Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Dr. Barbara Ferrer made news Tuesday when she told the county’s board of Supervisors that the “Safer at Home” order would almost certainly be extended for three more months when it expired May 15. Outrage ensued, and the Board of Supervisors and Ferrer herself walked back those comments. Turns out that walk-back was just a giant “psych!” because Ferrer announced the new order Wednesday – one with no expiration date. But, give her credit for being literal – it wasn’t a three-month extension.
To say that the vast majority of county residents are upset is an understatement. As we at RedState have argued throughout our collective quarantine, the people making these decisions are people with stable, steady paychecks – paid for by We the People. Ferrer definitely fits in that category, but the amount of her salary is stunning. According to Transparent California, a watchdog group,
Ferrer’s total compensation package in 2018 was $553,249.
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Los Angeles is an expensive place to live, but wow.
Here at RedState we have also pointed out that our public health “experts,” particularly Dr. Anthony Fauci, are not infallible deities, and that doctors aren’t qualified to run the entire country.
In “Doctor” Ferrer’s case, she’s not an epidemiologist or virology expert. She’s not even a medical doctor, as KABC’s John Phillips discussed on his radio show Wednesday. Her educational resume, from a bio published at USC, where she was a panelist at a “Safe Schools” symposium:
Dr. Ferrer received her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from Brandeis University, a Master of Arts in Public Health from Boston University, a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
What in the world is a Bachelor of Arts in Community Studies, besides a waste of money?
Apparently it is the first step on a career path to becoming a “nationally-known public health leader,” as USC says (emphasis added):
Dr. Barbara Ferrer is a nationally‐known public health leader with over 30 years of professional experience as a philanthropic strategist, public health director, educational leader, researcher, and community advocate. She has a proven track record of working collaboratively to improve population outcomes through efforts that build health and education equity.
Her most recent position before joining the LA County Department of Public Health was with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation:
“[W]here she was responsible for developing the strategic direction for critical program‐related work and providing leadership to the foundation’s key program areas: Education & Learning; Family Economic Security; Food, Health & Well‐Being; Racial Equity; Community Engagement; and Leadership Development.”
There may be a place in society for people with Ferrer’s training and expertise, but does her experience qualify her for this position during a pandemic? The Los Angeles Times writes:
In Ferrer’s role as the top health officer in a county of 10 million people, she’s in the middle of every tough conversation about which businesses and institutions have to shut down, whether public and private hospitals are equipped and prepared to handle a possible surge, and what each of us has to do to make a difference.
She’s our very own local version of White House infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, the straight-talking, overworked doctor now so visible that I feel as though I can tell how many hours of sleep he gets each night.
They also noted Ferrer’s Social Justice Warrior bona fides:
Ferrer was born in Puerto Rico and spent her childhood there. Then, as a young activist, she became a community organizer focused on unequal healthcare access for the poor. She thought about becoming a doctor, but after earning a bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Cruz, she attended Massachusetts universities for master’s degrees in education and public health, followed by a doctorate in social welfare.
In other words, she chose a life of “poverty” to remain an activist.
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