HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-2020 AUGUST 22, 2018 MINUTES
Deschutes County Health Services
Public Health Advisory Board
MINUTES
MINUTES
August 22, 2018
12:00 – 1:30pm
Stan Owen, DCHS Building
2577 NE Courtney Drive, Bend
Facilitator Kate Wells, Chair
Staff Coordinator Hillary Saraceno, Deputy Public Health Director
Scribe Lisa Michael
Next Meeting September 26, 2018 – Health Services – Stan Owen Conference Room
Topic and Lead
Introductions & Approval of June Meeting Minutes
Introductions were made and Rebeckah motioned to approve the June minutes, which were
seconded by Robert. The Board unanimously approved the minutes as submitted.
Brief Announcements & Unfinished Business
Chuck is officially the new ex-officio member.
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The annual retreat is scheduled for October 24 from 9 am to 1 pm.
Heather announced that the CDC fellowship has applied for a 2 year fall/accident prevention
grant geared towards the elderly population. Morgan Feld worked for a county that provided a
similar program.
Chuck mentioned that this past Spring the BH Initiative gave a presentation on the Friendship
Line, a 24 hr. hot line to help older adults contemplating suicide. The line went live in June
with no activity; however, 63 calls came in during July and 74 in August so far. The Friendship
Line has a 40 year history of developing connections and has trained a select group of
counselors for in-home service. The Line is open to all, but mainly caters to seniors.
Heather said the state health assessment reported in the CD Summary came out yesterday.
She will forward to Lisa to distribute to the board.
Keith mentioned that the smoke advisory is supposed to be lifted tomorrow.
Brief Priority Work Group updates:
Keith announced that there will be a public hearing at 1300 NW Wall this evening at 7 p.m. to
discuss proposed changes to the state rules regarding prescribed fires. Pete Caligiuri and Ed
Keith head up the local smoke collaborative and will be there presenting. The meeting is open
to the public and Keith invited the board members to attend.
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20
Rebeckah said she made some revisions to the climate change brochure after receiving input
from the board and Heather. She will be meeting with the YAC groups to create a brochure for
the school aged population. Keith announced that at next month’s meeting there will be a
climate change speaker presenting.
Dave stated that they are still working on the data for immunizations and that some new
information from Nevada coming in will need to be included.
Jim spoke about the relationship between senior health and the problem of high hospital
readmission rates and its corresponding issue with continuity of care. Older adults are
particularly vulnerable due to age related health conditions. There seems to be a disconnection
of information transferred amongst PCP’s, LTCF’s and hospital care providers concerning elderly
patients who wind up in the hospital system. Information about the client whether it be a visit,
labs or admission to the hospital is not transmitted back to the long term care provider or vice
versa. Furthermore, there have been reports indicating a growing trend of senior bankruptcies
and homelessness caused by a lack of family networking and the ability to provide care. Jim
will speak with Cari Coe who has been visiting all the LTCF’s for education and training.
Charla mentioned that La Pine Community Clinic PCP’s are checking with clients when
discharged from the hospital and reviewing medications, visits, etc. through a new computer
system that helps track client information. Elderly homeless can seek assistance through the
community health department or resource centers to obtain cell phones to keep in contact with
their PCP.
Individual Health Hero winner
Maria, who works for Bend La Pine School District, gave a brief presentation on her duties and
collaboration with OSU extension and the school’s nutrition services. OSU developed a
program to teach kids healthy habits and the school partners with them to facilitate the plan.
The schools also partner with Mosaic Medical and DCBH to assist children and their families by
bridging expertise and providing support and various services. Library staff come to the
elementary schools to offer story time and some of the local churches are providing students in
need with backpacks, etc. Maria mentioned she previously worked at OSU Cascades and spoke
about trauma training at the ELC’s and preschools. A trauma informed summit for teachers
was scheduled to train and review the social and emotional learning piece. Maria works with K-
5 kids to be more active on the playground and offers family cooking classes and more creative
“outside the box” teaching methods to keep students interested.
Wildfire Collaborative update
Ed Keith, County Forester and Pete Caligiuri, Forest Ecologist for the Nature Conservancy, gave
a presentation on the latest wildfire information. Not only are wildfires a public health concern,
but they are also a public safety concern. The Wildfire Collaborative is working towards efforts
on improving the website and reporting the most up-to-date information on prescribed fires
and policy changes. Their goal is to manage prescribed fires with the help of other agencies
for the purpose of reducing the severity of wildfires, all while maintaining harmony in
accommodating the general public. Wildfires are not only a regional and national problem,
they are a global problem. The leading contributing factors are: 1. Human caused, 2. Climate
change, and 3. Weather (specifically lightning). Local and state agencies are taking a proactive
stance on how to address the increase in prescribed fires, while also trying to minimize
degraded air quality. Prescribed fires are a necessary means in making our forests healthier,
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20
reducing wildfires in our communities, and reducing risk to firefighters, while protecting our
wildlife habitat, recreation areas and timber. Air quality data is collected from 26 permanent
sites around the state. Wildfires/prescribed fires are not the only source of bad air quality. As
a matter of fact, only half of one percent is caused by prescribed fires. Other causes of
degraded air quality are woodstove smoke and emissions due to increased area traffic.
Governor Brown recently signed an order to double resources to reduce wildfires. Last year
alone, wildfires caused several million dollars in lost revenue to area businesses and tourism all
over the state. Sometimes smoke drifts in from other areas like the recent California fires,
which is turning out to be the new norm. Ed and Pete discussed the issues related to smoke
particulates and their effects. Studies show that PM2.5 can considerably increase the risk of
cancer. More education is needed about the health effects of PM2.5 and what the general
public can do to reduce their exposure. DCHS is charged with the task of protecting our most
vulnerable population, while the role of the DEQ is to reduce the PM level. The main message
is to inform the general public about when, where and why prescribed fires will take place and
how to protect yourself. More real time data will be added to the website designed for
respiratory patients to see the worst times of the day for smoke. There is a backlog of
approximately 100,000 acres in the Deschutes National Forest that need to be prescribe
burned. Roughly 5,000 acres a year are burned so it is completed in cycles. There is a
meeting tonight at 1300 NW Wall to talk about the state’s strict regulations on prescribed fires.
Four similar meetings will take place around the state in the coming weeks. The rules are lax
in some areas and too strict in others like tracking the 1-hour smoke impact rule. The
important piece is to keep the public informed and at the same time increase the amount of
prescribed fires to minimize wildfires. The Collaborative approval letter written by PHAB,
similar to the BOCC letter, will be submitted at tonight’s meeting.
Adjourn at 1:28 p.m.
Action Items:
Lisa to send out CD Summary
Board Members Present: Kate Wells, Keith Winsor, Sharity Ludwig, Charles Frazier, Jim Powell,
Steve Strang, Rebeckah Berry, Robert Ross, David Huntley, Charla DeHate, Peter Boehm, Stacey
Witte
Staff Present: Hillary Saraceno, Heather Kaisner, Lisa Michael
Guest Speakers: Pete Caligiuri, Ed Keith, Maria McClain-Madden
CDC – Center for Disease Control BH – Behavioral Health
CD – Communicable Disease YAC – Youth Advisory Council
PCP’s – Preferred Care Provider LTCF’s – Long Term Care Facilities
OSU – Oregon State University DCBH – Deschutes County Behavioral Health
ELC’s – Early Learning Centers PM2.5 – Particulate Matter
DCHS – Deschutes County Health Services DEQ – Dept. of Environmental Quality
PM – Particulate Matter PHAB – Public Health Advisory Board
BOCC – Board of County Commissioners
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20