Culture change needed to prevent looming public health crisis

As Wisconsin is slowly and haltingly making its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state is setting itself up for another impending public health crisis which could have lasting negative consequences to residents for years to come.

As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, according to the state association for public health officials, 33 of the state’s 86 public health agencies have lost their top official since the pandemic began in early spring 2020. This works out to being 40% of local public health leaders leaving their posts in the past year and a half.

Part of this mass exodus can be attributed to simple demographics and the graying of rural America. However, it would be overly simplistic to blame it all on birthdays.

A career in public health at the county and local level is very much a calling with those choosing this career path tending to be in it for the long-haul. There is no glitz and glamour in running toe-care clinics for senior citizens, assisting young parents with childcare concerns and making sure children get their shots while they’re tots, or in holding flu vaccine clinics for at-risk populations. Likewise there is no joy in their job when they have to close a popular beach on a summer weekend due to contamination or tell people they must stay home due to exposure to communicable diseases.

Public health workers are the people who give up their nights, weekends, holidays and family time to make the contact tracing calls and to check up on those quarantined. In the smaller departments, which make up the bulk of those in the state, the leadership is working alongside other staff members. Due to budget constraints they are often the ones who have put in countless additional hours each week doing double and in some cases triple duty.

County and local health officials are subject to the same level of burnout impacting frontline healthcare workers across the country. Added to this strain is that healthcare leaders have become punching bags, not only for members of the public, but also for local elected officials and especially by those who have politicized public health.

These men and women have become the target of slurs, threats and outright abuse for simply doing their jobs and attempting to follow the ever-changing best-practice guidelines and the law. This abuse gets old fast and has decimated the ranks of healthcare workers and leaders.

Finding replacements for these leaders will be a challenge. The state is seeing a tight labor market with worker shortages across all industries. Given budgetary realities, counties and other government agencies are at a major disadvantage in recruiting applicants and even a generous wage and benefit package does little to entice someone to jump into the toxic atmosphere that has permeated public health in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin leaders and residents must work together to restore a culture of respect toward healthcare providers, even when they have to give guidance or information people may not want to hear. Unless the culture is changed, Wisconsin will find it increasingly hard to find healthcare leaders which will put the state at risk in future healthcare crises.