Rep. Jeanne Edwards
Several weeks after Sept. 11, two Florida men were stricken with inhalation anthrax sending shockwaves through our nation’s public health system. Public health officials across the country feared their communities might be targeted next. These officials were deeply concerned because they knew a dark little secret — we are not prepared to respond to most major outbreaks of disease.
Last fall’s anthrax scare and the events of Sept. 11 were not the only important events that dramatically impacted our public health system. Another took place on Nov. 2, 1999 — the day Washington voters approved Initiative 695 cutting a major source of funding for our state’s transportation system.
Few voters realized that this would also trim a significant funding source for local government agencies including police, fire and public health departments.
At the time of I-695’s passage, the state budget was able to maintain a reserve, allowing the state to continue to fund important programs including these local government services, known as the I-695 backfill. Then, a sharp, sudden downturn in our national and local economy brought about a $1.6 billion budget shortfall for the state. The resulting layoffs and belt-tightening among consumers has severely cut sales tax revenue for the state. Meanwhile, skyrocketing health care costs and rising numbers of students and consumers of social services have further stretched the budget.
Because of the shortfall, the state is now scrutinizing and scrambling for every dollar it spends. Taking the lead in this process, Gov. Gary Locke has put nearly every possible cut on the table, including the entire I-695 backfill.
This is worrisome, as a recent report by the Washington state Department of Health deemed our local public health systems "not adequately prepared for a major biological emergency." A federal survey examining emergency services in the Northwest found that fewer than 20 percent of these agencies had emergency response plans in place. Additionally, many health care clinics and hospitals have severe staffing shortages. All of these stem from a lack of adequate, stable funding.
Public health departments are responsible for a tremendous array of critical public services. They ensure that restaurants and grocery stores are operating under sanitary conditions. They train food service workers in the appropriate food safety practices to protect all of us when we eat out with our families and friends. Public health officials ensure that our reservoirs and sewage systems are functioning properly to prevent the spread of disease.
And one of the most important functions these agencies serve is to carefully monitor the outbreak of disease. For example, if a person is diagnosed with tuberculosis, public health staff aggressively monitors such an individual to the point of administering medication to prevent any spread of the illness. In this post-anthrax era, this is an especially important task and, sadly, one of the most endangered by I-695 backfill cuts. In Snohomish County and many other health districts, much of the I-695 backfill is allocated to these efforts to monitor communicable diseases.
A cut to these services could not come at a worse time. In his recent testimony before the House Health Care Committee, Dr. M. Ward Hinds of the Snohomish Health District recently noted, "We live in a time of emerging new infectious disease threats, such as West Nile virus, antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis and Ebola virus. We face the threat of old diseases such as smallpox, plague and anthrax spread by bioterrorists. The world has become very small and diseases from another continent are now only hours away by jet plane."
Dr. Alonzo Plough of the Seattle-King County Public Health Department has likened cutting the I-695 backfill to destroying a building’s foundations while (the federal government is) adding a third floor.
Regrettably, the Legislature will be forced to patch together a budget this year marked by deep cuts to many basic government services including public health. The federal government will compensate for some of these cuts, but in Olympia and around our state, lawmakers, public health officials and concerned citizens must now take a closer look at how we fund these critical services.
It has been only six months since Sept. 11. We must not be complacent about our public health needs.
Rep. Jeanne Edwards, D-Bothell, serves on the House Health Committee.
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