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

The Neighborhood Union Fitness Center at Sunset Ave NW in Atlanta part of the Fulton County medical department offers sexual medical 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 Medical The town hall is scheduled for a m to p m at Mayfaire Curative Suite in the Summit South Building at Cleveland Ave in Atlanta It is open to the general The event is being organized by Daniel Driffin an independent general robustness 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 wellbeing department staff who worked on HIV and sexual soundness 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 statistics from AidsVu We as a neighborhood are going to have to figure out what can be done so people don t fall through the cracks of residents wellness Francis explained After the surprise layoffs the state Department of Masses Wellbeing placed two senior Fulton vitality department leaders on unpaid administrative leave District Strength Director Dr Lynn Paxton and Carol Lawrence human support director The DPH reported the Fulton layoffs were unauthorized Neither state nor Fulton soundness department personnel 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 specific transparency from the state physical condition department and Fulton County instantly Graham declared 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 Specific of the affected Fulton workers and other advocates stated Healthbeat that innovative services like a syringe exchange and initiatives with society groups to promote HIV testing could be disrupted Tyson Randolph who was among those laid off last week reported the terminations will have major implications for the society s physical condition going forward I was in the developmental process of building the bridge with the kids at this society center but my efforts are all out the window Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering inhabitants vitality published by Civic News Company and KFF Wellness News Sign up for their newsletters here The post Atlanta HIV prevention advocates plan town hall on Fulton County general wellness firings appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta