Crisis averted? Long Beach health department slashed funding-related layoffs, still struggles with staffing
As pandemic aid dollars run out, health officials have rushed to find new money or reassign dozens of workers whose positions are no longer funded.
After Long Beach officials worried last month that dozens of workers in the city health department might lose their jobs because of disappearing funding, that worst case scenario has been averted for a majority of them.
From an initial list of 73 positions that were at risk, about two dozen city employees remained on a potential layoff list as of last week, according to Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Jennifer Rice-Epstein.
The health department employs nurses, lab technicians and other medical staff to provide free and low-cost clinics and vaccinations and monitor communicable diseases, and it also oversees homeless services and housing vouchers, collects health data and runs programs focused on safety and health equity.
Most of the jobs slated to lose funding at the end of September had been paid for out of the Long Beach Recovery Act, which used emergency and supplemental pandemic funding from federal, state and other sources to support city public health and economic recovery programs.
Hoping to prevent a mass layoff, health department officials searched for additional money, held a hiring event with 12 city departments, and arranged consultations with city human resources and civil service staffers, according to an Aug. 20 city memo that detailed the potential job losses.
Information provided by Rice-Epstein showed that of the original 73 positions, more funding was found to pay for 22 jobs; about 15 people were hired for other city roles, nearly all within the health department; about 10 workers resigned; a handful are on leave or have pending requests for grants or other funding; and 19 people received layoff notices and will see their jobs terminated Oct. 12.
The danger of a broader layoff has passed, but the health department still faces staffing problems.
The city as a whole has been struggling to fill empty jobs, with vacancies citywide averaging 22% in June. The health department’s 156 open positions as of early August gave it a vacancy rate of more than 32%, one of the city’s highest – but some roles require specialized education, training or experience that the workers at risk of layoff may not have.
Unlike most other departments, Health and Human Services saw its staff balloon from about 317 workers before the COVID-19 pandemic to 675 at COVID’s peak, Rice-Epstein said in an email; total staffing is now down to about 573.
“We are searching out every grant opportunity we can possibly find to retain some of the services so as not to return to pre-pandemic levels” of staffing, health department Director Alison King said.
While vaccines and other treatments have reduced the public health threat from COVID-19, King said other diseases such as Dengue – previously rare in Los Angeles County, the region saw two cases last year – are on the rise due to climate change. Her staff also have recently been dealing with a tuberculosis outbreak.
“A number of these issues are disproportionate to what we saw prior to the pandemic and we’re needing to address them,” she said.
Filling public health jobs can be challenging because they’re often a temporary stop for recent graduates who get the training they need, then move on to higher-paying private sector gigs, King said.
With a variety of health issues and threats on the horizon, she said, “we need to be able to stand up a response with qualified persons that are not always easy to find in the marketplace.”
