Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-2020 MARCH 27, 2019 MINUTES Deschutes County Health Services Public Health Advisory Board MINUTES MINUTES March 27, 2019 12:00 – 1:30pm Stan Owen, DCHS Building 2577 NE Courtney Drive, Bend Facilitator Keith Winsor, Chair Staff Coordinator Tom Kuhn, Community Health Manager Scribe Lisa Michael Next Meeting April 24, 2019 – Stan Owen Conference Room Topic and Lead Introduction & Approval of January Meeting Minutes Keith started the meeting with brief introductions of the guests and guest speakers. The minutes from January were postponed until the April meeting due to a lack of quorum. Brief Announcements & Unfinished Business Jim mentioned there have been several recent articles in the Bulletin about vaccinations and the measles outbreak. The second largest group attending the legislative hearing on immunization laws were those against vaccinations. Tom and Keith gave testimony in support of public health modernization funding during a March Ways and Means Community Hearing in Redmond. Keith announced that Chuck just resigned and will no longer serve on the board. He will be greatly missed with all the great work he did over the years. Rebeckah gave a brief update on the health hero nominations since Tom was unable to attend the PHAB meeting. Tom received 2 nominations from organizations that nominated their own staff, which is against the new policy. Tom will be reaching out to those folks to let them th know. The deadline for nominations has now been extended to April 12 and Rebeckah mentioned that she notified about 375 health professionals. She will send them a reminder th email again on April 8 to submit their nominations. Health heroes will be recognized during the May meeting. Robert and David drafted a letter in support of HB 3063 and sent out to local legislators in March and have yet to receive any feedback. Jim provided written testimony to Representative Cheri Helt who is pro-vaccinations and another to Representative Jack Zika, who is anti- immunization. Dr. Conway mentioned that he met with Jack, who said that Tim Knopp was neutral on the subject. Jim recognized Hillary and staff for helping write the letter. Hillary said she will be meeting with each commissioner next week to discuss budget challenges and will meet with County Administrator Tom Anderson on Friday. “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20 Brief Priority Work Group updates: Keith and Dave are in the middle of trying to schedule a homeless subcommittee meeting with Stacey Witte. A Redmond police officer gave Dave some information and local statistics on homelessness to use for their project. He will share what he has with the group. The Joint Ways & Means Committee gave DCHS staff a shout out for attending the legislative session and giving testimony on the immunization debate. Prescribed Fire update Ed Keith, Deschutes County Forester, gave a brief update on this year’s prescribed fire season. Last fall, the Oregon Department of Forestry and DEQ approved the new forest management plan, which included changes in improving the air quality guidelines. These guidelines are now more in alignment with the Clean Air Act and fire crews will be able to conduct prescribed fires closer to town based on these standards. There is a one hour threshold exemption variance through the Community Response Plan. Ed wants to provide clear, concise and coordinated messaging between health-related agencies through the website and other means. The website is a great resource for all kinds of region wide information on prescribed fires, wildfires and the whole process of conducting these fires. The new smoke management rules went into st effect on March 1, so all agencies will be operating under these guidelines. Ed explained that Bend is closer to prescribed fire areas; however, Redmond and Sisters are a smoke sensitive receptor area as well. He met with health department staff and the BOCC to create a local community response plan. Certain rules must be followed in order to be in compliance with this plan such as demographics, messaging to the public, coordinated efforts with other agencies, etc. Ed said the BOCC reviewed the plan this morning and approved to move it through to the state. The Bend City Council will be meeting Wednesday to review the same plan. Morgan and Heather will assist in getting out the information to the public within the next month or so. Ed also said they are working on a text alert plan this spring that will warn the public that a prescribed fire will be conducted in their area through a new system called Everbridge. Residents can sign up by texting a key word to a number that will capture their cell phone number and add them to the list. There was a question about how tourists staying at Black Butte and Sunriver could receive this information. Ed explained that there will be 10 key words people can access for these areas. Ed announced that key people will be invited to see a prescribed fire in action, so they understand how it works. They will be expanding this effort for field tours this spring and PHAB members will be invited. There will be a prescribed th fire conducted on May 4 from 9 a.m. to 2p.m., so Ed asked people to sign up beforehand. Most prescribed fires are conducted in the spring when the ground is drying but not completely dry; however, it also depends on the year due to weather, snow pack, wind and overall conditions. As it stands, we are 20 years behind on prescribed fires. Jim mentioned there was an interesting article in the paper recently about the impact that fire has on Ponderosa forests. City officials want to expand into the UGB and remove some of these forests making prescribed fires critical due to population growth and in order to reduce the risk of structure fires. The public needs to step up and support the process since it is in their best interest. Ed will come back in the fall to update the Board on summer activities. RHA Update & Brief Overview of 2016-19 RHIP Workgroups Rebeckah and Channa gave the board an overview of both plans. The RHA is completed every four years and a snapshot of community health is taken during a certain timeframe, at which time public feedback is then collected. The first draft for 2019 was completed just last week. The last RHA was in 2015. The draft was sent to the steering committee and three rounds of “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20 drafts will occur before the final in July. A summary of the RHA and a number of other considerations will shape priorities for the RHIP. The RHA is a part of the ACA at a national level and public health accreditation requires it. Rebeckah explained a number of different plans have been consolidated into the RHA and RHIP, which not only serves us, but SCMC, CCO’s, and BH. The COHC and SCMC Board of Directors are incorporating these priorities into their strategic plans. Channa explained that this is part of modernization as well. The next steps: First review is now done. April – Second review (PHAB will receive this draft through Tom Kuhn). May – Final RHA will be completed and ready to format. June – RHIP Prioritization July – Publish the RHA and share the results. September – Final prioritization. October/November – Determine leadership, recruit experts, and create strategies and goals. December – Finalize RHIP January 2020 – Publish and share RHIP. Rebeckah will send out a drop off link to PHAB through Tom as it is too big to print and asked that it not be shared with others at this time since it is a very rough draft. Channa mentioned that Deschutes County is the healthiest in the state. In going forward, Rebeckah said they will be moving away from documents and going digital. In 2021, during the midpoint update, we will launch a virtual update and will share financial and demographic data. The platform will also show trends and historical data. The COHC is trying to keep the RHIP alive. There are 9 workgroups working on 8 goals for the 2016-2019 plan. These workgroups have been tasked with addressing all the benchmarks and funds are being released to them to do these tasks. www.cohealthcouncil.org has a list of the workgroups and anyone can see the goals and everything related to them on their website. The RHIP metrics will look completely different this time. In the next round, each workgroup will need to pick out a topic that can be assessed and measured for results. Adjourn at 1:32 p.m. Board Members Present: Keith Winsor, Rebeckah Berry, Jim Powell, Dave Huntley and Peter Boehm Staff Present: Dr. George Conway, Hillary Saraceno, and Lisa Michael Guest Speakers: Ed Keith and Channa Lindsay (staff) Guests: Gwen Jones (COHC) PHAB – Public Health Advisory Board HB – House Bill DCHS – Deschutes County Health Services DEQ – Dept. of Environmental Quality BOCC – Board of County Commissioners UGB – Urban Growth Boundary RHA – Regional Health Assessment ACA – Affordable Care Act RHIP – Regional Health Improvement Plan SCMC – St. Charles Medical Center CCO’s – Coordinated Care Organization BH – Behavioral Health COHC – Central Oregon Health Council “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 8/4/20