MORGANTOWN — The Monongalia County Health Department is a grant-driven organization.
But the typical setup sees federal funds pass through the state, which steers them to the health department.
In the case of a $1 million Health Resources & Services Administration grant, however, MCHD will be in the driver’s seat for the first time.
“In this instance, the federal government granted directly to us and then we are sub-granting to the participant counties within the program,” MCHD Chief Financial Officer Devan Smith said.
The regional outreach grant is aimed at improving COVID-19 vaccination rates in Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Harrison and Taylor counties. Barbour County is in the process of being added to that list.
MCHD Deputy Director Anthony DeFelice said part of the grant funding will provide at least one vehicle for each county. Those vehicles were purchased in November.
As the pass-through agent for these grant dollars, MCHD is responsible to ensure services delivered by the recipient counties meet federal guidelines.
“One of our responsibilities as the pass-through entity was to conduct a risk assessment of our sub-recipients and determine the appropriate course of action based on that. As part of that, I sent out an inquiry asking them about their policies and procedures. I reviewed their audit reports,” Smith said, explaining the funds will be released using a reimbursement model in an effort to limit risk to MCHD.
“As we become more comfortable with this, that risk analysis changes and we can move to an advance-type funding structure,” he said.
MCHD is also in the process of securing roughly $90,000 in workforce retention and recruitment dollars through the CDC.
Executive Director and County Health Officer Lee Smith said the funds are sorely needed as the health departments often cannot compete, noting the compensation and signing bonuses being offered to nurses by Mon Health and WVU Medicine as an example.
“It leads us to a difficult situation that not a lot of people see the attractiveness of working in harm’s way or working for funds that are not competitive,” Smith said.
While the health department has nearly doubled its number of employees during the past two years — from 57 to 107 — it’s also seen increased turnover.
“In the last 20 months we’ve lost 15 people, and some of those have institutional memory that’s not easily replaced,” Smith said, later adding, “I appreciate the CDC realizing that retention and recruitment is an issue for public health across the country and to recognize some of the efforts these people have put forth.”
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