RE: When it feels like our backs are against the wall.
To: Our Members & The Larger Healthcare Workforce
Over the last several weeks …
- If you have been worried or deeply concerned by federal policy changes that impact the healthcare workforce,
- If you have been directly or indirectly affected by executive orders, funding changes, or the darkness of the national rhetoric,
- If you are a member of a community that is a prime target for policies that threaten your safety and dignity,
- If the status of your ability to stay in this country is in question,
We at CFHA want to share with you: you are not alone.
Our members across the country are directly impacted or work in communities deeply impacted by the series of executive orders that have disrupted millions of lives. The truth is, many of us, depending on our social, economic, and/or racial status in American society, have been here before and carry the legacy of communities bruised by political meanness, subhuman rhetoric, and undignified policies.
We believe that the dis-ease and unexplainable lament we feel—emotions that are necessary and appropriate—stems from the loss of our individual and collective ability to do the work of equity with intention, visibility, and support. A significant dimension of this real loss is the ability to explicitly do what we deeply value and the fear that arises with the loss of things we cannot get back. We also lament the loss of trust and the pain we feel as we witness the erosion of the gains in equity built through deep vulnerability, especially by people of color who bore the weight of such work.
There are also real losses of funding and human capital that have accompanied these federal directives and those that still lie ahead in the federal budget process. While we stake no political claim as a not-for-profit, we do call out the obvious: healthcare and the healthcare workforce are not the enemies of good governance and we should not be targeted as the cause of macro-economically related financial circumstances.
We will do what we have always done – integrate ourselves in locations where our people are and hold space for each other. Here are some of the concrete things we can do together:
- We will schedule community conversations to hold space for connection and to be present with our dis-ease and lament. Look for calendar invites. We look forward to seeing you.
- Ask your SIGs to convene, share, and hold space. Reach out to the Board of Directors if you need someone to be present or facilitate.
- We will curate targeted podcast episodes to share new strategies and learnings.
- We will remember our past – the conditions our beloved women and men endured to give us the values and freedoms we have today and to remind ourselves that we have overcome before.
- We will continue to gather intelligence from around the country and share what we have learned.
- We will partner with like-minded organizations to promote sustained workforce funding and protections.
- We will keep reminding you and ourselves to care for ourselves and each other.
We have been intentional in the use of the word, lament. Drawing from ancient traditions, lament is more than just sadness, rather it is necessary to help us unfreeze from our natural response to traumatic environments. As all of you know, the issue is not that these rough-edged emotions are present but rather our refusal to feel them. Lament reminds us to feel so that we can find clarity to act. We issue this memorandum as a first-step of many and look forward to our continued partnership towards healthcare that integrates physical and behavioral health seamlessly.
With equity, peace, and resistance in mind,
Jason Herndon, President
Monica Harrison, Treasurer
Deepu George, Immediate Past President
The CFHA Executive Committee on behalf of the Board of Directors
