This article was originally published by Healthbeat, a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News.
The Fulton County Board of Health will restore at least 14 jobs in HIV prevention and sexual health after laying off workers in May citing a lack of federal funding, officials notified Healthbeat.
The layoffs of 17 workers came amid delays in funding for HIV initiatives to state and local health departments from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those funds have since arrived, declared Chris Rustin, interim district health director for Fulton County.
The Georgia Department of Public Health received $25.9 million for the second year of a CDC grant aimed at improving HIV surveillance and prevention. Of that, $5.9 million is allocated to Fulton, which covers the positions, Department of Public Health spokesperson Nancy Nydam Shirek declared.
Fulton has also received other federal funds, including for the Ryan White program, which focutilizes on treating and supporting people living with HIV, and the CDC’s teen pregnancy prevention program, Rustin declared.
The jobs will be reposted, and the former workers can reapply, though they will not automatically be rehired, he declared.
Rustin declared the county health agency is still working out the details of the budreceive with the state Department of Public Health, but that receiveting the job opportunities posted soon is “a priority,” and he hopes that will happen in the next couple of weeks.
Fulton health officials declared in May that the layoffs would have no impact on services. At a town hall organized in response to the firings, Atlanta HIV advocates declared they were concerned about how services would be affected.
“If there were any services eliminated that are critical for the community, we’re going to work to bring them back,” Rustin declared.
The firings created an unnecessary disruption, declared Leisha McKinley-Beach, a longtime HIV prevention advocate and CEO of the Black Public Health Academy, a training institute. She attconcludeed Wednesday’s meeting.
“It is an action that should have never happened,” she declared. “Many of the staff that were released are necessary for implementation of the HIV prevention program.”
HIV testing services are vital in metro Atlanta. Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton were among the 15 counties in the United States with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in 2022, according to the latest available data from AidsVu.
LEADERS RETURN
Two Fulton health leaders — district health director Dr. Lynn Paxton and human resources director Carol Lawrence — were put on administrative leave after the layoffs, which “were done without the prior knowledge or approval of the Georgia Department of Public Health,” Nydam Shirek declared. Both are state employees assigned to county work.
Paxton has since been reassigned to DeKalb County, where she is serving as the interim district health director, replacing Dr. Sandra Valenciano, who left to accept the position of health officer for public health in Seattle & King County, Washington.
Rustin, who formerly served as a deputy commissioner at the state Department of Public Health, has stepped away from those duties to serve as the interim district health director for Fulton.
On Wednesday, Lawrence was back at work in Fulton, attconcludeing the board meeting.
The department determined she was not involved in the layoff decisions and was reinstated on May 24, Nydam Shirek declared.
Rebecca Grapevine is a reporter covering public health in Atlanta for Healthbeat. Contact Rebecca at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org.
Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News. Sign up for their newsletters here.
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