leave.

ONLY ONLINE APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED

Eligibility to Work:Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, an employer is required to hire only U.S. citizens and lawfully authorized alien workers. Applicants who are selected for employment will be required to provide and verify authorization to work in the United States without sponsorship.

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S., only after an offer has been accepted and the Form I-9 is completed. For information on E-Verify, or if you believe the County has violated its E-Verify responsibilities, please contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at 888-897-7781 or visit their website at dhs.gov/E-Verify.

INTERNAL APPLICANTS: If you are a current Prince George's County Government employee and seeking a promotion, in accordance with Section 16-200 of the Personnel Law, you have the right to appeal a rejection rating within five (5) working days of receiving a rejection notice. Union employees should refer to their respective collective bargaining agreement and/or union representative for their grievance procedure.

Prince George's County Government is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action EmployerCommitted to Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

General Plan Information:

The Prince George’s County benefits plan year is from January 1 to December 31.

A spouse (to include a same sex spouse) can be added to the health benefit plans. A marriage certificate and social security number is required to add a spouse.

Children under the age of 26 are eligible for coverage under the health benefit plans. This includes stepchildren and children of the same-sex spouse. A birth certificate(s) and social security number(s) is required to add a child(ren). If you are only adding the stepchildren or child(ren) of a same-sex spouse, you will need to submit a marriage certificate. You will also need to submit the birth certificate of the child(ren) and your spouse must be listed as a parent.

The premiums for health benefits are deducted on a pre-tax basis with the exception of Long-Term Disability, Extra Life Insurance and Voluntary Benefits (Short-Term Disability, Whole Life Insurance, Critical Illness, Accident Insurance, Cancer Indemnity, Hospital Indemnity Protection, Accident Indemnity Plan, Supplemental Dental and Group Legal Services).

New employees must enroll in the County’s health benefit plans within thirty (30) days of the hire date.

The effective date of the health benefits coverage is the beginning of the month following a waiting period of forty-five (45) days from the date of hire.

After enrolling in the County’s benefit plans, employees may only make changes to the plans either during the open enrollment period, which occurs annually (usually each October), and/or during the year, due to a family status change (i.e., marriage, births, divorce and adoption).

Employee Benefits

Prince George’s County is proud to offer employees an attractive and comprehensive benefits program, including the following:

Medical/Prescription/Dental/Vision Insurance Coverage (part time employees are eligible for medical insurance if they work 15 + hours, per week)
Group Term Life Insurance
Long & Short-Term Disability
Flexible Spending Accounts
- Dependent Care Assistance Program
- Health Care Flexible Spending Account
Paid Leave (Annual, Personal, & Sick)
13 Paid Holidays
Retirement Benefits
- Defined Benefit Pension Plan
  - Employer Contribution Rate-11.71%
- Supplemental Pension Plan
  - Employee Contribution Rate (Pre-Tax)-3.48%
- 457(b)
- 403(b)
Employee Discounts
Employee Assistance Program
Voluntary Benefits
- Critical Illness
- Whole Life Insurance
- Accident Insurance
- Legal Services