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Home My WebLink AboutPHAB 02-06-24 minutes Minutes Public Health Advisory Board (PHAB) February 6, 2024 12:00 – 1:30pm Stan Owen Room, Health Services Building 2577 NE Courtney Dr., Bend Facilitator Rob Ross, MD, PHAB Chair Staff Coordinator Tom Kuhn, PHAB Coordinator Scribe Aimee Burroughs Next Meeting March 5, 2024 Topic and Lead Gathering and Lunch 15 minutes Introductions 5 minutes – Rob Ross Approval of December Minutes 5 minutes Sharity approved minutes; Colleen seconded Announcements and Updates 10 minutes  Any group announcements or updates? Gala on Saturday night for  Membership update (COHC & Mosaic) – Tom Kuhn Carmen Madrid no longer in her position at COHC, looking for new member Melissa Booster (Mosaic) now an official PHAB member  Legislative updates – Tom Kuhn Short session Few bills being tracked by CLHO; bill 4071, establish med examiner work group Heather noted that we are lucky in Deschutes county and Commissioner Chang seconded that but noted that it is costing a lot of money Bill 4081, EMS modernization; creates workflow at the state level to trickle down to the county level; create advisory committee, create a data system, etc. Shortage of EMS workers in rural areas Budget request going into OHA budget to increase school funding for school based health programs; more BH focused right now; PHAB will watch this one Bill ____; temporary licensing for health workers from out of state; Logan commented it probably is only for those who use LOCUMS (when you pay someone temporarily but they are “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 9/18/24 taking someone’s place like maternity or traveling nurses for providers) or Telemed perhaps and possibly RNs Tom to find more information about who this applies to Chang said that the main things is measure 110 reform and housing and homelessness package__________; curious about how they will maintain or increase the treatment plans and Discussion around how charges will be used and enforced and created for small amounts of drugs; really should be in the prison system to divert them to treatment, not focus on punishment Mostly discussions around creation of housing but interested how we discuss the Coordinated Homeless Response Office (CHRO) Presentation 10 Minutes – Colleen Sinsky, Vice Chair Sphere Minimum Humanitarian Standards document spearheaded by former PHAB chair; Colleen was asked to give an overview of the standards outlined in the document This document was presented to the commissioners but not endorsed or voted on Presentation showed basis of document and discussed PHAB and its goal Sphere standards have not really been applied to urban homelessness, but does reflect basic humanitarian standards 4 buckets that these standards fall into; Wash is the main example; one of the standards is fecal waste management; shows what the standards call for (key indicators) to get to this Holistic way of looking at standards The Sphere standards have key elements of Minimum care standards Limitations are that they have not been formally adapted or expanded for addressing long term homelessness The Sphere minimum care standards could be used as an important framework to assess and enhance homeless services in Deschutes County Best practices: conduct further assessment; foster community engagement; adopt strategic policy and investments; create long term solutions Response to the presentation was very positive; good questions from board and they were very engaged Worth noting that protecting the PH of residents sleeping outside is part of protecting all residents of DC PH. How would we operationalize this info; the CRO board is who should be coordinating this response and using this information Chang mentioned that it takes broad community support and broad vision; he believes the way to solve homelessness is to create pathways out of homelessness, others in the community believes the way to solve it is to make people go away. Hard to solve when there is that split personality in the community Heather appreciates Colleen and Tom presenting this and conveying best practices for PH to others Sharity asked why it is important to point out that the Sphere standards haven’t been applied in urban settings. Colleen said that its important to state that fact because if we are trying to implement this “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 9/18/24 CO does have one of the highest rates of unsheltered in the Country OR has largest rate of family unsheltered in Country There has been increased attention in long term investments made What have other cities used as their standards? Not sure there are standards. Examples are more that a non profit brings in hand washing stations or Port-a-potties Chang said that we should compare standards of say a refugee camp and then standards of our unsheltered and create go Does CHRO have an action plan? Rough start; governing board was not made up of elected officials or a critical mass of people serious of solving the problem; first director for the office hired had a lot of experience and skill from other places that didn’t connect to this community in a way that was constructive. Also concerns about her resume being properly vetted; haven’t filled the director position after she resigned. Governing board composition changed some, but there has been tremendous headway with the change in some memebers. Confident that it is on the right track and going to do great things. Right now the County is holding American rescue plan funding (2million) for homelessness and CHRO is looking at someplace in Bend/Redmond to be used for authorized housing or encampment **Chang mentioned it would be great to get a snapshot presentation of the point/time count when that information is available Deschutes County Environmental Health Fees Presentation 25 minutes – Tom Kuhn; Eric Mone, Environmental Health Supervisor See attached presentation Presentation will have an ask. This has been provided to the commissioners over the past 6 or 7 years. After presentation would like a letter of support from PHAB DC has 10 inspectors Contract with OHA as all 36 counties do as well, to inspect Food, Pool and lodging facilities; required 2x a year Campgrounds on private land also inspected and licensed Temporary restaurants (munch n Music, Concerts; inspected at event) Public water systems (every 2-5 years) Childcare facilities (1x year) School lunch programs (2x year) Inspections are back up after pandemic! OHA directed inspectors to stand down during COVID What do inspections look like? Come shadow us, we are happy to show you what we do! Like to educate; if we see violations like to fix it right then on the spot OHA recently said they are going to tell AirBnB and VRBOs that have pools or spas have to be licensed and inspected Heather stated that we are pushing back on CHLO and what this should look like “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 9/18/24 FDA says 280-320 food service inspections/1.0 FTE per year; 5.1 FTE inspectors are projected to have 507 annual inspections per 1 FTE What’s new in EH? Wanted to do risk based study; unapproved food source, improper holding temperatures; inadequate cooking; poor personal hygiene; contamination Mobile Food Units (MFU)- currently 270 units; primitive set ups that aren’t built to handle hundreds of customers During COVID MFUs were a perfect model and increased in licenses Expanded guidelines on storage and where food is stored and prepared 32 pods currently in DC and 5 others proposed 4 types of MFUs, over 60% are class IV (can do a full menu, prepare food) More time inspecting MFUs leads to more planning meetings; more space; field inspections are taking longer; new state fire codes OR has most lax food truck rules and regulations Brick and mortar restaurant licensure fees make up 55% of revenue Fee increases are now based on CPI (consumer price index); CPI is estimated to be 4% 2 Options for fee increase: 1) MFU 15% across the board, =+$21k; 2) MFU, 15% Class I-III, Class Iv 20% =+$26k revenue Ask of PHAB: feedback for fee increase % and if we can agree, requesting a Letter of support from PHAB Questions: Brick and mortar fees are significantly higher Higher fees won’t cover new FTE Subsidy from transient room tax is given to EH; that number has been pretty flat in the past year and there are increasing pressure on that revenue at the same time it started growing There will be lots of fighting for that money; don’t bank on that support for this purpose. How much time does it actually take? OHA did time studies for restaurants but not those for pools and lodging Desired outcome; who benefits from the increase and how can that be passed down Colleen asked Chang if thtere is appetite of legislature to increase the TRT (transient room tax); right now how it is structured, an increase is legislatively supposed to be used for more marketing and advertising. Would love if it could be used for creating housing She asked what if all PH in state asked if Inspection fees could be used for tourism and promotion. Chang wasn’t sure how to explore that. This conversation will be revisited at the March meeting and more information will be shared. PHAB Strategic Dialogue Session (reoccurring) 20 minutes – All PHAB Members Adjourn 1:39pm “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 9/18/24