PHS Regroups After Staff And Budget Cuts
By Gordon Hopkins
Public Health Solutions (PHS) has taken a major hit from both federal and state budget cuts. The result has been a significant reduction in staff as well as available programs and services.
PHS, which works to prevent disease and improve community health, serves Jefferson, Gage, Saline, Fillmore and Thayer counties.
The PHS Board met in Crete on Thursday, May 8. Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock, who serves on the PHS board, reported afterwards, “It was a very difficult board meeting. We have to make substantial, cuts that affect people, due to the revisions in the federal support. It was a very difficult meeting. Those notices will go out this week to people that will no longer have jobs with us.”
Last week, PHS Health Director Kim Showalter, RN, BSN, gave FJN an update. She said, “PHS has, unfortunately, seen cuts in federal government money, but what hurt us the most was the cuts that we got from the state. The legislature cut $3.5 million across all health districts, which really was a huge hit for us. So, what we’ve had to do is go through a process of deciding what programs we can still offer, what positions we can still afford. So, in doing that, we did lose some positions, and we lost some programs.”
One of those programs was for dental services.
“Dental is very much needed in our community,” said Showalter. “Dental itself, at the reimbursement rates, does not pay for the staff and the time and equipment that it takes. So, we had to let go the dental service.”
“The other thing we had to let go of, which is a huge loss to the community, is application assistance. So, if someone came to us and needed help applying for Medicaid or SNAP or any of the government assistance programs, we were happy to do that,” said Showalter, who noted application assistance will still be available for pregnant women.
Regarding the staff loss, Showalter said, “This has been a really hard, difficult time for us. We lost three positions, which had three staff members attached to them, and then we had one that we lost just because we were going in a different direction with that position based on the new priorities. We’ve had to shift priorities based on federal and state mandates, so we’re just doing the best we can.”
PHS is now redirecting its focus with the limited resources at hand. Showalter said, “So, we really had to hone down our services and decide what can we still do with what we have, and what can we do well. So, we’re really moving to focus on chronic disease prevention, and then we’re developing a lot of work around expectant and new moms and families.”
Despite the cuts, PHS also still intends to serve Southeast Nebraska’s increasing Hispanic population, said Showalter, “Health equity is still one of our priorities, and will always be one of our priorities. We did lose our Health Equity Coordinator, the person who had that title, but that hasn’t changed how we view health equity and how we value it, and we still have a number of bilingual staff as well.”
Showalter is concerned about the prospect of further cuts, “I don’t know how much of a priority it is right now to our elected leaders, so I hope that they’ll realize the importance of what we do.”
Showalter added, “We would ask the community, the district, to be patient with us as we make this transition. Our staff is committed to trying to provide services that our communities need.”
