HomeMy WebLinkAboutFEB 22 2017 MINUTES
Deschutes County Health Services
Public Health Advisory Board
MINUTES
MINUTES
February 22, 2017
12:00 – 1:30pm
Stan Owen, DCHS Building
2577 NE Courtney Drive, Bend
Facilitator Kate Wells, Chair
Staff Coordinator Tom Kuhn, Community Health Manager
Scribe Lisa Michael
Next Meeting March 22, 2017, Health Services – Stan Owen
Topic and Lead
Introductions & Approval of January Meeting Minutes
Brief introductions were made and Robert motioned to approve the minutes as submitted.
Charles seconded the motion and the Board vote to approve was unanimous.
Brief Announcements & Unfinished Business
Tom spoke about adding action items as a new section to the minutes from now on.
Tom announced that Sharity has gone through the interview process to replace Mike Shirtcliff
as a board member. Not only does she have oral health knowledge, she also possesses a great
deal of public health experience, specifically in maternal child health. Tom asked the Board to
vote on adding Sharity as a member. Robert motioned to approve with a second from Steve.
Kate officially accepted the Chair position based on the condition that she finish out Susan
Keys’ term (until December 2017), and then have the option to continue another year with
Board approval, while Keith accepted the Vice Chair position. Steve motioned to approve Kate
and Keith in their respective positions, while Robert seconded the motion. The Board’s vote
was unanimously approved for all new member positions. Tom noted that with Sharity on the
Board there are now 11 members.
Tom contacted all the Health Hero winners asking them to attend the awards ceremony at the
March meeting. This year there will be two individual awards (Kimberly Swanson and
Rebeckah Berry) and as usual, one group award (BestCare Treatment Services). Tom is
debating on whether to run a press release before or after awards are handed out. He is also
planning to schedule a meeting with Bulletin health writer, Markian Hawryluk to write a few
stories in the newspaper and possibly generate a public service announcement about education
and awareness to tie in with Public Health Week in April.
Syringe Exchange Program
Laurie Hubbard, a Public Health Nurse for the CD team, gave a presentation on the Syringe
Exchange Program (SEP) and the ever growing need for this service. Laurie has worked for
Deschutes County for almost 18 years and started out on the CD Team as a Prevention
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20
Coordinator. She then switched over to the clinic helping clients with family planning/STD
testing, etc., and is now once again part of the CD team. She is a trained Sexual Assault Nurse
Examiner and is currently working on her Master’s Degree in social work. Laurie explained that
the purpose of the exchange program is to safely dispose of used needles and associated
supplies and provide sterile needles, education and referral to those who inject drugs. SEP also
helps remove used needles from public areas for community safety and reduces costs related
to CD illnesses. SEP has been around for about 30 years and came to Deschutes County in
2005. Here in the U.S., Boston, MA and New Haven, CT were the first cities to launch the SEP
in 1986, while it was introduced in 1989 in Portland at a non-profit medical facility for the
homeless called Outside In, who is still offering this service today. This program has a proven
track record for helping to reduce and/or prevent the spread of communicable diseases such as
Hepatitis C and HIV. DCHS has a two-prong goal for people who inject: reduce sharing and
reusing of needles and supplies, and hopefully reduce the risk of overdose and injury by
providing connections and referrals. The SEP has been identified as a priority prevention
measure in the 2016-2019 RHIP. Laurie spoke about the opioid epidemic that happened in
Indiana and what we learned from that incident. In 2015, in a small rural town of 4,000, 190
cases of HIV were reported due to a widespread use of the opioid known as Opana. We
learned that even rural communities experience health crises caused by poverty, homelessness,
addiction and other factors such as a lack of funding for available HIV services. Education,
testing and referrals are a vital part of prevention and in reducing harm. Laurie explained that
the SEP recognizes high risk behaviors associated with drug injection and meets people “where
they are” in order to decrease these risks by providing compassionate, non-judgmental services
and help people with behavior change. Laurie explained the Stages of Change Behavioral
Model, which demonstrate how a typical client starts out in a state of denial, then becomes
motivated to seek help, asks for and gets the help, then relapses into their old bad habits to
bring them back to the starting point. DCHS staff offers support in helping the client stay on
track in becoming drug-free by motivational interviewing. One of the biggest concerns is the
prevalence of Hepatitis C reported in our state. In a four year time span, over 5,000 cases
were reported to the OPHD and as many as 1 in 32 adults (95,000 Oregonians) may now be
infected. The average rate of new cases was 50% higher in Oregon than the national average
from 2007-2011. Younger adult males under the age of 30 make up half the cases reported,
while American Indian/Alaskan Natives have experienced rates three times that of any other
nationality. In order to help protect the community, DCHS has placed drop boxes for used
needles around the County at most DCHS clinics and partners with Mosaic Medical, Jericho
Table and Bend Church in providing needle exchange services. Since funding for the SEP had
been dwindling over the years, Laurie is working part-time and services are only offered on
Mondays at the main clinic and Wednesday’s downtown on Kansas Ave, although in Spring
2017, services will also be available in Redmond on Thursday afternoons.
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March 8 Commissioner’s meeting discussion
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Tom, Kate, George, Hillary, and Rebeckah will meet with the BOCC on March 8 at 1:30 p.m.
Tom and Kate met with County Administrator Tom Anderson to discuss the BOCC’s
expectations and how to go about addressing them at the meeting. Tom summarized that the
PHAB is attempting to gain a better understanding of what our role is and our boundaries when
advocating for subjects we are passionate about. How can we better serve the BOCC?
George chimed in and said we need to bring concrete issues to the BOCC since their knowledge
of public health may be limited to extensive. PHAB needs to develop a process in advising the
BOCC, while requesting their support on matters that are relevant to our cause. The Board
brainstormed ideas to talk about at the meeting:
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20
1. Youth marijuana use prevention.
2. Immunizations.
3. Large scale outbreaks (do we have the resources to deal with this?)
4. Unplanned pregnancies, especially adolescents.
5. Opioid abuse.
Tom will draft up an agenda to share with the PHAB members by the end of the week. Tom
and Kate want to revisit the above mentioned topics and re-evaluate our strategy; however the
BOCC may tell us what areas to focus on. Tom and Kate would like the BOCC to come to a
PHAB meeting if possible for communication opportunities.
Tom asked if anyone had any comments on the changes made by legal counsel to the Bylaws.
He asked the Board to review and let him know.
Action Items:
Health Heroes Awards – Media, Award plaques, and Public Health Week.
Send out BOCC Work Session agenda to the group.
Identify PHAB priorities list for next meeting and BOCC work session.
Adjourn 1:32 p.m.
Board Members Present: Kate Wells, Charles Frazier, Steve Strang, Jim Powell, Robert Ross,
and Rebeckah Berry
Staff Members Present: Tom Kuhn, Dr. George Conway, Hillary Saraceno, Pamela Ferguson,
Heather Kaisner and Lisa Michael
Guest speakers: Laurie Hubbard (staff)
CD – Communicable Disease SEP – Syringe Exchange Program
STD – Sexually Transmitted Disease HIV – Human Immunodeficiency Virus
DCHS – Deschutes County Health Services RHIP – Regional Health Improvement Plan
OPHD – Oregon Public Health Division BOCC – Board of County Commissioners
PHAB – Public Health Advisory Board
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20