The city’s health department is closing down its “Healthy Start” and “MOMS Partnership” programs and has issued layoff notices to six employees who staffed them.
The layoffs are effective June 30, according to mayoral spokesman Laurence Grotheer.
Grant funding ran out for the positions, Grotheer said.
Three of the workers staff the Health Start program, which connects New Haveners to the state HUSKY health-care program for low-income people and helps coordinate their care. The governor eliminated funding for the program in his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. New Haveners can still receive that help from a similar federal program connected to the Affordable Care Act as well as from the state Department of Social Services, Grotheer said.
The other three workers staff the MOMS Partnership, which federal grants related to Hurricane Sandy relief have been bunding. That grant expires June 30. The city plans to refer clients — who are seeking mental health care — to local agencies like the Clifford Beers Clinic.
Half of the salary for one of those workers comes from other sources, so that position will become part-time.
The Health Department earlier this year closed out another its programs, the needle exchange. Read about that here and here.
This is abhorrent. These programs provide critical services to expecting mothers and new mothers who are at high risk. These talented, dedicated individuals teach critical skills to at-risk mothers. Their intervention ensures proper prenatal care, childbirth, and ensuring these mothers know what many of us consider to be 'common sense'. Without these services, we will see increased ED visits due to young or uneducated Moms not knowing the basics of caring for an infant (such as adding water to formula, what to do when the baby has a fever, etc.). This is a disgrace.