HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-2022 August 2 PHAB Minutes
Deschutes County Health Services
Public Health Advisory Board (PHAB)
MINUTES
MINUTES
August 2, 2022
12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
via Zoom videoconferencing
Facilitator Dave Huntley, Chair
Staff Coordinator Tom Kuhn, Community Health Manager
Scribe Lisa Michael
Next Meeting September 6, 2022
Topic and Lead
Introduction and Approval of June Meeting Minutes
Dave kicked off the meeting by mentioning that the links in the June minutes are broken. Tom
will have them fixed and will send out a revised copy of the minutes. Peter motioned to
approve the minutes with the revision. Rob seconded the minutes as revised. The Board
unanimously approved the minutes.
Announcements and Unfinished Business
Peter asked Tom if he received any feedback from the BOCC about the homeless letter. Tom
has not heard anything yet at this time. Dave asked if there was any discussion about it
amongst Health Services staff. Tom spoke with Erik Kropp and said Erik is unsure of the
letter’s purpose. Tom asked him to consider recommendations, no specific actions. Dave
asked if the homeless are getting what they need and if PHAB needs to make a specific request
to Health Services. Tom asked if the Board could circle back on this discussion.
The Peaceful Presence Project Presentation – Colleen had a positive update to share after the
presentation with Elizabeth Johnson (Executive Director). They moved in to a shared
subsidized office. They are offering end of life doula training and working to eliminate barriers
for housing the homeless who are at the end of life, so they can share their final moments with
loved ones and/or pets. The plan is to work with other agencies to fulfill all the needs in the
program development stage and chip away at homeless issues. Colleen will give another
update as they progress further.
Health Services Recruitment – Tom identified a person to help PHAB in aligning goals with
Health Services, but then that person left, so he is looking for a new person. The County has
advertised for a new director and interviews could possibly take place in mid-August. Erik
Kropp will reach out to Dave to help with interviews. Now that Nahad is also gone, Tom and
Pamela Ferguson will be stepping into the role as co-interim directors. Recruitment for that
position will be coming in a few weeks. All sectors are experiencing people moving around.
There was a short discussion of staff changes at St. Charles including the exit of Joe Sluka and
Jeff Absalon.
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 11/22/22
PHAB Retreat – Tom suggested the Board schedule the retreat for the first week in November
and then a retreat review in December hopefully in person. There were no objections.
Meeting Theme: Substance Misuse
Deschutes County Health Services Harm Reduction Program
Laurie Hubbard gave a presentation on the harm reduction program, which includes syringe
exchange, Fentanyl test strips, Naxolone distribution, smoking supplies and data analysis.
Laurie spoke about the philosophy of risky behavior people engage in and how to recognize the
potential harm, and “meet people where they are” in order to help decrease the risk. The
Harm Reduction program is evidence based in helping prevent overdoses leading to death,
disease and infections and the proper disposal of used needles. The benefits of the program
help to reduce medical costs, reduce discarded needles, connecting people with services and
reducing overdose deaths. Over 80% of outside users are using in an unclean environment.
What do we provide?
Clean syringes, smoking supplies, sharps containers, overdose prevention supplies and
connecting people to services (medical care, testing, peer support and recovery).
Where are we located?
Downtown Bend and Redmond. Continuous pandemic challenges: fewer community partner
services, understaffed, ongoing safety concerns and requirements.
Current staffing consists of Laurie (who is .6 FTE), one Health Educator for OD response (1.0
FTE), two .1 FTE direct service workers that are funded by Measure 110), an MSW intern and
2-3 volunteers. With the expansion of M110 BHRN funding, 4 additional full time employees
and one .6 FTE can be hired. It is Laurie’s intention to develop a Hep. C elimination program
and report her progress back to PHAB at a future meeting. Laurie shared some data with the
Board regarding age groups, gender, race, housing situation, incarceration, etc.
Syringe Exchange
The Syringe Exchange Program Model allows clients to remain anonymous and be able to
receive syringe and smoking supplies. Clients complete an intake form asking their drug of
choice, demographics, overdose history, etc. A risk assessment is conducted to determine
medical/social service needs, infection risk, and overall health. Then the client is supplied with
referrals, on-site support and recovery. Laurie showed the data for the number of visits from
2017 to 2021 and how the pandemic played a huge part of the decrease in the number of visits
in 2020.
