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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-2022 February 1 PHAB Minutes Deschutes County Health Services Public Health Advisory Board (PHAB) MINUTES MINUTES February 1, 2022 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. via Zoom videoconferencing Facilitator Dave Huntley, Chair Staff Coordinator Tom Kuhn, Community Health Manager Scribe Kelley Ward Next Meeting March 1, 2022 Topic and Lead Introductions and Approval of December Meeting Minutes Tanya motioned, Sharity seconded, and all board members voted to approve the December meeting minutes as written. Announcements and Unfinished Business Group Updates: - Tanya shared that she is no longer with PacificSource but is still a community member and participating in PHAB. - Dave has an open door policy and is available to discuss PHAB related matters at any time. Available by email, Zoom, in-person or however you prefer. - Tom met with Keith and was able to give him his service plaque. New Member Appointments: - All new members have been appointed. - On behalf of the board, thank you for serving on PHAB. Wildfire Smoke Public Info Campaign- Ed Keith, Deschutes County Forester Approximately five years ago, a group was put together that composed of prescribed fire and health practitioners. What came from that group was the Community Response Plan. This plan discusses the dangers and impact of smoke to the community and safe locations during fire season when bad smoke is predicted. The plan was finalized in 2018-2019 and Central Oregon was the first county with an approved plan in the state. Centraloregonfire.org is a great resource that has interactive maps and posts for when burns are expected to take place. The site also has several pages focused on health and what you should be doing in correspondence to the air quality. The DEQ provided funding to implement this plan. There has been a request for proposals for a media firm to work with us to further refine messaging and target the vulnerable populations (those with respiratory diseases, anyone over 75, infants, children, th pregnant women and homeless populations). This request will close on Monday the 7. Does PHAB have any thoughts on these messages or how they should be delivered? These messages “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 3/3/22 will be dual purpose in the sense that they will be used for notifying the public of prescribed burns and to also tie in the idea that people should be checking the air quality levels and plan activities around minimizing exposure. Tanya asked if there are resources for individuals with health conditions exacerbated by the smoke to access air purifiers. Ed responded that there is a pilot program in Ashland right now that does something similar to this but it could look like many different things. Funds could be used to provide clean air systems for the community. OHA is in the midst of hiring people and rolling out the program that would purchase those systems. PH would love to participate in this. Ed will send the Community Response Plan to Tom to distribute. Feel free to contact Tom if you want to be more involved with this. Sphere Project/Homelessness – Dave Huntley, PHAB Chair Looking at housing the homeless and the need to increase housing units. The Point In Time Survey was conducted in late January and was used to help identify the number of individuals experiencing homelessness. There are many reasons for homelessness but we expect to see a continued focus on economics. The Sphere Project discusses the minimum standards of care and breaks down the amount of need based on how many people are involved. What do we think is the minimum care needed in homeless communities? If we created a minimum standard, what weight would that carry? Bringing this topic up for discussion is the first step. If we focus on what minimum we feel would be most helpful, then we can look at possibly restructuring focus to get the funds needed to address the needs. Peter shared that many of these questions are answered in the Emergency Homelessness Taskforce. Commissioner Chang mentioned that this topic is a major point of deliberation and debate and is proceeded by the question of do people who are experiencing homelessness deserve resources, etc. There is a public narrative that many of the homelessness community are choosing this lifestyle, don’t want to work, have substance use issues, not from here, don’t deserve support, etc. Dave shared that it seems like the community is more accepting to help veterans. Central Oregon Veteran Outreach has some people who are veterans but do not identify as veterans and vice versa, which adds another complexity to this dilemma. Suggestion to look at this as a health issue and keeping people safe as it may have an impact on the community seeing the need. There is a real economic cost to all of this with the cost of emergency care, cost of law enforcement time, etc. The Homeless Leadership Coalition puts out a helpful newsletter (monthly-ish). To subscribe or view past issues, visit https://cohomeless.org/newsletter. Next step: convene workgroup. Tom will work on coordinating this outside of PHAB. Feel free to share any ideas or suggestions. Commissioner Chang shared that he is hoping that the Coordinated Homeless Response legislation sponsored by Rep Kropf will pass in the next few weeks and that group will launch soon. If this is the case, the group Dave is proposing could possibly be a subcommittee of that office. COCC ARPA Application update – Sarah Baron, Assistant Professor, COCC Sarah shared that this project has been funded. Over the next two years, the goal is to train, onboard and help these students get into the workforce and to sustain them. Wendi Worthington, who is a nurse with a masters in PH with a counseling background, has been doing healthcare outreach and incorporating the PH model into it. It’s important to inform the community on what outreach workers, Community Health Workers and Peer Support Specialists are and the services they can offer to the community. Hoping to work with PacificSource on tapping into funds to get the Medicaid reimbursement. COCC will be putting up a spring course and fieldwork practicum class where the students will be in a paid internship with Sarah “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 3/3/22 supervising them. These students can help with any small projects in the community. Sarah shared that they surveyed community partners and CBOs and received an overall response that almost all are maxed out or at capacity. Over the next month or two, they will be figuring out the forms and what the process will look like for CBOs to participate with these students. Health Officer & Health Services Director Changes Dr. Conway was given the opportunity to serve as the Health Officer effective January 1, 2022 and will serve in this capacity at least through June 30, 2022. Management has been working th on defining what his role is. As of right now, we are unsure what will happen after June 30. As for the Health Services Director, Erik Kropp is serving as our interim director and recruitment for this position will start within the next month or so. Adjourn 1:24pm Action Items:  Tom will work on putting together the homelessness workgroup to discuss the minimum standards of care. Board Members Present: Thomas Kuhn, Colleen Sinsky, David Huntley, Emily Cummins, Tanya Nason, Sarah Baron, Steve Strang, Charlotte DeHate, Sharity Ludwig, Peter Boehm and Commissioner Phil Chang Staff Members Present: Tom Kuhn, Kelley Ward Guest Presenter: Ed Keith PHAB – Public Health Advisory Board PH- Public Health “To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 3/3/22