Community Submission

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH)’s new, user-friendly online registration system is now available for medical marijuana patients and authorized purchasers in Rhode Island. The prior system was entirely paper-based.
The web-based portal will shorten processing time and eliminate the need to fill out and mail paper documents.
The new system, known as the Rhode Island Cannabis Licensing Portal (see link below), lets existing card holders renew registrations, update personal information, and make necessary changes to their existing registration cards. New patients applying for a medical marijuana registration card will now apply through the Cannabis Licensing Portal as well. The RIDOH Cannabis Licensing Portal User Guide has step-by-step directions on how to use the online portal (see link below).
RIDOH’s Medical Marijuana Program accepts, reviews, and approves patients and authorized purchaser applications and renewals. The portal may also be used by caregivers who have been selected by a card holding patient and approved by the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation (DBR) to obtain their own marijuana registration card. Caregivers should visit the DBR Office of Cannabis Regulation for further information regarding their registration.
RIDOH will stop mailing registration reminders and renewal forms in the coming months. It is very important that patients create an account in the portal to be sure they get important messages and updates from RIDOH, including renewal reminders 60 days before the expiration date.
Participants whose registrations will expire in the next 14 days should call RIDOH’s Medical Marijuana Program at 401-222-3752. Other questions should be emailed to doh.mmp@health.ri.gov.
RIDOH approves or denies new applications and renewals within 35 days of receiving applications and all required documents. As a courtesy, RIDOH will email a renewal reminder 60 days prior to the expiration date on a patient’s card if the patient has an email on file with RIDOH.

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is again cautioning the public not to assume that finding a baby animal means it needs to be rescued. A fawn (baby deer) lying on the ground hidden in grass or brush should not be considered abandoned – it should be left alone by people and pets because moving or handling it may permanently separate it from its mother and jeopardize its life.
White-tailed deer give birth to fawns in May and June. Each year, DEM receives many calls about fawns mistaken to have been abandoned by their mother. This is almost never the case.
“In nature, the mother deer gives birth and for the next five to seven days, the fawn is incapable of following the mother, so it is natural for the fawn to lie in a curled ‘freeze’ position on the ground hidden in grass or sparse brush,” said DEM’s Division of Fish and Wildlife Biologist Dylan Ferreira. “Sometimes, however, well-intentioned people will assume the fawn is abandoned and take it home to ‘save’ it from predators or domestic animals. In fact, the doe will often be nearby out of sight and will only come to the fawn a few times during the day or after dark to feed it. If you see a fawn in this condition, please leave it alone. The mother will return to feed and care for it.”
After seven to 10 days, the fawn may run when approached and after a month will be able to follow and feed alongside the mother. Interference by people handling and taking fawns from the wild during this process can often doom young deer. If there is no dead doe found nearby or on the road, the fawn is not considered abandoned. To learn more about white-tailed deer in Rhode Island, see the wildlife factsheet here.
If you should find a fawn, the best thing to do is immediately leave the area and avoid creating any disturbance near it. “Fawns should not be handled – and counterintuitive as it may seem – do not need your help. Fawns are well camouflaged and have very little scent, which helps protect them from predators,” explained Ferreira.
Fawns also lie motionless when approached by a predator, a behavioral adaptation to help them survive. The doe-fawn bond is very strong. If you perceive a fawn to be in immediate danger – for example, lying in the middle of a road – first check your surroundings and monitor the scenario from a safe distance. The fawn may move on its own, once you, who the fawn may perceive as a predator, back away from them. If the fawn remains in an unsafe area, please call DEM’s Division of Law Enforcement 24-hour dispatch at 401-222-3070 for further guidance.
Rarely, a fawn may approach people or pets. If this occurs, DEM advises the public to immediately leave the area. Do not wait to see if the doe returns as she will avoid the area until the disturbance passes. She will return to search and care for the missing fawn once the area is clear of people and pets.
Fawns cannot be kept as pets and removing a deer from the wild and keeping it in captivity – however well-intentioned – is illegal in Rhode Island. Wild deer often do poorly in captivity, suffering malnutrition and behavioral changes as they become accustomed to humans. Captive deer also can pose health risks or may become dangerous to people or domestic animals as they mature. Tame deer raised in captivity have trouble returning to the wild as a free-roaming creature as nature intended. Any fawn obviously injured by a pet, vehicle, or farm equipment should be reported directly to the Wildlife Clinic of Rhode Island at 401-294-6363.
For more information on when it’s appropriate to assist young wildlife and a recording of the Division of Fish and Wildlife outreach program, visit DEM’s YouTube channel. For more information on DEM programs and services, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), Facebook, or Instagram (@rhodeisland.dem and @ri.fishandwildlife) for timely updates.

