State employees deserve thanks

I would like to thank you for your Sunday editorial, “More thanks, less blame.”

I have been a state employee for 22 years. I will soon be retiring as the cirector of the DSHS division of research and data analysis. I have loved working for DSHS, putting my research skills to work for the benefit of department managers, local human services, and the one in three Washington residents that DSHS serves each year. This is left-brain work for a right-brain purpose!

Human services work is less visible than public safety work, and usually less dangerous, but no less important. It involves helping the people of our state deal with troubles in their lives — troubles caused by poor health, lack of health insurance, disabilities, poverty, family struggles, aging, mental illness, alcohol and other drug addictions, youth crime, child abuse and neglect, elder abuse and neglect, child support — a whole host of human problems.

In a way, people working in health and human services — locally and at the state level — are a kind of “invisible army.” They have no uniforms, they have no guns. Some are paid, some are volunteers. They all know that the help that can be given is limited and does not eliminate the problems. But they are people who do not turn aside. And, they deserve our thanks. Without them, the world would be a much more bitter place.

Liz Kohlenberg, Ph.D.

Olympia