Health director warns federal COVID‑era funding cuts have reduced local public‑health capacity

The director of the regional health district serving Waterford told selectmen that federal pandemic‑era investments that expanded local preparedness and immunization programs have receded, reducing staffing and program capacity.

"The reduction is based on the fact that we stopped our wellness pro programs since last year," said Karen Dantis of Yale New Haven Health at Home Southeast (VNA) as she described a budget request for public health nursing and community clinics. She said routine offerings such as blood‑pressure clinics and foot clinics were discontinued and that the VNA is down a public health nurse.

Jen Majio, who said she is the director of health for the region, told the board the district sets its annual per‑capita rate and this year’s request reflects a roughly 3% per‑capita increase plus a higher population figure reported by the state public health agency. Majio said some federal COVID investments—laboratory upgrades, data systems and surge nursing capacity—have largely disappeared: "All of those funds have disappeared. And so some of the ... staff capacity [has been] lost."

Board members pressed for detail on which federal streams ended and how that affected local services. Majio said much of the funding flows through the state and that the town can be connected with Department of Public Health staff who publish the underlying population and funding data. She and selectmen also discussed the continued state per‑capita allocation and the district’s advocacy for higher state funding.

Selectmen approved the health district budget request (FY27 $160,368) by voice vote after the presentation; officials asked staff to provide supporting documentation on population figures and grant flows for the board of finance review.