PROVIDENCE, RI – Governor Dan McKee today announced his appointment of current Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals (BHDDH) Director Richard Charest to serve as the next Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS). The Governor has sent Charest’s name to the Rhode Island Senate for advice and consent.
“Since his arrival at BHDDH, Richard Charest has made significant strides and improvements, including the opening of a new state psychiatric hospital and ensuring that Eleanor Slater Hospital is on a positive and stable path,” said Governor McKee. “His steadfast leadership, coupled with his decades of experience in the health care industry, will be a tremendous asset as he serves as EOHHS Secretary. I’m honored to appoint him to this important role, and I know he will lead with distinction.”
“I appreciate the confidence Governor McKee has placed in me, in nominating me as EOHHS Secretary,” said Director Charest. “This very important role allows me to implement over 30 years of experience to support the growing and evolving healthcare needs of Rhode Islanders. After serving nearly two years as Director of BHDDH, I have become familiar with the opportunities and challenges we face across state government. The work of our employees, legislators, and caregivers is significant, and immeasurably important to the success of Rhode Island. I look forward to expanding my collaboration with stakeholders and building relationships that promote innovation to strengthen the continuum of care.”
Charest has more than 30 years of experience in the health care sector, leading not-for-profit and for-profit community hospitals with specialty programs and a for-profit specialty hospital. Previously serving as President and CEO of Landmark Medical Center, Charest successfully led hospital operations and finances through receivership, reassured the community and engaged employees and medical staff to ensure uninterrupted high-quality care. He also served as President and CEO of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island and held several executive leadership positions with Landmark Medical Center. Charest has served as BHDDH Director since 2021.
Ana Novais, who has been serving as Interim EOHHS Secretary since the departure of Womazetta Jones, will return to her role as Assistant EOHHS Secretary.
“I’m grateful for Ana’s willingness to step up and serve as Secretary during this interim period,” said Governor McKee. “During her tenure, we successfully worked across government to return to normal operations from the COVID-19 pandemic, effectively implement a distribution strategy for the funding received from the opioid settlement and her decades of experience and commitment to equity ensured that we had a budget proposal and programs that were reaching Rhode Islanders where they are and who needed it the most. I look forward to her partnership as she continues to play a key role on the EOHHS team.”
“I am proud of my tenure at EOHHS and of the team that we’ve built for this past year,” said Assistant Secretary Novais. “I thank Governor McKee for the opportunity to serve as Interim Secretary and I look forward to continuing to work with him and the team at EOHHS servicing our Rhode Island families and communities with the guiding principles of voice, choice and equity, at the core of the work we do.”
Dr. Louis Cerbo, Deputy BHDDH Director, will serve as Interim BHDDH Director until a permanent selection is made.
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PROVIDENCE, RI – The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) is announcing that its seasonal 24-hour telephone information line will open May 15 and remain open until Oct. 15. The Bay Line, 222-8888, is toll-free within the state.
The Bay Line provides Rhode Islanders with a central point of contact to leave a recorded message about any sign of bay-related environmental problems or occurrences throughout the summer season for appropriate follow-up by DEM. Its aim is rapid, effective responses to environmental incidents on Narragansett Bay. Another option for reporting concerns is through email at DEM.bartline@dem.ri.gov.
Reports of water quality conditions are updated weekly and available on the DEM website. The information is compiled from data provided by a network of monitoring stations in the bay that measure oxygen, temperature, salinity, pH levels, and, in some cases, water clarity and the presence of algae blooms. DEM, in cooperation with the University of Rhode Island (URI), has completed the seasonal deployment of monitoring instruments and posts water quality reports on a weekly basis.
The intent of Bay Line is to provide an effective means for exchanging bay-related information between the public and the agencies charged with monitoring and protecting it. For instance, the line can be used to provide DEM with early warnings about emerging issues such as algae blooms, which might serve as precursors to low oxygen events and fish kills.
The Bay Line is an integral part of a series of initiatives undertaken by DEM to protect Narragansett Bay. A related initiative is the Bay Assessment and Response Team (BART), which is designed to facilitate timely and well-coordinated responses to any major bay-related environmental emergency. BART includes professional staff from DEM, the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), and URI. Rhode Islanders can find a great deal of bay-related information on the BART page of the DEM website. The weekly Bay Line reports also can be found at this location.
For more information on DEM programs and services, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@RhodeIsland.DEM).

