HEALTH AND WELFARE
Making sure residents who need a wide range of social, health and educational services receive them, often working closely with families in financial need and facing crises. The FY 2025 budget includes additional positions within the area of Health and Welfare that will aid in protecting children from abuse and protecting residents from illness, provide internal support for departments that serve vulnerable residents and help families make healthy diet choices. Child Protective Services Team Eleven new positions in the Department of Family Services’ Child Protective Services (CPS) program will improve the county’s capacity to protect young people by addressing cases of child abuse and neglect, mitigating risks to reduce a recurrence and preventing further harm from abuse or neglect.
Internal Support The Department of Family Services and the Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services (MHSADS) are adding internal operations positions that will support the departments’ missions to provide services to vulnerable members of the community. Nutrition Educator Helping to increase the number of people making healthy food choices is one of the goals of the new nutrition educator position at Virginia Cooperative Extension – Loudoun. This new position will enable VCE-Loudoun to expand its outreach efforts and the number of residents it serves. The staff member will provide education and training to residents about prevention of diet-related diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.
TOTAL BUDGET
Extension Services ..... ............. .......................................... $0.9M Family Services ......... ................. ...................................... $45.9M
Health .......... ..................................... ................................... $18.3M MHSADS ...... ................. ...................................................... $75.6M
INTERVIEW WITH | George Khan | Assistant Director, Health Department.
The FY 2025 budget includes the addition of a team of environmental health specialists in the Health Department. How would you describe the role of Environmental Health in the context of the Health Department? In Environmental Health, we strive to protect people. We are really people focused. We want to make sure the food you eat is safe and the water you drink is safe and that sewage is disposed of safely and that if you come into contact with wildlife, rabies is not a concern. What will the new Environmental Health team be doing? The seven positions will be in the Consumer Services Division, focusing on food safety,
which includes inspections of restaurants, hotels, school cafeterias and temporary events. They will also be focused on recreational water safety – making sure pools are safe. We also play a role in nuisance complaints and respond to a lot of those. We also play a role in outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. Why are these new positions needed? Primarily to keep up with growth. In 2021, there were about 1,100 restaurants in Loudoun. That is now close to 1,400 restaurants. Not only has the number of restaurants increased, but there has also been an increase in the complexity of processes. We like to say that anyone who eats, sleeps or plays in Loudoun is affected by what we do.
FY 2025 BUDGET STORY, LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA / 13
Powered by FlippingBook