Naloxone Distribution Program
This program is confidential but not anonymous. The data shows there was an increase in
Naxolone in 2021, up 107% from 2019. The number of overdoses are increasing, but during
the pandemic, the number of participants decreased (2019-2021). The trend now is that
overdoses are becoming more severe requiring more doses of Naloxone to reverse the effects.
Laurie mentioned there was an overdose surge in April 2021 that contributed to 11 non-fatal
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 11/22/22
overdoses. There have been links to counterfeit Rx pills laced with Fentanyl, specifically, black
market Xanax and Oxycodone and a likely presence of Fentanyl in heroin, meth and cocaine.
This was all happening before we distributed Fentanyl test strips. There was another overdose
surge for two weeks in September 2021 with 16 non-fatal and 1 fatality. Fentanyl test
distribution started in July 2021. Another overdose surge came in December 2021 with 12
non-fatal and one fatality linking fentanyl to heroin.
Highlights and challenges:
Staff continued services during the pandemic in PPE and kept a strong partnership with Mosaic
Medical Van, REACH, Bend Church and other internal teams. They also joined with BH to
provide peer support at exchange sites. The program also received various grant funding from
COHC, OHA, and Measure 110. The program experienced multiple challenges from staffing
issues to acquiring stable funding sources to transportation, access, and stable sites (weather,
smoke, closures), just to name a few.
Substance Misuse Prevention in Deschutes County
Julie opened up her presentation by touching on adolescent substance use in Deschutes
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County. She has been tracking data on 8 and 11 graders over several years and presented
a few charts to the Board showing the prevalence in substance use within a 30-day period.
She mentioned that risky behaviors travel with other risky behaviors. For instance, teens who
gamble are more likely to vape, binge drinking and/or use marijuana.
Substance use across the lifespan:
Data collected has revealed that in 2019, there were 8,340 Oregonians with a serious illness
caused by tobacco. Alcohol related deaths have increased 34% between 2001 and 2017 and
50% of the time medications are not being taken as prescribed.
Prevention and Health Promotion Approach:
Primary prevention is designed to intervene before the onset of substance use, while secondary
prevention screens to identify the issue and initiate treatment. Tertiary prevention provides
treatment and maintenance and prevents further progression of the disease. Most of our work
focuses on primary prevention.
Julie went over the Health Impact Model Priorities and discussed the socioeconomic factors
linked to substance use and abuse. The bulk of our work is to change the context to make it
more difficult for individuals to choose the less healthy options (e.g. fluoridated water, tobacco
products behind the counter, etc.)
Next was a discussion about comprehensive, strategic solutions starting with education and
support in the classroom, while working in collaboration across all sectors, (e.g. police, parents,
doctors, etc.) Also, providing incentives/disincentives and barriers and preventing access in
order to prevent risky behaviors.
Julie gave a brief summary about the risk factor priorities by substance including alcohol,
marijuana and tobacco/vaping.
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 11/22/22
Example Projects:
Julie spoke about the different resources available for meeting individual needs and explained a
little bit about each one.
Dave asked if PHAB could support or advocate for any of these resources and asked how we
could help. If any board members have any suggestions, please reach out to Dave or Tom.
There was a suggestion made to invite Colleen Thomas, Homeless Coordinator for HOST
(Homeless Outreach Services Team) to a future meeting.
Adjourn at 1:27 p.m.
Board Members Present: Dave Huntley, Peter Boehm, Colleen Sinsky, Renee Wirth, Rob
Ross, Sarah Baron, Lindsay Atagi
Staff Members Present: Tom Kuhn, Lisa Michael
Guest Presenter: Laurie Hubbard (staff), Julie Spackman (staff)
BOCC – Board of County Commissioners PHAB – Public Health Advisory Board
FTE – Full-time employee OD – Overdose
MSW – Masters of Social Work M110 – Measure 110
BHRN – Behavioral Health Recovery Network HEP – Hepatitis
PPE – Personal Protection Equipment BH – Behavioral Health
COHC – Central Oregon Health Council OHA – Oregon Health Authority
“To promote and protect the health and safety of our community.” Updated 11/22/22