High School Students from across the country compete for a $20,000 Grand Prize, May 9-10
Providence – Classical High School junior Natasha Connolly will represent Rhode Island in Washington, D.C., for the 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals, May 9-10. In March, Connolly, won the 18th annual 2023 R.I. Poetry Out Loud State Championship with the recitation of “No, I wasn’t meant to love and be loved,” by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib. She is also a 2023 Youth Poet Ambassador.
At the Poetry Out Loud championships, Connolly will join state winners from throughout our country to compete in regional semifinals. Connolly’s regional contest will be held on Tuesday (May 9) at 9 a.m. George Washington University. The winners of the regionals advance to the Finals on Wednesday (May 10) at 7 p.m.
Visit the 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals Facebook Event page for the latest information on the competition. https://fb.me/e/2BYpAhz8D. The competition will be streamed live at https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/poetry-out-loud.
“We wish Natasha the best of luck and thank her for all of the hard work and hours of preparation she put in to represent our state in a competition that requires learning, connecting and commanding of poetry,” said RISCA’s Executive Director, Lynne McCormack. “RISCA is a proud partner of the NEA’s and the Poetry Foundation’s arts education program that inspires a life-long appreciation of great classic and contemporary poetry.”
A total of $50,000 in awards, and school or organizational stipends will be awarded at the National Finals, including $20,000 for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion, and $10,000 and $5,000 for the second- and third-place finalists. The Poetry Foundation provides and administers all aspects of the monetary prizes awarded for Poetry Out Loud. The Poetry Out Loud National Finals are administered by Mid Atlantic Arts.
On March 6, 12 R.I. high school students, representing schools from around the state, competed in the state’s Poetry Out Loud competition at the Greenwich Odeum. Prior to the competition, competitors spent most of the school year studying poetry through learning, memorization and performance.
Beginning at the classroom level, winners advance to a schoolwide competition, then to the state championships, and ultimately to the national finals in Washington, D.C. Since its inception, 3.6 million students from 14,000 high schools nationwide have participated in Poetry Out Loud.
Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, a partnership with RISCA, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation, is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition to high schools across the country. For more information, visit Poetryoutloud.org.
National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965, the NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. For more information, visit NEA website. www.arts.gov.
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative partnerships, prizes and programs.

