A community’s public health department provides an array of services that range from prenatal care and immunizations to tracking communicable diseases and well and septic inspections.
For Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison, it’s the public’s health – whether it’s getting a shot or making sure the well water’s safe to drink – that matters.
Harrison, who has been in her role since 2012, was the guest speaker at the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce’s “State of” luncheon Thursday and told the audience that while there are always challenges, with those challenges come opportunities.
One big challenge coming down the pike: changes in Medicaid laws that are certain to hit rural areas especially hard.
In a nutshell, the federal legislation informally called “the One Big Beautiful Bill” will take about $1 trillion away from Medicaid. That will trickle down quickly to affect states, especially those with lots of rural health care providers – from doctor’s offices to hospitals.
That’s going to be a big challenge, for sure, in North Carolina.
But, Harrison continued, the corresponding opportunity is what came out of recent Congressional hearings where Harrison, among others, stated their case to provide some sort of funding to help rural areas like Vance and Granville counties.
“We can’t make everything work with all the cuts that are coming,” she said, recounting the basic message delivered to Congress.
What came from those Congressional hearings is the $50 billion Rural Transformation Grant, which gives $1 billion to each state in the country to address rural health priorities.
Harrison said GVPH is one of 14 counties in the NC ROOTS (Rural Organizations Orchestrating Transformation for Sustainability) Hub 4 that stretches from Caswell County to the west and Johnston County to the southeast.
There are some strings attached to the money, however, and Harrison mentioned several areas that must be addressed in future programming per the grant requirements: workforce development, technology, hubs of governance and chronic disease prevention.
“The rules that come with this are very strict,” she said, adding that collaboration and partnership with other agencies and community groups are going to be key. Working together in creative ways to figure out what works best for the community and its residents is vital to future success.
Health departments have long used information from community assessments to identify top concerns and priorities to target. Diabetes, heart disease and stroke are among the perennial top three health challenges for Vance residents, so finding ways to reduce or prevent those chronic health conditions is something public health providers are always thinking about.
Lately, mental health and substance use disorder have gained traction, but often, residents don’t know where to go for help.
“It’s hard to market and communicate what we do and how we do it,” Harrison said. Staffs are planning open house events at both the Henderson and Oxford offices as a way to invite people in to hear and see for themselves what their health department is all about.
Visit www.gvph.org to learn more about the programs and services available at GVPH. The Henderson offices are located at 115 Charles Rollins Rd. beside Maria Parham Health; the Oxford offices are located behind Granville Medical Center, 1032 College St. College St.