April 14, 2025 • 9 mins
A wave of job cuts in the US hit health agencies hard, especially those that impact women.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steff.
I've never told you a production of by Heart Radio.
And today just quick content warning. We're talking about being
laid off, fired and just how much that can hurt,
(00:28):
and some of the more recent things in our health
system here in the US, but nothing to in depth
that being said. Today is April tenth, twenty twenty five.
And also, Samantha, I hope I'm not stepping on your
toes on this one because you have another topic on
the docket that I think is related to this, But
we will come back and talk about that more because
(00:51):
this is sort of an overview. This is a quick overview,
all right. So April is sexual assault Prevention month, and
to celebrate it, the Department of Health and Human Services,
or HHS here in the United States fired somewhere around
ten thousand people on April first, including most of the
(01:12):
folks who focused on preventing sexual assault and violence. Simultaneously,
the person in charge of preventing domestic violence at the
HHS was put on leave. As we have discussed in
previous episodes, these issues are things that disproportionately impact women,
and these programs which were mandated by Congress had bipartisan support,
(01:36):
and these cuts have been devastating, confusing, and have really
hamstrung programs that depend on federal funding to operate effectively.
This is one of many waves of layoffs and firings
that have swept the country, including in our health organizations
alike the CDC or the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
(01:56):
Many who were fired have spoken out anonymously in fear
of retaliation, and the estimates of how many people were
fired range from one fifth to one fourth of the workforce,
which is one of the biggest on record. Some have
recounted getting an unceremonious email on a Saturday night telling
(02:19):
them that they were fired. According to NPR quote, the
division works on prevention strategies for sexual assault, childhood abuse,
and gun violence, among other forms of violence. Research and
programming staff in all of these areas got cut. Not
only that, according to The Guardian, divisions like the quote
Women's Health and Fertility branch of the Division of Reproductive
(02:41):
Health or the Violence Prevention, Practice and Translation branch in
the Division of Violence Prevention had been hit really hard
and the whole team at Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System,
our Prams was fired, The Office of Health Equity was dismantled,
and just a reminder of all high income countries, the
(03:03):
US has the highest maternal mortality rate and this also
disproportionately impacts black women. They also cut the Assisted Reproductive
Technology Program, which is about helping people who want to
have kids have kids. So was the CDC team they
were cut that provided contraceptive guidelines for obgyns around the
(03:25):
country that they would reference and that were really helpful
for things like if people were taking medication or something
like that. The Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Team was taken
apart as well. Many who have been fired have reported
that it feels very targeted and telling as to what
is important to this administration and what is not. And
(03:46):
many make clear that there was not just a job
to them, it was something that they cared about and
that this is decades of work and experience being essentially erased.
Like a lot of things were seeing. The firings were
both in incredibly haphazard. Some reported being fired on the
spot if their badge was quote loose in their office
(04:08):
and incredibly targeted based on what the person was working on.
And on top of that, most who were fired had
till the end of the day to pack their things
and go, which is not good if they were handling
anything biohazardous or shutting down all labs safely, or even
telling anyone like here's how this needs to run safely,
(04:34):
very dangerous. Any research databases that featured our reference to
sex or gender or taken down for a bit too
to replace those terms, even in scientific research papers. At
one point, agency sites referencing a gender based violence and
violence and racism were also taken down. On top of that,
(04:56):
despite the fact that the CDC recently received two hundred
and ten million dollars from Congress for local grants over
five years for their rate prevention and education program, that
the staff that distributes that the funds has been fired,
so the money is sort of in limbo, not assured. Basically,
(05:17):
no one knows how to access it. A lot of
organizations tackling these issues have reported being in a holding
pattern as well, because basically they can't access this money
that they were promised. Some Democrats have pushed back, writing
a letter to RFK Junior, who is incredibly the Secretary
(05:42):
of Health. So far, Republicans have been quiet as for
Kennedy himself. He has said some of the firings were
mistakes and that was always the plan. So great plan,
love weld.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We meant to mess up.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, it was all obviously, And some people have got like, whoopsie, Daisy,
we didn't mean to fire you. You can come back.
But what kind of like job security is that?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Like right?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Oh oh, and yeah, okay, this is huge for a
lot of reasons. Labs around the world send the CDC samples.
