Seventeen public health units in 16 parishes, including in East Baton Rouge, could be closed in one scenario the Louisiana Department of Health is considering to address looming state budget cuts.
Louisiana Department of Health spokesman Bob Johannessen emphasized that the list of health units obtained by the USA Today Network of Louisiana is only one possibility and has not yet been submitted to Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne.
Aside from the East Baton Rouge Public Health Unit, others at risk include: Allen, Assumption, Bienville, Catahoula, Claiborne, DeSoto, East Feliciana, Grant, Iberville, Jefferson (Marrero and Metairie), Morehouse, Richland, Webster, Winn and Tangipahoa.
The public health units are charged with monitoring food and water safety and providing preventive health services like immunizations and access to vital records such as birth certificates.
Dardenne says he has been meeting with state agencies in anticipation of cuts that will be required to close a $304 million midyear deficit.
Gov. John Bel Edwards has said he will call a special session in February for the Legislature to make the cuts. The governor also will ask lawmakers to approve tapping $119 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to mitigate cuts, but he has met resistance from House Republicans.
During his second term, former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also discussed the potential closure of some health units, but he couldn’t win the approval of enough lawmakers to do so.
State Sen. Jim Fannin, R-Jonesboro, was among those who opposed the closures then. Fannin says he would oppose the closures now as well.
“They are the boots on the ground to monitor and control potential outbreaks like the Zika virus,” Fannin says. “Without the health units we don’t have that first line of defense.”
