The Clark County Combined Health District is losing out on $2.7 million after grant funding it was supposed to have access to through July 2026 was cut off on March 24 of this year.
“This grant funded basic critical infectious disease investigation and response efforts that are fundamental public health services expected by communities across the nation,” said Chris Cook, Clark County health commissioner.
The Clark County Combined Health District’s total award for this grant was about $3.7 million spanning an award period of Aug. 1, 2023 through July 30, 2026, he said.
The health district spent $947,093.67 of the total award, meaning Clark County will lose $2,737,982.33 in expected and budgeted funding for core public health services, Cook said.
These funds were earmarked for paying salaries of public health nurses, several disease investigators, a clinic coordinator, a public health assistant, a public health navigator and several interpreters, he said, in addition to funding transportation to appointments for those in need.
The Clark County Combined Health District also intended to also hire a nurse practitioner, medical assistant and a clinic nurse, Cook said.
“Besides providing core infectious disease response services, this staff would have opened a much-needed new clinic site in Clark County,” Cook said.
The funding was also going to be used to purchase a mobile health clinic to take public health services around the county, especially to high-need areas where transportation to care is a significant barrier to health and well-being, he said.
“Every dollar was being responsibly spent on foundational public health services. By cutting these funds, our community has lost all of this,” Cook said.
The health district’s ability to respond to current and emerging infectious diseases has been severely compromised, he said.
“It was a tragic mistake and poorly executed by the federal government,” Cook said.
These services are more than a line item on a budget, he said.
The new clinic was meant to bridge the gap to a primary care provider for those who use emergency services or have no health care at all.
“Our community will feel the impact for years to come,” Cook said.
Butler County is seeing one of its grants end early, impacting communicable disease investigations and technology updates.
The Butler County General Health District did not have any full-time staff paid in full from the affected grant, but the department does have one part time employee and some nursing staff that are involved in disease investigation that were funded at least in part by this grant, said Erik Balster, Butler County health commissioner.
“While it may not affect a significant chunk of our budget and staff salaries, we were getting approximately $3,000 a month from the grant to help support our daily disease investigation activities,” Balster said.
Additionally, the health district had been working to use this grant to get on EPIC, which stands for electronic medical record system, and now that project has to be shelved, he said.
That system would have allowed the health district to interact properly with the local hospital networks in order to communicate better and collaborate on disease investigation and outbreak, as well as patient care, Balster said.
“Unfortunately, we are anticipating that there will likely be other reductions in local funds, grants and resources from both state and federal sources in the coming months,” Balster said.
About the Author
