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

The Neighborhood Union Medical Center at Sunset Ave NW in Atlanta part of the Fulton County wellbeing department offers sexual robustness 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 Robustness 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 community The event is being organized by Daniel Driffin an independent general healthcare 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 soundness department staff who worked on HIV and sexual physical condition The safety net is literally being yanked out from under people Francis revealed 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 input from AidsVu We as a population are going to have to figure out what can be done so people don t fall through the cracks of constituents physical condition Francis revealed After the surprise layoffs the state Department of Constituents Wellness placed two senior Fulton healthcare department leaders on unpaid administrative leave District Soundness Director Dr Lynn Paxton and Carol Lawrence human information director The DPH explained the Fulton layoffs were unauthorized Neither state nor Fulton soundness department administrators 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 stated 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 directly Graham commented 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 Several of the affected Fulton workers and other advocates notified Healthbeat that innovative services like a syringe exchange and initiatives with region groups to promote HIV testing could be disrupted Tyson Randolph who was among those laid off last week announced the terminations will have major implications for the group s wellbeing going forward I was in the developmental process of building the bridge with the kids at this group center but my efforts are all out the window Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering inhabitants wellness published by Civic News Company and KFF Vitality News Sign up for their newsletters here The post Atlanta HIV prevention advocates plan town hall on Fulton County general fitness firings appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta