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Public health director warns steep federal cuts threaten local services and jobs
Summary
Navajo County Public Health Director Janelle Lynn told the county board that recent federal grant suspensions and proposed Medicaid reductions have forced staff cuts, halted programs and could cost thousands of residents coverage and local health-care jobs without urgent advocacy.
Public Health Director Janelle Lynn told the Navajo County Board of Supervisors that a cascade of federal-level changes this year has forced her department to cut staff, suspend programs and redesign services.
"We are 75% grant funded and heavily reliant on these funds to provide services to our community," Lynn said. She listed stop‑work orders and grant losses that led to a reduction‑in‑force; she said the March funding loss equated to $984,900 and contributed to eliminating several key positions, including three public‑health nurse positions that support immunizations and disease investigations.
Lynn described a series of federal actions she said have compounded local impacts: a restructuring of federal health agencies, suspension of multiple grants in March, and what she called deep Medicaid cuts in the enacted "big beautiful bill." She told the board those changes, if carried through, would end or shrink programs including nutrition education, community outreach, mental‑health first‑aid training and on‑site school immunization clinics.
Those cutbacks, Lynn said, have broader local economic effects. She said the national Medicaid reductions could put coverage at risk for 12,274 Navajo County residents and place 1,408 local health‑care jobs at risk. "Public health is at the center of our community," she said, urging supervisors to help advocate to legislators and consider serving on local workgroups to guide distribution of transformation funds.
Board members praised the presentation and pressed Lynn for data to support advocacy. A supervisor said the numbers help tell the county's story to lawmakers, and another noted that reduced public‑health capacity will increase demands on law enforcement and the courts.
The director asked for three forms of support: local advocacy with federal and state lawmakers; flexibility to desilo funds to meet local needs; and participation in work groups that will decide distribution of rural health transformation funding. Lynn concluded she was available for follow‑up and thanked the board for their time.
The board did not take formal action beyond offering to work with the department on advocacy and to consider Lynn's requests in future agenda items.
