Public health, explained: Sign up to receive Healthbeat’s free Atlanta newsletter here.
The Fulton County Board of Health will restore at least 14 jobs in HIV prevention and sexual health after laying off workers in May citing a lack of federal funding, officials told Healthbeat on Wednesday.
The layoffs of 17 workers came amid delays in funding for HIV initiatives to state and local health departments from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those funds have since arrived, said Chris Rustin, interim district health director for Fulton County.
The Georgia Department of Public Health received $25.9 million for the second year of a CDC grant aimed at improving HIV surveillance and prevention. Of that, $5.9 million is allocated to Fulton, which covers the positions, DPH spokesperson Nancy Nydam Shirek said.
Fulton has also received other federal funds, including for the Ryan White program, which focuses on treating and supporting people living with HIV, and the CDC’s teen pregnancy prevention program, Rustin said.
The jobs will be reposted, and the former workers can reapply, though they will not automatically be rehired, he said.
Rustin said the county health agency is still working out the details of the budget with the state DPH, but that getting the job opportunities posted soon is “a priority,” and he hopes that will happen in the next couple of weeks.
Fulton health officials said in May that the layoffs would have no impact on services. At a town hall organized in response to the firings, Atlanta HIV advocates said they were concerned about how services would be affected.
“If there were any services eliminated that are critical for the community, we’re going to work to bring them back,” Rustin said.
The firings created an unnecessary disruption, said Leisha McKinley-Beach, a longtime HIV prevention advocate and CEO of the Black Public Health Academy, a training institute. She attended Wednesday’s meeting.
“It is an action that should have never happened,” she said. “Many of the staff that were released are necessary for implementation of the HIV prevention program.”
HIV testing services are vital in metro Atlanta. Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton were among the 15 counties in the United States with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in 2022, according to the latest available data from AidsVu.
Fulton health leaders return from administrative leave
Two Fulton health leaders – district health director Dr. Lynn Paxton and human resources director Carol Lawrence – were put on administrative leave after the layoffs, which “were done without the prior knowledge or approval of the Georgia Department of Public Health,” Nydam Shirek said. Both are state employees assigned to county work.
Paxton has since been reassigned to DeKalb County, where she is serving as the interim district health director, replacing Dr. Sandra Valenciano, who left to accept the position of health officer for public health in Seattle & King County, Washington.
Rustin, who formerly served as a deputy commissioner at the state DPH, has stepped away from those duties to serve as the interim district health director for Fulton.
On Wednesday, Lawrence was back at work in Fulton, attending the board meeting.
DPH determined she was not involved in the layoff decisions and was reinstated on May 24, Nydam Shirek said.
Rebecca Grapevine is a reporter covering public health in Atlanta for Healthbeat. Contact Rebecca at rgrapevine@healthbeat.org.
