The Colorado Health Service is preparing for several layoffs at the beginning of next month for cancer workers and the prevention of heart disease, thanks to the apparent loss of almost $ 2 million in federal subsidy funding and the own dark tax perspectives.
THE Department of Public Health and the Environment Initially, the 11 positions would be eliminated by layoffs in its health and prevention data divisions “due to delays and uncertainty” linked to the financing of jobs. The federal money subscribing the posts had not been published, said the spokesperson for the CDPHPH, Vanessa Bernal, and the layoffs come into force on July 8.
The Colorado Winds, the state employees’ union, said that it also received a notification from another imminent layoff in the State Department of Agriculture. The agency did not respond to an email asking for comments on Friday afternoon.
Bernal said that part of the money – linked to the prevention of diabetes – had been published earlier this week, but that the terms attached to the subsidy were under legal examination by the State. However, if the money becomes available, it would mean that the State receives $ 850,000 in funding that it should otherwise lose. This funding would save two of the 11 positions provided for the elimination of the health service.
The state is still expecting to initiate layoffs for cardiovascular health programs, colorectal cancer screening and wider for cancer prevention and control, amounting to almost $ 1.9 million in total. Some of the state employees in these positions can be moved elsewhere in the government of the State.
“If federal funding does not pass, Colorado will lose staff and critical services that prevent diseases and reduce long-term health care costs,” Bernal said in an email. “This is uncertain federal funding – not the value of our employees. We do everything in our power to minimize the impacts of the workforce. But these changes, if necessary, will not only affect our staff – they will affect the health of the people of Colorado. ”
Cardiovascular funding has supported a program that trains pharmacists to deliver “disease management programs” and provided training so that community health workers can help people with chronic diseases. The Colorectal Fund on Cancer has helped to screen the elderly for the disease, and the broader cancer program favored health choices that lowered the risk of illness and improved early detection.
Cancer and heart disease was the main causes of state death in 2023, Bernal said.
Although money represents a relatively low amount in A general budget of 16.7 billion dollarsThe state could not afford to fill it, said Bernal. Budget writers of Colorado Reduced expenditure of $ 1.2 billion earlier this year and are already Bracing for more discounts next year.
This prospect could worsen – including for state health programs – if federal cups in Medicaid and food assistance are signed.
Bernal said that “the work required by these specific subsidies cannot continue” without federal funding. Shelby Wieman, spokesperson for Governor Jared Polis, said in a statement that “reality is that we cannot fulfill lost funding”.
“We continue to closely monitor federal funding threatened by the administration (Trump) to understand its impacts on coloradans, communities and state employees,” Wieman wrote.
Hilary Glasgow, executive director of Colorado Winds, said in a statement that she feared the spectrum of more layoffs caused by the loss of federal funding. The union said that nearly 3,700 employees of state employees are fully or partially paid for the use of federal dollars.
“We know they will hurt our members and our coloradans,” said Glasgow. “Unfortunately, most people who rely on state workers for critical services like these do not only realize the federals to close them until they left.”
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