If something new pops up that hospitals don't know what
it is, they contact the CDC. Many of the fired
employees are worried that people will die from these cuts,
(06:41):
and just again to reiterate like that's so much experience
and research is getting erased.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
But a lot of the people are leading protests, raising awareness,
joining or starting organizations the people who were fired, which
you know, I don't. It's sad that that's the situation
we're in, but they're still fighting and they're still trying
to get the message out there. But you know, the
(07:15):
CDC is based in Atlanta, so we saw a lot
a lot of this and I have people that friends
that work at the CDC, and it just has been devastating,
and no one knew who was getting fired or when
or why. So it's pretty you can just see the
(07:40):
harm of it, like you can physically see the harm
of it without even knowing all of this. That being said,
you can see the recent interview we did with Evan
the bioethicist about ways you can get information outside of
because I had to look something up on the CDC
(08:02):
the other day and I was like, oh no, what
if this isn't right, I don't know anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Right, Well, there's definitely a lot of conversation about who
all is being fired, how many people are being fired,
why they're being fired, is this actually helpful? And the
fact that you know, diseases like measles are coming back
and kids are dying, but no one seems to really
mind the few that are dying.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, And then I read I didn't read. I did
read the article, but I only read this one article.
So I read kids were overdosing on vitamin A because
it's supposed to help them not get measles, And I'm like,
this is this is a mess. This is a mess, a.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Little horrible idea. I mean, vitamin's sure to a certain degree,
but there's a reason for doctors there is, and doctors
are also the ones who discovered like the helpfulness of
vitamin a.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So yep, yeah, so we're gonna have to dig into
this more. It's still the fallout is on going and
still confusing. And like I said, I know Samantha, you
had one of your topics coming up is related. Yeah,
so we'll be talking about this, but in the meantime,
listeners have let us know if you have any thoughts
(09:15):
about this. If you were impacted by this, you can
email us at Hello at stuff I've Never Told You
dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky at
mom Stuff podcast, or in Instagram and TikTok at Stuff
I've Never Told You or also on YouTube. We have
a tea public store and we have a book you
can get wherever you get your books. Thanks so always
star a super producer Christina or executive producer My and
a contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening.
Stuff I've Never Told You is production of by Heart Radio.
(09:35):
For more podcasts or my heart Radio, you can check
out the heart Radio appple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Steff.
I've never told you a production of by Heart Radio.
And today just quick content warning. We're talking about being
laid off, fired and just how much that can hurt,
(00:28):
and some of the more recent things in our health
system here in the US, but nothing to in depth
that being said. Today is April tenth, twenty twenty five.
And also, Samantha, I hope I'm not stepping on your
toes on this one because you have another topic on
the docket that I think is related to this, But
we will come back and talk about that more because
(00:51):
this is sort of an overview. This is a quick overview,
all right. So April is sexual assault Prevention month, and
to celebrate it, the Department of Health and Human Services,
or HHS here in the United States fired somewhere around
ten thousand people on April first, including most of the
(01:12):
folks who focused on preventing sexual assault and violence. Simultaneously,
the person in charge of preventing domestic violence at the
HHS was put on leave. As we have discussed in
previous episodes, these issues are things that disproportionately impact women,
and these programs which were mandated by Congress had bipartisan support,
(01:36):
and these cuts have been devastating, confusing, and have really
hamstrung programs that depend on federal funding to operate effectively.
This is one of many waves of layoffs and firings
that have swept the country, including in our health organizations
alike the CDC or the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
(01:56):
Many who were fired have spoken out anonymously in fear
of retaliation, and the estimates of how many people were
fired range from one fifth to one fourth of the workforce,
which is one of the biggest on record. Some have
recounted getting an unceremonious email on a Saturday night telling
(02:19):
them that they were fired. According to NPR quote, the
division works on prevention strategies for sexual assault, childhood abuse,
and gun violence, among other forms of violence. Research and
programming staff in all of these areas got cut. Not
only that, according to The Guardian, divisions like the quote
Women's Health and Fertility branch of the Division of Reproductive
(02:41):
Health or the Violence Prevention, Practice and Translation branch in
the Division of Violence Prevention had been hit really hard
and the whole team at Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System,
our Prams was fired, The Office of Health Equity was dismantled,
and just a reminder of all high income countries, the
(03:03):
US has the highest maternal mortality rate and this also
disproportionately impacts black women. They also cut the Assisted Reproductive
Technology Program, which is about helping people who want to
have kids have kids. So was the CDC team they
were cut that provided contraceptive guidelines for obgyns around the
(03:25):
country that they would reference and that were really helpful
for things like if people were taking medication or something
like that. The Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Team was taken
apart as well. Many who have been fired have reported
that it feels very targeted and telling as to what
is important to this administration and what is not. And
(03:46):
many make clear that there was not just a job
to them, it was something that they cared about and
that this is decades of work and experience being essentially erased.
