County loses funding for home health program

95 clients affected

WILLIAMS - The Coconino County Health Department (CCHD) has announced that the CCHD Home Health Program will be discontinued as a result of funding cuts from the Arizona Department of Economic Security and the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG) Area Agency on Aging. The Program assists the elderly and disabled in maintaining independent living in their community and in maximizing their health and quality of life. Services include visiting nurse, personal care, housekeeping, and respite. This change will not affect the Home Delivered Meals Program or Congregate Meals Program.

Approximately 95 clients in Flagstaff, Williams and Page will no longer receive vital services provided by the CCHD Home Health Program. Staff members are working with clients to begin this transition.

As a result of these recent cuts and additional budget reductions, which occurred in June, CCHD officials have issued layoff notices to seven of the 10 program staff members. The health department hopes to retain the three remaining nursing staff members by reassigning them to vacancies in other programs.

"As I've said before, the financial planning process we started several years ago positioned the county for an inevitable recession, and allowed us to keep our employees whole," said County Manager Steve Peru. "Unfortunately, now that the state has once again cut our program funding, we are no longer able to backfill state cuts with county revenues, forcing us to lay off employees in our home health program. This is a difficult situation for our home health clients, our employees and the county family at large."

The county is assisting those staff members who have been affected. The Coconino County Career Center manages the countywide Rapid Response Team, which is a group of local professionals that works with employers and employees during layoff periods. The team will begin working with the laid off employees immediately and help them update their resumes, apply for new jobs, or return to school to update their skills.

Questions about the CCHD Home Health Program can be directed to the CCHD at (928) 679-7272.