As a nurse, I workat a hospital for long hours on weekdays and weekends. I wake up early and spend 12 hours at Harborview, the regional public trauma center for Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. It’s the area’s safety-net hospital, where we take everyone who comes through the door regardless of their ability to pay.
My patients span the socioeconomic spectrum: Some are well off, some are middle- or working-class, and some are experiencing homelessness. All of them benefit from public health investments. Whether they rely on vaccine information, restaurant health inspections, or the incredible free dental, vision, and health clinics Public Health-Seattle & King County offers, all my patients are healthier when they come to me because of these local investments.
So when I saw King County Executive Girmay Zahilay’s proposed budget cuts to the health department, I had serious questions about his priorities. Earlier this month, the Executive sent the King County Council a budget proposal that cuts approximately $2.8 million from the Department of Public Health while spending more than $18.7 million on his return-to-office proposal.
