A crisis in public health funding may be too severe for Jefferson County health officials to solve on their own, the Board of Health conceded Thursday.
It’s time for the public to prioritize what services it wants, or else risk losing those programs as early as next month, said Julia Danskin, director of nursing at the county Health Department.
Funding is drying up from federal and state sources, leaving health officials scrambling to adjust to declining revenue streams.
Talk about money problems was a central topic at the county Board of Health meeting Thursday at the Health Department offices in Port Townsend.
Health and Human Services Director Jean Baldwin is in the midst of preparing a department budget for next year.
It’s not a matter of if there should be cuts, it’s deciding on what services the ax should fall, she said Thursday.