PROVIDENCE, RI – The Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced today that it is offering one-time sign-on and retention bonuses of $500 each and hourly pay increases of between 10% and almost 15% to lifeguards this summer. The agency views the incentives as critical to recruiting more lifeguards to staff state beaches and parks, which attract nearly 10 million visitors and add an estimated $300 million annually to the state economy, according to a URI study. The historically tight national labor market, which continues to include a low labor force participation rate among teenagers 16 to 19, has affected practically every employer in the country, whether public or private sector.
Full-time lifeguard positions are available at all state swimming areas, including surf beaches such as Roger Wheeler and Misquamicut, non-surf beaches such as Goddard Memorial State Park, and freshwater beaches such as Burlingame Campground and Lincoln Woods State Park. Optimally, DEM would hire a workforce of around 150 lifeguards; the agency had about 85 in place for most of the 2022 summer. Despite this, DEM only had to restrict swimming areas at a few beaches a handful of times last year.
Lifeguard pay ranges from $14 to $18.75 an hour based on location, experience, and position level. The raises range from 10.7% (from $14 to $15.50 for Lifeguard I jobs) to 14% (from $16 to $18.75 for Seasonal Supervising Lifeguard positions). All lifeguard candidates must receive state certification and have successfully completed courses and hold valid cards in lifeguard training, first aid, and CPR including infant, child, and adult.
“Rhode Island’s state beaches and parks provide some of the best outdoor experiences in the state, including many great swimming spots,” said DEM Director Terry Gray. “One of our top goals at DEM is promoting outdoor recreation for all Rhode Islanders and providing visitors with excellent experiences at our amazing network of parks, beaches, and campgrounds. We need a great team — and finding and hiring qualified, enthusiastic workers is essential to delivering on this promise. We are excited to offer a $500 sign-on bonus and an additional $500 retention bonus, along with higher salaries, to help us hire a robust workforce of lifeguards. Working outside, building lifelong friendships with workmates, and serving their community are also the big benefits of spending the summer working at our beaches, parks, and campgrounds. We still have lots of positions open for beach managers, park rangers, groundskeepers, and facilities attendants as well.”
Lifeguards who submit a complete application packet including all required documents and are hired by June 24, 2023, will be eligible to receive a one-time, $500 sign-on bonus. Lifeguard staff who remain in good standing throughout the course of their employment, who have not taken more than five unapproved days off over the summer, and remain employed until Sept. 4, 2023, will be eligible for a one-time, $500 retention bonus. The anticipated pay date for the sign-on bonus is July 21, 2023, and the retention bonus pay date is Sept. 29, 2023. Year-over-year salary comps are below.

LIFEGUARD 2023 PAY SCALE Pay step 1 Pay step 2 Pay step 3
Lifeguard I $15.50 $16.00 $16.50
Lifeguard II $16.75 $17.00 $17.25
Lifeguard III $17.50 $17.75 $18.00
Seasonal Supervising Lifeguard $18.25 $18.50 $18.75
Seasonal Surf Beach Manager $19.00 $19.50 $20.00
Seasonal Non-Surf Beach Manager $17.75 $18.25 $18.75
Assistant Surf Beach Manager $17.75 $18.25 $18.75

LIFEGUARD 2022 PAY SCALE Pay step 1 Pay step 2 Pay step 3
Lifeguard I $14.00 $14.50 $15.00
Lifeguard II $14.75 $15.25 $15.75
Lifeguard III $15.50 $16.00 $16.50
Seasonal Supervising Lifeguard $16.00 $16.50 $17.00
Seasonal Surf Beach Manager $17.50 $18.00 $18.50
Seasonal Non-Surf Beach Manager $16.25 $16.75 $17.25
Assistant Surf Beach Manager $16.25 $16.75 $17.25

With only 52 full-time employees managing 25 parks, eight surf beaches, and dozens of other properties, DEM’s Division of Parks and Recreation relies hugely on seasonal employees. Currently, DEM is in the process of hiring the hundreds of “seasonals” needed to fill critical summertime positions like park rangers, beach managers, facilities attendants, groundskeepers, laborers, and nature educators along with lifeguards. Park rangers are key employees, helping to create a safe and fun experience at DEM properties. They give directions to beachgoers and park users, help with crowd control, provide security checks for facilities, and are the first responders in the event of emergency. Hourly rates for park rangers range from $13.75 to $15.25. Applicants for Facilities Attendant and Park Ranger I positions must be 16 years of age or older and applicants for Park Ranger positions at levels II and III must be 18 years of age or older.
Although slightly down from historically high levels over the past few years, the current number of national yearly job openings — 9.9 million — is very high, according to the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Related, DEM and other employers also are contending with long-term laborforce data revealing that the share of teens participating in the workforce peaked 40 years ago and has declined ever since. Today, just over one-third, or 35%, of teens between the ages of 16 and 19 are part of the workforce. BLS data suggest that year-round schooling and summer classes are a major cause, with the percent of 16- to 19-year-olds enrolled in summer school tripling in the last 20 years.
For a complete list of seasonal employment opportunities and to apply, job seekers may click here. Most positions are full-time and include weekend and holiday hours. Applications must be completed online and paper applications will not be accepted. The State of Rhode Island is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
For more information on DEM programs and services, visit www.dem.ri.gov. Follow DEM on Facebook, Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM), or Instagram (@RhodeIsland.DEM).