By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
On the heels of losing at least half of a federal $8 million grant, Wood County Health Commissioner Ben Robison told his board Monday evening that he is disappointed but not desperate.
Swept up in the effort to slash federal spending, the Wood County Health Department was notified last Tuesday that its promised grant funding had ended the day before – meaning a loss of at least $4 million for projects already planned.
So a special Wood County Board of Health meeting was held Monday evening so payments could be approved to contractors for work already completed.
“This is a really difficult timeline,” board President Nilgun Sezginis said.
“A great deal was planned,” board member Bob Midden said of the funding loss. “Projects were prematurely terminated.”
But Robison stressed that the health department accomplished a lot with the nearly $4 million it was able to put to use. Though the title of the grant included the word “COVID,” the funding was used for many more programs preventing infectious diseases.
Robison also assured the board that core services will continue, despite the loss of the grant funds.
Federal health officials said last Tuesday they were pulling back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations, according to the Associated Press. The funding had been authorized by Congress, and was in the hands of the states, which decided how to distribute it locally.
In Wood County, funds were spent on such items as the new mobile health center, water bottle filling stations in communities throughout the county, UV disinfection systems for local hospitals and to lend to places experiencing an outbreak, HVAC improvements, and floor cleaning equipment for schools and similar public buildings.
“I’m proud of the work we did,” Robison said. “The work we did was pretty innovative and community-minded.”
The remaining money was all assigned to further projects – such as helping to fund renovations to the health department, providing school nurses, starting a transportation pilot program, educational equipment for schools, and more water bottle stations, HVAC updates, plus hand and mop sinks.
A total of 151 water filling stations have been installed throughout the county, with about a dozen left to be installed. Some expenses will be swallowed earlier than planned by the health department, such as the ongoing maintenance of the mobile health clinic.
But Robison assured the board that the health department was careful to insulate its core mission programs from the grant funded projects.
“This is nothing that creates an existential threat to the health department,” he said. “I’m disappointed, but not stressed.”
The same can’t be said for some other health departments throughout the state, which are unable to handle outstanding expenses for partially completed projects, he said.
The health department will probably have to absorb some costs for the lost funding. But in most cases, the unfinished projects will be put on a shelf, with funding to be sought in the future, Robison said.
“We just roll with the punches,” he said. “We will look ahead for other opportunities to serve the community.”
Wood County Health Department had been granted $8 million in the federal program – the largest amount awarded to a health department in Ohio. Pat Snyder, who is in charge of health promotion and preparedness at the health department, led the effort to secure the grant.
“This was very unexpected,” Snyder said of the early end to the grant funding. But she also assured that the health department is still well positioned to provide critical services.
“We’ll figure out a way to get things done,” she said.
After the meeting, Midden expressed his frustration over the “instantaneous truncation” for the promised funding.
“I feel deep dismay and disappointment regarding the way this was done,” he said. “I don’t understand why it was done.”
Midden hoped the funding cut wasn’t the beginning of more assaults to public health funding. Federal funding supports other Wood County Health Department programs such as WIC, the Community Health Center, emergency preparedness response, and free vaccines for children.
