2 weeks Ago By JESSICA ABELL [email protected]
Two dozen Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) employees lost their jobs on Tuesday, April 1 as part of the most recent round of federal layoffs impacting employees at the National Institutes of Health. The National Institutes of Health is expected to layoff about 1,200 people nationwide as part of an effort announced Tuesday to reduce the Department of Health and Human Services by thousands of workers. According to an HHS fact sheet released earlier this week, restructuring of the department is proceeding in accordance with President Donald Trump's Executive Order, "Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.
” As part of an effort to reduce HHS from 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000, the fact sheet shows the agency plans on eliminating the following jobs: In addition, 28 divisions within the department will be consolidated to 15, another 10 regional offices will be consolidated into five, and human resources, information technology, procurement, external affairs, and policy “will be centralized.” Employees at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton were among some of the federal workers who lost their jobs this week in the most recent round of DOGE cuts. HHS Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. said in a statement on Thursday layoffs were intended to reduce "bureaucratic sprawl." "We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic," he said.
The move comes after around a dozen people at the Hamilton Lab lost their jobs during federal layoffs in February, while others at the lab have opted for early retirement amid the changes. A source within the agency who spoke to the Ravalli Republic under the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said that about 10 years ago NIAID recognized the work ethic of Montanans in the Bitterroot Valley and moved the purchasing unit for NIAID from the campus in Bethesda, Maryland to Hamilton. That unit was reportedly “gutted” in Tuesday’s layoffs, leaving questions as to how future purchases of everything from personal protective equipment to supplies for experiments and day-to-day functions will be procured given the $1 limit instituted on government credit cards in early March.
RML Scientist Beth Fischer helps a Bitterroot eighth-grader focus the electron microscope in this 2015 file photo. RML has provided school and group tours for more than a decade. Employees have been told that the agency intends to “consolidate and centralize” everything to NIH, but the source told the Ravalli Republic “I don't know what they're going to do.
” “I hope people aren't getting blindsided by all this,” the source said. “They need to be aware that there's really dark times coming for the valley.” RML employs about 500 people in the Bitterroot Valley, including world-renowned scientists from across the globe working to eliminate deadly infectious diseases.
Scientists at the Hamilton lab were some of the frontline researchers focused on COVID-19 early in the pandemic and research conducted at RML was integral in the development of anti-viral drug remdesivir. While RML is best known for its research into vector-borne diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Q fever, and Lyme disease, scientists at the Hamilton Lab have also contributed to breakthroughs in the fight against Sudan virus (one of four viruses known to cause human Ebola disease), MERS, salmonella, SARS and neuro-degenerative brain diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer's. This Feb.
7, 1934 photo of Rocky Mountain Labs in Hamilton shows the second building completed. Note the old cars on the dirt road around the facility. RML conducts research on maximum containment pathogens, including Ebola, prions, and intracellular pathogens like Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis, using Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratories.
A source at HHS told the Ravalli Republic that safety and security programs are not being affected in the cuts, and that “security programs are completely intact.” A 2023 report by the Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research found that because of the lab's existence, the state's economy is larger by: The Hamilton lab evolved as a result of research on Rocky Mountain spotted fever that started around 1900. When the first Montana State Board of Health was created in 1901, the agency prioritized bringing health scientists to the Bitterroot Valley to investigate the cause, treatment and prevention of spotted fever.
The first building at RML was completed in 1928. HHS Deputy Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard told the Ravalli Republic in a written statement “This overhaul is about realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.
Despite spending $1.9 trillion in annual costs, Americans are getting sicker every year, and we must shift course.” “The reorganization is being done in phases.
The first phase was last week’s announcement to inform American taxpayers how HHS will produce better health outcomes for them and their families. The second phase rolled out Tuesday, was to notify roughly 10,000 employees who were impacted as part of the reduction in force. HHS leaders focused personnel cuts on redundant or unnecessary administrative positions.
” According to Hilliard, HHS also plans to reduce its regional footprint by moving out of “the highest cost cities,” shuttering offices in Boston, Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, and Seattle but said “critical programs amongst these divisions will continue under the new operational structure.” Hilliard also added that “HHS will notify external stakeholders, including Congress and will comply with all statutory requirements.” Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.
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