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

The Neighborhood Union Vitality Center at Sunset Ave NW in Atlanta part of the Fulton County robustness department offers sexual fitness 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 Medicinal 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 populace fitness 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 fitness department staff who worked on HIV and sexual vitality The safety net is literally being yanked out from under people Francis explained 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 area are going to have to figure out what can be done so people don t fall through the cracks of citizens robustness Francis mentioned After the surprise layoffs the state Department of General Soundness placed two senior Fulton strength department leaders on unpaid administrative leave District Fitness Director Dr Lynn Paxton and Carol Lawrence human materials director The DPH declared the Fulton layoffs were unauthorized Neither state nor Fulton wellbeing 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 disclosed Jeff Graham executive director of Georgia Equality a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy organization There demands to be various transparency from the state robustness department and Fulton County at once Graham noted 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 A few of the affected Fulton workers and other advocates informed Healthbeat that innovative services like a syringe exchange and initiatives with population 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 area s healthcare going forward I was in the developmental process of building the bridge with the kids at this region center but my efforts are all out the window Healthbeat is a nonprofit newsroom covering citizens fitness 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 population healthcare firings appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta