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Home My WebLink AboutPHAB 10-01-24 minutes MINUTES Public Health Advisory Board (PHAB) October 1, 2024 12:00 – 1:30pm Zoom Meeting Facilitator Rob Ross, MD, PHAB Chair Staff Coordinator Tom Kuhn, PHAB Coordinator Scribe Aimee Burroughs Next Meeting November 5 – Retreat – In-Person Topic and Lead Gathering 5 minutes Introductions 5 minutes – Tom Approval of the September Minutes 5 minutes Ruth motioned, Lindsay seconded; minutes approved. Announcements and Updates 15 minutes  Any Public Comment? No public comments.  PHAB Member Announcements and Updates? None.  Tom’s new role – Tom Tom is now doing project management work for DC Public Health. Good time in his life for a career change; good news for PHAB because he can dedicate more time to PHAB! He will also serve as the DC Ambulance Service coordinator which means he is the County contact for all EMS services. Coordinate PH modernization work as well and the legislative lead for PH. Heather said that he wanted to thank Tom for all of his years in PH as a manager. She also commented that Public Health is in a famine season right now and will need all the help and advocacy we can get.  PHAB Survey – Tom Almost ready to go; Rob, Colleen, Tom and Ruth have been working on it and it is almost ready to go out. Should be seeing it in the next week or so.  November 5 Retreat Reminder “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 2/19/25 Will be in person and that is where we will be making a list of priorities, and the survey will help us be informed for that meeting. Will be in Stan Owen, the usual place we hold In-Person PHAB meetings. Epidemiology Update on Communicable Disease Trends 30 Minutes – Adrienne Hoyt, PhD, Epidemiologist Please see attached presentation  2023 year in review; top 3 CDs Chlamydia, Hepatitis C and Gonorrhea  Ruth asked why HIV was not included in the first slide, reason is it was not in the top 10  2024 vs 2023, E. coli, HIV and Pertussis seeing notable increase this year  Sarah asked about Lead Poisoning; most of the cases are children who have traveled in other countries and had the exposure  Pertussis trends – also called whooping cough; large spike in 2024; it follows an interesting cycle of peaks and valleys; very important pregnant woman are vaccinated  Variables – spike in May in the region but has gone down since then; majority of cases are in older kid age groups, followed by very young infants  Heather shouted out the team who works on the CD cases in Public Health; each case takes a lot of digging and work to name it and see the trends  Respiratory Season update: ’21-’22 had no major peak in flu which is different; ’22-’23 season was marked by a peak in December; current season held strong and steady since late December to Mid-March with an increase and then a decrease; Peak in late May and early June  MMWR = Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report  Logan asked about testing trends after COVID; Adrienne said she doesn’t know now about the testing trends but would be really interested  Post-COVID we are seeing more combined tests for that and flu and so we are seeing more positivity for flu maybe then we would see pre-COVID  Heather commented that OHA is working with St Charles to sign them up for ResMed; which looks at respiratory hospitalization data  Ruth asked if hospitals, doctors, etc. have been updated on the pertussis outbreak; Heather stated that we do send out info to healthcare providers  Logan commented that the challenging part is also the test is expensive and so sometimes not done if it won’t change the outcome, which limits testing  Ruth then asked what the benefits would there be for a healthcare provider to advocate for the test and is there steps that could be taken in the future to prevent a spike  Heather said, insurance paying for the test is one thing that would help more people get tested; and from a public health perspective the more data the better  Logan also noted that when dealing with kids, you are also dealing with a family so the family may not want to pay the $1-200 for each member to get tested, so then we are not getting that data  Influenza strains are mostly Type A, follows the state trend as well  RSV saw a spike last year so it was something we started tracking; did also see a spike this year although it was a little later  ER visits for RSV mainly younger kids  COVID 19 update; not seeing expected trends for this “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 2/19/25  COVID 19 by age group; majority of ER visits are 65+ years old  Get signed up for the Central Oregon Weekly Flu Report  Ruth asked about Chlamydia and why it has spiked; Heather noted that its been high for years and intervention is very challenging she also suggested we have the STI epi come and give a presentation about the STI work that is going on within Public Health  Ruth also asked if testing for STIs is broad or specialized  Logan said there are 2 buckets, screening and testing for symptoms; screening can be hard due to confidentiality and people not wanting to be screened  Tick-Borne Diseases: Lyme disease; borrelia hermsii; Colorado tick fever; tularmia  Most common is Lyme disease from ticks  Trends are increased cases nationwide, OR and Deschutes County follows the trend; tick population is growing, rising heat and humidity and improved tracking  Most commonly diagnosed in the summer  Lyme disease: illness caused by tick bites; it encompasses a lot of symptoms so it is very tricky to diagnose; not every case presents with the classical bullseye rash  Increases in Lyme disease across the state, not as much in Central Oregon; highest infection rate in the SW part of the state  Majority of US cases are diagnosed in the upper mid-west/NE  Majority of cases in Central Oregon are diagnosed in traditional healthcare provider settings  Protect yourself: wear repellent, check for ticks, shower after being outdoors; remove leaves, tall grass, brush; when removing a tick remove the entire tick  CD reports: https://www.deschutes.org/health/page/public-health-data-and-reports  Ruth asked about the testing for Lyme disease and how it is reported; Adrienne said that there is a long list of questions after lab confirmed Lyme/communicable disease that is OHA defined  There are gaps on what data they can collect due to people refusing or not being able to get in touch, but they try their hardest to get the info  Heather shared that Adrienne’s position is funded by Modernization funding which is exciting  PHAB Strategic Dialogue Session (reoccurring) 25 minutes – All PHAB Members  None Adjourn @ 1:18pm In Attendance: Erin Fitzpatrick Sarah Baron Sharity Ludwig Lindsay Atagi Heather Kaisner Tom Kuhn Adrienne Hoyt Ruth Vernotico Logan Clausen Leela Stuart Arianne Powell “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 2/19/25