By Jennifer Fiorillo
Mental Health
Jennifer Fiorillo
I was sitting in a similar space five years ago when COVD-19 became the focus of our lives. There were few of us who didn’t feel the extreme angst over what was to come and whether we would get through the pandemic in one piece.
As a leader of a nonprofit health care organization, I knew we had our work cut out for us to ensure that we were meeting the needs of our communities while doing everything we could to keep us all safe. We had an obligation to assure access to services, especially through a time when we knew mental health needs would only increase as people felt lonelier and more isolated.
It was difficult to imagine what things would look like for us on the other side of the pandemic. Luckily, we emerged stronger and more resilient from that experience.
Nonprofits are the backbone of the communities they serve. According to the 2019 Nonprofit Impact Matters report from the National Council of Nonprofits, these organizations employ a workforce of more than 12 million in the US with 64 million nonprofit board members and volunteers. There is a deep commitment to be responsive and available to people who need nonprofits during some of their most challenging times in life.
If you walk through the doors of a nonprofit organization, you will find caring, compassionate and giving people. You will see what it means to be stewards of humanity. And what stands out the most about us is that we have always found a way to survive, despite operating on level funding for years and relentlessly advocating for social and economic parity. Nonprofits have built a solid, ethical and cost-efficient safety net.
Here we are again, facing another threat to our existence. The recent developments and proposed plans to cut back on federal spending in the Department of Health and Human Services and in Medicaid will potentially have a profound impact on the nonprofit sector and the ability for these organizations to adequately carry out their mission – work that includes saving lives.
To some this may not seem like a big deal. Some may not believe that this could even happen. But to those who have made it their life’s work to serve, provide access to essential health care services, house the homeless and feed the hungry, it is a heartbreaking reminder of how low a priority we are.
The one thing we can be sure of is that we aren’t going away. We’ve weathered storms and have met unreasonable mandates to do more with less time and time again, and we have shown up for people who needed us the most. I do have to anticipate the worst given my duty to plan and be ready for how we may need to adjust. Who knows, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised with how things shake out.
We have already seen the result of immediate cuts to long-standing and worthwhile organizations and how they’ve had to eliminate vital programs and services. The one thing we need to remember is that there are consequences to dismantling systems of care that have taken decades to build. Doing this may not save money in the end and only lead to less healthy communities and greater reliance on tertiary interventions. We must think before we act.
Jennifer Fiorillo, MBA, MPH is the president and CEO of Bridges Healthcare in Milford, and may be reached at Jfiorillo@bridgesmilford.org.