Atlanta HIV prevention advocates plan town hall on Fulton County public health firings

The Neighborhood Union Healthcare Center at Sunset Ave NW in Atlanta part of the Fulton County strength department offers sexual wellbeing services Layoffs at the county agency have advocates worried about any impact on Fulton s HIV prevention services Photo by Rebecca Grapevine Atlanta HIV prevention advocates plan to hold a town hall on Wednesday May to discuss the layoff of workers from the Fulton County Board of Physical condition The town hall is scheduled for a m to p m at Mayfaire Physiological Suite in the Summit South Building at Cleveland Ave in Atlanta It is open to the society The event is being organized by Daniel Driffin an independent general wellbeing consultant and William Francis pastor of The Church Both have spent years working on HIV prevention They are concerned about access to services like testing and access to drugs that can prevent infection in the wake of last week s layoffs of Fulton strength department staff who worked on HIV and sexual fitness The safety net is literally being yanked out from under people Francis declared Fulton DeKalb and Clayton counties were among the counties in the nation with the highest rates of new HIV diagnoses in according to the latest available facts from AidsVu We as a public are going to have to figure out what can be done so people don t fall through the cracks of community fitness Francis explained After the surprise layoffs the state Department of General Wellbeing placed two senior Fulton healthcare department leaders on unpaid administrative leave District Healthcare Director Dr Lynn Paxton and Carol Lawrence human tools director The DPH commented the Fulton layoffs were unauthorized Neither state nor Fulton healthcare department functionaries would elaborate on the layoffs or the source of the funding for the terminated staff My greater concern is that this will ripple across the state mentioned Jeff Graham executive director of Georgia Equality a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization There requirements to be selected transparency from the state wellness department and Fulton County at once Graham announced adding that groups that provide services to people with HIV are worried about their own funding and also want to ensure that people have the services they need to prevent HIV Particular of the affected Fulton workers and other advocates advised Healthbeat that innovative services like a syringe exchange and initiatives with district groups to promote HIV testing could be disrupted Tyson Randolph who was among those laid off last week mentioned the terminations will have major implications for the neighborhood s vitality going forward I was in the developmental process of building the bridge with the kids at this public center but my efforts are all out the window Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering populace vitality published by Civic News Company and KFF Wellbeing News Sign up for their newsletters here The post Atlanta HIV prevention advocates plan town hall on Fulton County general robustness firings appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta