West Central District Health Department warns of funding cuts, outlines local services and priorities

Megan Trevino, executive director of the West Central District Health Department, told the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners on April 14 that public health work is focused on prevention and community-level interventions and that the department faces an uncertain funding outlook.

"Public health really...is all about prevention," Trevino said, describing core services including clean drinking water, safe food, disease prevention, healthy pregnancies and tobacco cessation. She told commissioners the department serves a six-county area from its main office in North Platte and that it is finishing a four-year community health improvement plan.

The plan identifies mental health, substance use, health literacy and preventive care as top priorities, Trevino said, and the department runs several local programs: immunizations including Vaccine for Children pass-through funds, emergency preparedness, Project STOP for overdose prevention and naloxone training in partnership with Community Connections Lincoln County and the Substance Abuse Prevention System Coalition. Trevino also described a teen outreach program based on an evidence-backed model, environmental-health work including radon and well-water testing (in partnership with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln), and an employee wellness program with 68 active Lincoln County participants.

Trevino said the department achieved accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board in 2008 and is in the reaccreditation process, with final review and documentation due in June. She also noted a recent local capital win: the department purchased a building on South Maple, which reduced leasing and storage costs.

Trevino warned of an immediate funding threat at the state level. She said the state Appropriations Committee is reviewing the biennial budget and that a proposed reduction of $4,500,000 to public-health appropriations would return funding to roughly 2001 levels. Those cuts, she said, would come alongside decreases in some federal pass-through funding that had been used to bolster preparedness and other programs after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trevino described the department’s prior school-based dental program, saying per-county per-capita support and pandemic-era operational limits led to the program’s suspension. "We historically...did receive funds per capita from each of the counties to be able to support a dental program," she said; staffing and financial challenges resulted in the program ending during the pandemic. She added that the department is working with local hospital partners and a federally qualified health center exploring a satellite clinic to restore dental access.

Commissioners thanked Trevino and raised the dental issue for further discussion; Commissioner Kent Weems was identified in the meeting as serving on the Board of Health and as Lincoln County’s board secretary. Trevino asked commissioners for advocacy on behalf of local public health departments and invited further input on how the department can show up in local communities.

Trevino also reminded the board the department is governed by state statute and local boards and referenced Nebraska Revised Statutes covering local public-health authority, saying directed health measures require a specific statutory process that includes state-level review.

The presentation concluded with Trevino offering to return with updates and to work with commissioners on filling local board vacancies and program priorities.