Fulton County health department leaders put on leave after HIV workers laid off

Jack Hardin left chairman of the Fulton County Board of Fitness speaks with District Soundness Director Dr Lynn Paxton at a board meeting on April Rebecca Grapevine Healthbeat The Fulton County Board of Physical condition this week laid off workers including those focused on HIV and sexual medical services apparently without the approval of the state Department of Population Vitality The unexpected layoffs prompted the state to place two executive leaders of the county agency on unpaid administrative leave Jack Hardin chairman of the Fulton physical condition department s board approved Wednesday that District Vitality Director Dr Lynn Paxton and Human Information Director Carol Lawrence were placed on leave Chief of Staff Brian Easom is leading the department The Monday layoffs were done without the prior knowledge or approval of the Georgia Department of Population Wellbeing spokesperson Nancy Nydam revealed Wednesday in an email and DPH is reviewing the actions Neither Paxton nor Lawrence could at once be reached for comment Hardin commented the layoffs were part of a restructuring and would not affect delivery of services FCBOH emphasizes there is no disruption in HIV STI and TB clinical services because of these actions Nydam declared County wellbeing departments like Fulton s provide a range of HIV testing and other sexual soundness services Tyson Randolph who informed Healthbeat he was laid off on Monday announced his squad was working on innovative solutions to bring services to those who aren t typically reached He worked on residents physical condition learning with youth groups and college students in Atlanta s West End where he lives The layoffs will have major implications for the region s healthcare going forward Randolph stated I was in the developmental process of building the bridge with the kids at this public center but my efforts are all out the window HIV testing services are vital in metro Atlanta Fulton DeKalb and Clayton counties were among the counties with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in according to the latest available evidence from AidsVu The U S Centers for Affection Control also in the last few days laid off much of its HIV prevention staff including the squad working on preventing mother-child transmission of the affection A CDC-funded venture headquartered at Emory University that delivered nearly free home HIV testing kits also will be canceled Area groups across the South have cut back on HIV services due to funding delays and cuts The Fulton County workers laid off this week will be paid through the end of May with additional severance payments in June according to a letter to one employee viewed by Healthbeat The staffing cuts come after the state strength department lost an estimated million in funds due to clawbacks of Covid-era funding from the CDC disclosed in March Those cuts resulted in layoffs of temporary contact tracers and other workers at the state agency Georgia locality groups including those focused on vaccine outreach and equity also lost grants due to the cuts Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering inhabitants medical published by Civic News Company and KFF Soundness News Sign up for their newsletters here The post Fulton County strength department leaders put on leave after HIV workers laid off appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta