Washington communities must come together to preserve public health | Opinion
Fred Rogers is famous for saying “look for the helpers,” but the helpers we rely on to keep us healthy are under attack. As public health educators from two Universities in Pierce County, we see the consequences of these changes every day in the classroom as we train future public health leaders.
From vaccination to data deletion to layoffs, every week brings news of how the federal government is stepping back from its responsibilities for protecting and promoting our health. The Kaiser Family Foundation has identified over 50 significant policy changes since Robert F. Kennedy took the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services in February 2025.
Our ongoing measles outbreak in Washington is reminding us that national decisions impact our local communities. Cuts to foundational public health services in Washington — including drinking water safety, outbreak investigations, and prenatal support threaten the infrastructure our communities depend on. Decades of work have been undone within months, and the rebuild will not be quick.
These changes are shaping the way our students prepare to enter the field. Information about health inequities and social justice has been altered or removed from federal websites. Public health funding cuts have shrunk the job market, leaving fewer positions for the workers our communities need. Yet the fundamentals for disease prevention and health promotion remain; we will need educators, advocates, and mobilizers for the protection of our health in the months and years ahead. We are realizing that academic freedom is not just an accessory to our health, it is a public health essential if we are to educate and empower tomorrow’s health workers.
Our classrooms are not just academic spaces, they are training grounds for building healthier and more just communities.
Communities in Minnesota, Los Angeles and Portland have already demonstrated that public health happens when neighbors support one another. Mr. Rogers had it right all along: we need to look for the helpers.
Our students are preparing to be those helpers, but they also need our help. We need to reclaim neighborliness, not just in nostalgia, but in strategy and collective action. We see our students as messengers for renewing our social contract, making the work of public health less dependent on the government and more integrated with those we live and work with.
This means asking the urgent question: Who in your community needs help today?
Perhaps our students are becoming exactly what this moment needs: a new generation of public health workers who stay rooted in their communities, nurture mutual aid, and help neighbors prepare for crises together. Every day, our students practice within these core values, which hold that health is a human right and is shaped by the conditions in which we live, learn, work, and gather.
The question is not whether we have the tools to create healthier communities — we do. The question is whether we will choose to use them and support the helpers working to protect us.
Alexandria Drake, Ph.D., MPH, is an assistant professor of public health at the University of Puget Sound. Robin Evans-Agnew, RN, Ph.D., is a professor of nursing at the University of Washington-Tacoma.