Like a lot of things were seeing. The firings were
both in incredibly haphazard. Some reported being fired on the
spot if their badge was quote loose in their office
(04:08):
and incredibly targeted based on what the person was working on.
And on top of that, most who were fired had
till the end of the day to pack their things
and go, which is not good if they were handling
anything biohazardous or shutting down all labs safely, or even
telling anyone like here's how this needs to run safely,
(04:34):
very dangerous. Any research databases that featured our reference to
sex or gender or taken down for a bit too
to replace those terms, even in scientific research papers. At
one point, agency sites referencing a gender based violence and
violence and racism were also taken down. On top of that,
(04:56):
despite the fact that the CDC recently received two hundred
and ten million dollars from Congress for local grants over
five years for their rate prevention and education program, that
the staff that distributes that the funds has been fired,
so the money is sort of in limbo, not assured. Basically,
(05:17):
no one knows how to access it. A lot of
organizations tackling these issues have reported being in a holding
pattern as well, because basically they can't access this money
that they were promised. Some Democrats have pushed back, writing
a letter to RFK Junior, who is incredibly the Secretary
(05:42):
of Health. So far, Republicans have been quiet as for
Kennedy himself. He has said some of the firings were
mistakes and that was always the plan. So great plan,
love weld.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
We meant to mess up.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, it was all obviously, And some people have got like, whoopsie, Daisy,
we didn't mean to fire you. You can come back.
But what kind of like job security is that?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Like right?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Oh oh, and yeah, okay, this is huge for a
lot of reasons. Labs around the world send the CDC samples.
If something new pops up that hospitals don't know what
it is, they contact the CDC. Many of the fired
employees are worried that people will die from these cuts,
(06:41):
and just again to reiterate like that's so much experience
and research is getting erased.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
But a lot of the people are leading protests, raising awareness,
joining or starting organizations the people who were fired, which
you know, I don't. It's sad that that's the situation
we're in, but they're still fighting and they're still trying
to get the message out there. But you know, the
(07:15):
CDC is based in Atlanta, so we saw a lot
a lot of this and I have people that friends
that work at the CDC, and it just has been devastating,
and no one knew who was getting fired or when
or why. So it's pretty you can just see the
(07:40):
harm of it, like you can physically see the harm
of it without even knowing all of this. That being said,
you can see the recent interview we did with Evan
the bioethicist about ways you can get information outside of
because I had to look something up on the CDC
(08:02):
the other day and I was like, oh no, what
if this isn't right, I don't know anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Right, Well, there's definitely a lot of conversation about who
all is being fired, how many people are being fired,
why they're being fired, is this actually helpful? And the
fact that you know, diseases like measles are coming back
and kids are dying, but no one seems to really
mind the few that are dying.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, And then I read I didn't read. I did
read the article, but I only read this one article.
So I read kids were overdosing on vitamin A because
it's supposed to help them not get measles, And I'm like,
this is this is a mess. This is a mess, a.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Little horrible idea. I mean, vitamin's sure to a certain degree,
but there's a reason for doctors there is, and doctors
are also the ones who discovered like the helpfulness of
vitamin a.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So yep, yeah, so we're gonna have to dig into
this more. It's still the fallout is on going and
still confusing. And like I said, I know Samantha, you
had one of your topics coming up is related. Yeah,
so we'll be talking about this, but in the meantime,
listeners have let us know if you have any thoughts
(09:15):
about this. If you were impacted by this, you can
email us at Hello at stuff I've Never Told You
dot com. You can find us on Blue Sky at
mom Stuff podcast, or in Instagram and TikTok at Stuff
I've Never Told You or also on YouTube. We have
a tea public store and we have a book you
can get wherever you get your books. Thanks so always
star a super producer Christina or executive producer My and
a contributor Joey. Thank you and thanks to you for listening.
Stuff I've Never Told You is production of by Heart Radio.
(09:35):
For more podcasts or my heart Radio, you can check
out the heart Radio appple podcast, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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