Health Department Faces Funding Cuts, Reviews Options for Programs

The Will County Health Department is assessing its options after being notified of the termination of a $1 million federal grant for respiratory disease surveillance and outbreak response, officials told the county’s health committee Wednesday.

Elizabeth Balada, representing the health department, reported that a two-year grant providing $500,000 annually through July 2026 has been “clawed back” by federal authorities, potentially affecting the department’s communicable disease investigation capabilities.

“Any reduction in our communicable disease program is unfortunately a setback for our agency,” Balada said. “We know when the pandemic hit that local health departments, not just the health department here in Will County, did not have enough staff to respond to the needs of a pandemic.”

The terminated grant funded staff positions to investigate, prevent and respond to respiratory outbreaks and other public health events in settings including nursing homes, schools and long-term care facilities.

Health officials are exploring options to maintain these services, including potentially reallocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds already approved for communicable disease programs. Balada confirmed discussions with county ARPA administrators began earlier this week.

“Communicable disease is already an approved program under the ARPA pillar. They already gave us funding for it because it is a huge part of the health department,” Balada explained. “We are hopeful… if we could just move more funding into it to support the program.”

Committee member Julie Dean Schlotman requested a full update on the county’s ARPA spending status, noting it had been some time since the committee received a comprehensive report.

The health department is working with union representatives and affected staff while awaiting further guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), which indicated in a memo that it is “not certain of the full impacts of the grant terminations.”

Balada noted the need for maintaining sufficient staffing for communicable disease response, highlighting recent outbreaks affecting local facilities.

“Last month we had 13 norovirus outbreaks at long-term care facilities with over 300 cases that our department had to investigate,” she said, also referencing ongoing measles concerns.

The department plans to present a comprehensive strategy to its board of health in April to address the potential loss of this grant and evaluate other grants expiring on June 30.

Health officials assured the committee they are looking at current vacancies in other areas of operation where affected staff might be reassigned if necessary.

In response to committee questioning, Balada explained that federal COVID-19 funding was likely targeted for reduction, though she noted the money “should have just been called pandemic funds” since it supports broader preparedness capabilities.

The committee requested copies of the original grant application and contract to better understand the scope of the affected programs.