March is nearly over, Spring has already begun, we have now celebrated the Gregorian calendar New Year, Lunar New Year, and the Persian New Year, and it’s time for our PRA March Newsletter. 

We are now nearly 3 months into a new Administration, whose actions represent very clear intentions to reduce the size of the federal workforce, which also includes the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Forest Service, and the United States Geological Survey.  For the last 15 years, PRA has worked very closely with these agencies to improve both human and planetary health. 

Our collaborations, experiences and partnerships with countless federally employed professionals attest to their intelligence, integrity, dedication, and tireless industry. We at PRA have nothing but the highest regard for our partners, many who have lost their jobs, retired earlier than anticipated due to toxic stress of the current work environment, or continue to work with job insecurity. Our partners in the federal government, these public servants, have dedicated their lives and careers to serving the American public through direct service jobs, research, advocacy, and through partnerships both domestically and internationally. 

PRA would like to take a moment to put a face to these “faceless bureaucrats” by highlighting these federal agencies, the valuable work that they do, and the real people whose personal and professional lives have been upturned.

An article published in TexasMonthly on March 4, tells the story of Bianca Sicich, who “was abruptly fired, along with more than four hundred other employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”  

Brooke Sausser, was also recently fired from National Park Service’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, as part of the reduction in workforce (RIF). Brooke’s position has now been reinstated, and is working again, but within the context of an agency severely understaffed. Here is her story:

Like Brooke, these federal workers and their respective federal agencies with whom PRA has worked so closely over the last 15 years, have made countless contributions in promoting planetary and human health. These people and their jobs, rather than being seen as expendable, should be seen as essential workers.  As physicians, we are very familiar with this phrase “essential workers”, which was used quite often during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Although the COVID pandemic is no longer a global threat, we continue to live through a crisis of both planetary and human health. The increasing frequency and intensity of climate catastrophes and an ongoing global epidemic of physical and mental human health illness should be our top priorities, if we as a species want to survive.

Rather than a reduction in the federal workforce, we should be advocating for an investment in the lives and careers of our federal workers, whose jobs are in fact essential to our survival. Our federal government partners need our support more than ever, during these uncertain times. 

We want to hear from you!