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America's public health workforce is collapsing.

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Why are the desks empty when we spend so much on health care?

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It's not a lack of graduates. It's failing to treat health spending as economic infrastructure.

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Take a local health department trying to retain one trained epidemiologist during a non-emergency year.

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Right now, one third of state and local public health workers are considering leaving.

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In vital specialties like epidemiology and laboratory science, vacancy rates hit 50%.

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It's driven by a boom and bust funding cycle.

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During a crisis, emergency money violently spikes.

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Then immediately vanishes.

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Without predictable funding, that department can't offer competitive salaries. This triggers a vicious cycle.

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Funding flatlines, but the workload doubles.

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Overworked staff burn out and leave, so chronic diseases go unmanaged.

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When the health department is empty, those patients are diverted to hospital emergency rooms.

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This racks up hundreds of thousands of dollars in excess residual costs.

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Mathematically, the steady cost of maintaining permanent standing capacity is a fraction of funding emergency hospital responses later.

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So keeping that single trained epidemiologist on staff isn't just a basic administrative expense.

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It is the essential economic infrastructure that permanently protects the community's budget from the next crisis.

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Human in purpose.

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Systemic in method.

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Protective in outcome.