Latest news with #Sturrup
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal funding cuts hurt Austin Public Health's ability to fight outbreaks, director says
Austin Public Health has lost $7.5 million in federal funding that was tied to its COVID-19 response. While the pandemic has ended, this funding gave a needed boost for disease surveillance and prevention efforts by public health departments that had been chronically underfunded, said Austin Public Health Director Adrienne Sturrup. Her department is still assessing how to "maximize the existing resources" and "prioritize programs." "It's hard decision time," she said. "Everything we do is necessary and important." The loss of the money also means the loss of employees — 27 jobs were tied to this funding. The positions will be dissolved between the end of this month and the beginning of July. Those employees have been promised jobs somewhere with the city of Austin. So far, 13 have been placed, and four of those will remain with Austin Public Health. The funding is a part of $39 million in grant money in Austin Public Health's budget. Because public health grant funding "is very disease- or condition-specific," Sturrup said, "the grants don't allow us the flexibility" to shift funds from another grant to cover the disease surveillance and prevention work Austin Public Health does. Another grant that was cut covered refugee medical services, which Sturrup said was important to helping people settle in Austin and get up to date with their vaccines. It also prevented diseases from being introduced here. "The loss of support is to of all those things we are keeping track of that keeps (the community) safe," Sturrup said. The COVID-19 federal funding went beyond the pandemic. It allowed Austin Public Health to do contact tracing and vaccination when Austin had an outbreak of Mpox in 2023. This funding also allowed a team to go door-to-door in a ZIP code that had positive West Nile virus mosquitoes and one death last year to offer information on prevention. It's also funding that the department has been using to look at possible measles cases this year. "For every suspected case, primary care providers and hospitals are calling us," Sturrup said. Currently, the department is also dealing with a rise in whooping cough, including a case in a Del Valle high school. "Those are the resources we've been able to bring to bear," she said of the funding and the current contagious diseases circulating, "Without those dollars, we have to slow things down. ... The work won't stop. We can't stop." Sturrup said this funding cut will be like having the resources the department had as COVID-19 hit in 2020. At the time, there was a lot of criticism about the amount of time it was taking to get people tested and to do contact tracing. Instead of being proactive, because of limited resources, the department had to be reactive, she said. "We've build the house, and now we're just trying to keep the lights on," Sturrup said. "Federal support is so critical." This is happening as Austin Public Health, like other city departments, is facing a 5% funding cut. Sturrup is expecting more federal funding cuts to happen. She's watching discussions about federal HIV funding, including the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, which provides help to people with lower incomes. "That's been huge for our community," Sturrup said. Sturrup has been receiving calls from Central Health, the taxpayer-funded hospital district for Travis County that helps people making less than 200% of the federal poverty level, as well as local federally qualified health centers and local foundations to see if these organizations can help fill some of the federal funding gaps for Austin Public Health. The public can help by following disease protection guidelines such as continuing to wash hands, staying home when you are sick, getting regular medical checkups and staying current with vaccinations. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Funding cuts 'hurt' Austin Public Health's ability to fight outbreaks
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Austin Public Health outlines $15 million in funding, over 50 jobs lost due to federal funding cuts
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Public Health (APH) leaders last week outlined the impacts of cuts to federal funding during a regularly scheduled Public Health Committee meeting. Changes in funding at a federal level could translate to the loss of around $15 million and more than 50 jobs at APH. APH Director Adrienne Sturrup gave a presentation breaking down the impacts at an April 2 Public Health Committee meeting. The agenda and full details of what happened at the meeting can be viewed online. The presentation can be viewed in full below. APH-fed-funding-changesDownload According to Sturrup, APH's 2025 fiscal year budget includes $39,435,490 in federal grant funding, which is about 30% of the budget (the full budget is $131,504,306). However, Sturrup said that represents 51% of the department's Full-Time Equivalent employees, or FTEs. Sturrup said that based on what APH knew at the time of putting the presentation together last month, 63 FTEs were lost in FY25. Of those, 35 were lost in the fall of 2024 'due to grant reductions that supported key public health operations.' APH was able to absorb 23 of those positions into vacant roles or find alternate funding sources for them. The remaining five of those were eliminated. Sturrup said the department knew that it was expected to lose an additional 28 positions this spring and summer that were connected to the 'COVID-related dollars that we're phasing out,' but there were new reductions that APH was not prepared for. She said the unexpected reductions impacted the following programs and number of staff members: Refugee Medical Services Clinic: 13 employees The Breathe With Pride Tobacco Cessation Program: 2 employees GoATX Program: around 25 summer youth interns, 3 full-time staff COVID vaccination program: 7 staff Diabetes care program: 2 staff Sturrup added that APH has identified an additional $7.8 million in funding at risk, which would impact an additional 57 FTEs. She said those numbers are based on 'everything we're hearing from our partners throughout the region an other health departments in Texas, as well as the things that we're hearing on the news.' Some of the projects the upcoming potential cuts could impact include APH's work around health equity and staff training work around health equity. Sturrup said that includes some of APH's HIV and STI work, youth programs, and COVID-19 surveillance. If all of APH's grant funding was lost, it would mean the department would be decreased to 314 FTEs overall. Potential funding impacts highlighted in the presentation included: 373,200 WIC food benefit packages to mothers and children 296,971 Free vaccine supply through federal Vaccine for Children Program 126,476 Individuals and Families supported through Neighborhood Services and Public Health Nurses 17,084 Sexual Health and TB Clinic Appointments 8000 Refugee Health Screenings Sturrup said APH is working with the city manager's office to care for staff members and get them placed into other departments. 'This is kind of the, the situation we're in. I've, I've called it death by a thousand cuts,' Sturrup said. 'The department has been working to prioritize because we know that local dollars cannot fill the gap, um, of federal funding.' Sturrup said APH is putting together information to give a recommendation to the city manager and community on how to move forward. Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes spoke after the presentation, highlighting the impact of the immediate loss of funds. 'I just want to underscore the information that was just provided to us,' Fuentes said. 'We've, we have experienced $15 million of immediate loss in federal funding that's impacting how we serve our community. That's about 50 employees, a mix of full-time and temporary.' 'We know that our public health department has about $40 million that they receive on an annual basis in grants,' she continued. 'Knowing the loss that we already have in Austin, knowing that it could get much worse, I think it makes our upcoming budget deliberations even more challenging because we're having to make decisions, budgetary decisions in our community amidst this chaos and confusion from the federal government on a daily, if not hourly basis.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
