Fund now, or face greater costs later

Published 3:13 pm Friday, August 29, 2008

Can we afford to fund the Snohomish Health District’s work in public health? While the politicians try to place blame and point the finger, the question remains. Can we afford to fund public health?

I believe it is the wrong question. The real question is can we afford not to fund public health? The prime minister of Great Britain recently stated the greatest risk to his country wasn’t terrorism but pandemics. The Snohomish Health District is the first responder for any epidemic or pandemic in our area. The Centers for Disease Control tells public health entities that a pandemic will occur, the only unknown is when.

Several letters to the editor have listed the proposed programs to be cut. Each of the programs will have short- and long-term effects on our whole community. These programs provide services to a part of our community that is the most vulnerable. The failure to fund these programs now will result in far greater costs later. With each cut, real people will have their lives impacted by less access to primary care, less access to immunizations for the young and old, less mental health care and referrals, less health and safety education for parents and to our daycares, less treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, fewer referrals for evaluations of child development delays and hence less early treatment, and less monitoring of our TB patients. The list could go on for pages.

Can we afford not to fund public health?

Laura Black