Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public-health nurses, outreach staff urge supervisors to preserve frontline positions and prevention services
Summary
Public health nurses, regional nursing staff and program specialists pressed supervisors not to cut home visiting, lead-prevention, child sexual-exploitation and other prevention roles that they said reduce downstream costs and avert crises.
Public health nurses, maternal-child health staff and prevention specialists urged the Board to preserve public-health nursing and outreach positions included in the recommended FY2025-26 budget.
Nurses and program staff told supervisors that home visits, prenatal and postnatal support, lead-poisoning prevention outreach and specialized nursing for child sexual exploitation (CSEC) reduce emergency care, support stable housing and connect residents to primary care. Multiple public-health nurses described services to first-time mothers, older adult programs and supportive housing tenants; speakers warned that eliminating public-health nursing posts would raise downstream costs in EMS calls, hospital admissions and other crisis services.
Administration and Public Health leadership said the recommended budget makes a significant one-time and ongoing general-fund increase to backfill federal grant losses affecting public health, and that baseline emergency-preparedness and outbreak-response capabilities are protected. Department leadership asked supervisors to consider the broader fiscal context and to recognize that some federal grants already have been reduced or terminated.
Supervisors requested a written follow-up that details which frontline positions are at risk, where unfilled positions exist, and how reductions would affect services such as home visiting and supportive-housing nursing.
