NEW ORLEANS — Funding from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is still being distributed. One of the target areas of the plan is to endure that health departments across the country can recover from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC announced it will distribute $3.1 billion to health departments nationwide. Here in Louisiana, the state will be getting $47.5 million over the next five years.
While it is too early to tell where that money will go once it eventually trickles down to the city level, local officials are excited. Dr. Jenifer Avegno with the New Orleans Public Health District, in a statement said in part, "While we do not know the exact final amount NOHD will receive, we feel confident that it will allow us to attract and retain qualified personnel who can help address key priorities in our Community Health Improvement Plan. Using grant funds is a way that NOHD leverages local taxpayer investment in public health to produce improved health outcomes and returns on investment for our community."
The public health sphere is usually underfunded, and those funding shortcomings were highlighted throughout the coronavirus pandemic. This grant aims to address that by helping local departments across the nation recruit, retain, and train their workforce. This includes vital frontline public health workers like epidemiologists, contact tracers, laboratory scientists, community health workers, and data analysts.
Susan Hassig, an associate professor in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in the Department of Epidemiology at Tulane said, "This is this money, and these resources will go to, you know, ensure that water supplies remain safe, that air quality remains good, it will be protecting the health of all of the population of Louisiana, as well as all the states around us because they're all getting money as well."
Hassig applauds the federal government for taking the step to fund such a vital part of health care. While she believes the local health department will allocate the funding appropriately, a few things she said should be top of mind.
"The poor state of maternal and child health in Louisiana, that area is one that's in serious need," she said. "We have a big problem with gun violence, with drug addiction and overdoses and then, you know, infectious diseases, my particular area is certainly something that we are still dealing with right now with flu, and COVID, and RSV, and those just never kind of stopped coming."
The concern now is what happens when this funding runs out; will this funding be ongoing for years to come? In the meantime, Hassig said, "I think it's going to make, I believe, a substantial difference for Louisiana."
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