Government Shutdown and It's Impact on Kids

This week's Federal Government shutdown has been an eye-opening experience for me as a public health student. First off, I didn't even know this was possible! I was too young to understand the implications the last time this occurred in 1995-96, but I am learning quickly that without a federal budget there is no public health.
 
Not only are the public health programs that I care about unable to benefit communities, but academics at the College of Public Health who are trying to conduct public health research are stuck - waiting on grants and websites to be updated. I read an article yesterday in the Washington Post which really made me think about the impact that this funding hold will have on the programs and populations I support:

1) WIC - The Department of Agriculture will stop supporting the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which helps pregnant women and new moms buy healthy food and provides nutritional information and health care referrals to those who need it. According to a Forbes article, over 8.9 million low-income women and children are at risk for losing their access to stable food supplies.

2) Head Start - 1,600 Head Start programs around the country providing education, health, nutrition and other services to roughly 1 million low-income children and their families. They will slowly begin closing during a shutdown. This is on top of cutbacks that have already occurred this year.

3) Disability Benefits - Social Security administration won't have enough staff to schedule new hearings for those applying for disability benefits.

4) [Childhood] Cancer Research - As long as the government is shut down, the National Institutes of Health says it will turn away roughly 200 patients each week from its clinical research center.

5) Public Health across the board - The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ contingency staffing plan involves furloughing about half of its employees - which means bad news for key public health services. 

In my LEND traineeship, we always talk about that, as future leaders in healthcare, it is important to have our voice at the table when major decisions are being made. However, I am left frustrated by this outcome since the populations who are most affected had no voice. I understand that government officials speak for their constituents, but who spoke for the children that are now affected.

So where do we go from here? As I was writing my grant proposal for class and struggling to access the public data that I have taken for granted so many late nights, I came to the conclusion that we need to continue to move forward. I will continue to learn and help those in need, even if the government continues to stand still. I will continue to advocate for programs, research, and health reform because our country is on the precipice of change, and true leaders push on - even if they have to swim against the current.