Mayor Asks Public Health Department to Detail Initiatives Addressing Diabetes

Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo has asked the City’s Public Health Department to report on the Department’s strategies to address the prevalence of diabetes within the community.

Gordo made the request at a Public Safety Committee meeting Wednesday during a budget review of the Pasadena Public Health’s $23.8 million Fiscal Year 2024 plan. 

Gordo said that diabetes is a serious issue in the Latino and African-American community and that Northwest Pasadena has one of the highest occurrences of people struggling with the disease.

“I think in all communities, but I think in Northwest Pasadena, we have one of the highest concentrations of people struggling with diabetes,” Gordo said. “And so at some point, you can come back to us and talk to us about the strategy of the health department working with our private sector partners as well to address the issue and this may also be an opportunity to expand our partnership with LA County as well.”

The Mayor also asked if there has been an increase in fentanyl overdoses locally.

According to Interim Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) Director Manuel Carmona, Los Angeles County has seen an increase in fentanyl overdoses. He did not confirm if cases are increasing in Pasadena. 

Carmona said he will soon reveal the data gathered on fentanyl overdoses.

“I will confirm the data and I will report on that but it’s important to know that we have recently adopted a harm reduction strategy for opioid use in Pasadena and it’s going to guide all of our strategies going forward on the way that we do mitigation as well as harm reduction,” Carmona said.

The Pasadena Public Health Department is recommending a budget of $23.8 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, which is a 3 % increase over the 2023 budget of 23.1 million. 

During the Public Safety Committee meeting Wednesday, Carmona said the bulk of the budget,  $16.2 million will go to personnel costs, $5.2 million will go to Services and Supplies while $2.4 million will go to Internal Service Charges. 

Carmona said Service and Supplies charges increased by 7 % due to projected increases in insurance and lease costs while Internal Service Charges increased by 22 % due to increases in technology and facilities costs.

Carmona said over $6 million of the total funding will go to Health Administration, over $ 5 million will go to Social and Mental Health Services, while $4 million will go to Community Health Services.

According to Carmona, since March 2020, the PPHD has investigated over 7,600 confirmed and over 1,000 probable COVID-19 cases. 

It has also administered over 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines and distributed over 6,800 COVID-19 antigen tests to long-term care facilities, schools and child care centers, and community agencies. 

In addition to COVID-19 response efforts, the department also continues to offer critical programs and services that protect the health of the community. 

It issued over 50,000 food benefits to WIC families, conducted 2,069 routine inspections of restaurants, markets, hotels, pools, tattoo facilities, schools and massage establishments. 

It also investigated over 300 complaints related to food handling, vermin infestation, tobacco use, lead paint, and pool sanitation. 

During the same period, PPHD has also linked people experiencing homelessness to 110 clinical appointments and made a monthly average of 153 points of contact and outreach through Pasadena Outreach Response Team, a partnership between the Public Health and Fire Departments. 

It provided 2,800 meals, 493 showers and 348 loads of laundry at the mobile hygiene unit through programs for transitional-age youth and older adults and access to necessary drug assistance for 160 clients living with HIV.

At the meeting, Carmona said PPHD’s key strategies for 2024 include protecting Pasadena residents’ health and well-being and advancing the role of the PPHD as a Health Strategy Catalyst.

Carmona said PPHD is planning to renovate the former public health lab located at 1845 Fair Oaks into an office space in FY 2024. 

At Wednesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin also presented his department’s recommended budget for FY 2024.

The proposed FY 2024 budget of the department is at $65.9 million, 11 % higher than the FY 2023 budget of $59.4 million.

The $6.5 million increase in the budget is due to several factors including increased personnel costs, true-up costs for EMT and Paramedic certification and  renewable diesel prices, among other things.