To comply with the administration’s executive order to reduce the federal workforce, federal agencies have been terminating the employment of federal workers still in their probationary periods. This national initiative has now impacted Recreation Therapists and Creative Arts Therapists, who provide integral and vital direct care to Veterans within the VA healthcare system. Although members of Congress were told that jobs involved in direct patient care would not be affected, these recent actions clearly eliminated access to important therapy services for our veterans.
Please take this opportunity to contact your U.S. Senators and Representatives to alert them to this situation and ask that they seek the reinstatement of VA therapists (recreation, music, art, dance/movement, drama, poetry) whose jobs have been eliminated. These professional disciplines should be on the EXEMPT LIST of the workforce reduction, as they provide direct patient care for our nation's veterans.