The Power of Partnerships
Although it will be some time before KCDPH has full onsite laboratory capabilities, they are continuing to process lab tests through an agreement with Tulare County. “Currently, we can't process any lab services onsite, but we have improved our medical room and capacity by obtaining equipment to store specimens prior to them being sent to the offsite lab," said Campos. “We use couriers to take the labs to Tulare County lab or to the state lab if needed. Tulare has really been a great partner – they're helping us continue to provide services to Kings County residents."
“Tulare and Kings County have a history of collaborating on a number of services to efficiently leverage our resources and expertise to support the communities. Assisting in providing critical lab testing services following the loss of their public health lab to a fire was settled upon without hesitation," said Karen Elliott, Tulare County Public Health Director. “The relationship our counties share contributes to a positive impact on the residents and public health in a broader, more regional way."
From the Fire to New Hires
Even with the support from Tulare, the fire placed tremendous stress on existing staff, many of whom are long-time employees. Some chose not to return after the fire. Fortunately, FoPH funding gave the agency's leadership the ability to assess staffing needs and bring in new hires.
“Prior to the Future of Public Health funding the department did not have the capacity or staff to provide population data analysis or analytics related to the burdens of disease or health outcomes for the residents of Kings County," said Rose Mary Rahn, Kings County Public Health Director. “With this (FoPH) funding we have been able to bring on an epidemiologist and two business application specialists (data/systems analysts) who have been instrumental in improving and streamlining department electronic health systems for reporting and improving performance metrics, and with the addition of the epidemiologist we are now able to gather population level data in disease and health outcome data for our communities in Kings County."
—Rose Mary Rahn, Kings County Public Health Director
The two business application specialists have played an important role in transitioning and updating the department's electronic health record and environmental health services record to cloud-based platforms. They also updated the applications to improve how services are captured and to generate reports that accurately reflect the department's activities. The business application specialists have taken on several projects in collaboration with the department's first epidemiologist, with all positions funded by the FoPH initiative. Their work includes developing health dashboards and implementing BarCloud, an inventory system used to track assets and stock items, including supplies designated for public health emergency distribution.
FoPH funding has allowed the department the opportunity to build a robust onboarding process for new personnel. Both Rahn and Campos believe that the new hire orientation will allow incoming hires to be more successful in supporting community needs by providing a broad understanding of what the department does and the impact we have in our community. This will allow the department to explain its goals and provide a clear picture of its commitment to community health.
FoPH Filling the Federal Funding Gap
In addition to fulfilling staffing needs, FoPH funding is also being used to fill gaps created by recent federal funding cuts. In April 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave KCDPH notice that funding from multiple grants was going to be cut within a week, which impacted at least eight subcontractors. That left the department with multiple regional programs, ones that were being developed in partnership with community-based organizations (CBOs), hanging in the balance.
One particularly significant program affected by the federal budget cuts is the Community Health Worker (CHW) Program. KCDPH had contracted with a CBO in Fresno to take a regional approach to providing services that connect people to health and social services and also help them navigate healthcare systems in both counties. The contract was originally funded by the Epidemiological Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grant, but when that funding was terminated, KCDPH turned to FoPH funding to assist with maintaining those efforts, including the development of a curriculum for a CHW certification course at Fresno State University. The program is intended to create and sustain a consistent stream of qualified CHWs who can serve both Kings and Fresno County. KCDPH is hoping to have their first cohort in early 2026. The project was initially piloted by Deputy Director Nicholas Montoya and will now be managed by the FoPH-funded Program Specialist.
“We feel the training, offered at a minimal cost, would help round out our overall Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) through the expansion of CHWs. We're looking at ways to provide access to healthcare in a very broad geographic area. We constantly look at data points and evidence-based models to implement training programs like this one, which is now possible with the FoPH funded Epi/Data Unit," Montoya said.
Kings County is clearly taking a 30-thousand-foot view of healthcare in the region, keeping a keen eye on ways to improve community outreach and ensure all residents can access healthcare, no matter where they live. This eagle-eye view allows them to maximize FoPH funding to create a broad range of boots-on-the-ground programs, offer health care trainings and respond to unexpected incidents, all of which make a tangible impact in the community.
There's no doubt about it, KCDPH is wisely investing in the future of public health.
Photos courtesy of: Kings County Department of Public Health
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