Meriden Health Talk

About Meriden Health Talk

Your trusted source for health tips and timely updates from the City of Meriden Health and Human Services Department. Meriden Health Talk provides expert insights on a range of topics, including disease prevention, seasonal health and local updates and alerts. Whether you’re a lifelong resident or new to town, we’re here to keep you informed, empowered, and connected.

Publisher

meridenhealthtalk

Category

government

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Aug 2025

Latest episode

21 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

59 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Sept 2026

   National Senior Center Month

   In this episode of Meriden Health Talk, we are celebrating National Senior Center Month! September is National Senior Center Month, an annual celebration created by the National Council on Aging to highlight the vital and dynamic roles senior centers play in local communities. In Meriden, the Senior Center is located at 22 West Main Street and is a community hub where friendships grow, new skills are discovered, and residents can find support, resources, and opportunities to enjoy life. The Senior Center is housed under the Department of Health and Human Services. Membership to the Senior Center is free for Meriden residents age 55 and older, and the Center offers a wide variety of activities and services designed to support healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives. The Senior Center is open Monday through Friday, from 8:00am to 4:30pm and provides a variety of services and opportunities, including: An elderly nutrition program, provided by LifeBridge, with meals served Monday through Friday at 11:30am Mini-bus transportation, offering rides to and from in-town medical appointments, shopping trips, recreational activities, and daily transportation to and from the Senior Center. Recreational and wellness programs, including clubs, exercise classes, arts programs, day and overnight trips, and much more. But the support does not stop there. The Senior Center’s Community Services team is also available to help Meriden residents navigate a variety of housing, medical, and general assistance needs. This may include help with: Medicare Savings Program applications CHOICES counseling SNAP applications; and The state Renters’ Rebate Program These services can make a meaningful difference by helping older adults access the resources they need to remain healthy, independent, connected, and active within their community. And that is what National Senior Center Month is all about. Senior Centers are not simply places for people to go, they are places to belong. They are places where friendships are formed, talents and interests are explored, challenges are met with support, and new possibilities can begin. They help ensure that older adults have opportunities to remain active, connected, and valued members of the communities they have helped build and shape. To learn more about the Meriden Senior Center visit www.meridenhealth.com or call the Center at (203) 237-0066.

2. 

   10 Sept 2026

   Food Safety Education Month

   In this episode of Meriden Health Talk, in honor of National Food Safety Education Month, we're talking about an important responsibility of our Environmental Health Department: inspecting food service establishments throughout the City of Meriden. Food service inspections are an essential part of protecting public health. They help ensure that food is prepared, stored, handled, and served safely, and they play a critical role in preventing foodborne illness. Our Environmental Health office is responsible for routinely inspecting all food service establishments in our city, as well as following up on complaints received by our office. The goal is straightforward: to protect the health and safety of the public and prevent foodborne illness. In February 2023, the State of Connecticut adopted the FDA Model Food Code, replacing the previous Public Health Code. This change introduced several important updates to the way food service establishments are regulated and inspected. One major change was the removal of the traditional 100-point inspection scale. There is no longer a numerical score assigned to an inspection. Instead, the FDA inspection form identifies individual items as either "in compliance" or "out of compliance". Another important change is how violations are categorized according to their level of risk. Under the previous system, violations were marked on a scale of one to four, with four representing the most critical violations. Under the FDA Food Code, violations are divided into three risk-based categories: Priority, Priority Foundation, and Core. Priority violations represent the highest level of risk because they are directly linked to preventing foodborne illness. Examples include improper handwashing and incorrect cooking or holding temperatures. These violations must be corrected immediately on site or within 72 hours. Priority Foundation violations are also important to preventing foodborne illness because they support or enable compliance with Priority requirements. Examples include not having soap available at a handwashing sink or not having the required food thermometers. Food service establishments generally have up to 10 calendar days to correct these violations. Finally, there are Core violations, which are considered lower risk and are not directly related to an immediate foodborne-illness hazard. Examples may include cracked floor tiles, dusty ceiling vents, or rusty dry-storage shelves. These violations are generally given up to 90 calendar days to be corrected. The transition to the FDA Food Code also introduced several important operational requirements for food service establishments. Class 2, 3, and 4 establishments must have a trained and certified food protection manager on site during operation. These trained professionals play an important role in ensuring that proper food safety practices are followed every day. Establishments must also follow a seven-day date-marking system for certain prepared, ready-to-eat, time/temperature control for safety foods that are held for more than 24 hours. Proper date marking helps prevent food from being kept or served beyond its safe storage period. Food establishments are also required to have employee illness reporting agreements. Employees need to understand when they must report certain illnesses or symptoms to management, because sick food workers can be a significant source of foodborne illness. Establishments must also have written procedures for cleaning up vomiting and diarrheal events and have appropriate clean up kits on site. These incidents can potentially spread highly infectious pathogens, so proper cleanup and disinfection are essential to protecting employees and customers. Another important requirement is food allergen awareness training for food establishment employees. Food allergies can cause serious and potentially life-threatening reactions, making accurate allergen information and proper food handling extremely impor

3. 

   27 Aug 2026

   Overdose Awareness Day 2026

   In this episode of Meriden Health Talk, we are talking about Overdose Awareness Day! We are just a few days away from International Overdose Awareness Day, a time to remember the lives lost to overdose, acknowledge the grief experienced by families and loved ones, and raise awareness about overdose prevention and recovery. It is also an opportunity to reduce the stigma surrounding substance use and remind our community that people struggling with substance use deserve compassion, support, and access to care. Overdose continues to be a public health issue in Meriden and communities across the country. While we have seen encouraging declines in overdose deaths, there is still much work to do. People CAN and DO recover, and we are here to help. In Meriden, we have the Meriden Opioid Referral for Recovery program, also known as MORR. The MORR program is funded by a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant and is a partnership between Rushford, Meriden Police and Fire Departments, Hunters Ambulance, and our department. MORR is designed to meet individuals where they are at in their recovery journey and connect them to programs and services that will best fit their individual needs while also providing education and resources to the community about substance use and mental health, overdose, and Naloxone. The program has two main goals: Referrals for those in need are made by our Police and Fire Departments, and Hunters Ambulance to trained clinicians at Rushford for treatment and recovery services and, Life-saving overdose prevention and response efforts including community trainings, distribution of Naloxone to the public and community partners/first responders, and outreach at community events and identified areas in our city that may have seen a spike in overdose events. Quarterly updates on the MORR program can be found on our website. To honor Overdose Awareness Day in Meriden, Rushford, in partnership with our Department, will be hosting an event on Saturday, August 29, 2026 from 10:00am to 2:00pm, on the Meriden Green in the Amphitheater area. In addition to multiple other vendors, we will be there offering pop-up Naloxone training, overdose wall cabinets for Meriden businesses and organizations, and overdose prevention resources. It will be a day to remember those we have lost and learn to take action to save lives. To learn more, and to view quarterly updates on the MORR program, please visit our website: www.meridenhealth.com - and click on the link for life-saving overdose prevention and response efforts.

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