Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022/05/24 - BOH PacketMason County Public Health 415 N 6th Street, Bldg. 8, Shelton WA 98584, (360) 427-9670 ext. 400 Fax (360) 427-7787 MASON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH May 24, 2022 3:00 PM Commission Chambers 411 North 5th Street Shelton, WA 98584 Zoom Information Meeting ID: 861 3278 1855 Passcode: 915428 DRAFT AGENDA 1. Welcome and Introductions Peggy Van Buskirk, Chair 2. Approval of Agenda – ACTION Board Members 3. Approval of March 22, 2022 Minutes – ACTION Board Members 4. Approval of Board Positions for E2SHB 1152 – ACTION Board Members Intro by Dave Windom 5. Health Officer Report Dr. Keri Gardner 6. Administration Report Dave Windom a. County Health Rankings 7. Environmental Health Report Alex Paysse 8. Community Health Report Lydia Buchheit 9. Other Business and Board Discussion Board Members 10. Public Comments 11. Adjourn If special accommodations are needed, please contact McKenzie Smith at (360) 427-9670 ext. 589. MASON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH PROCEEDINGS 411 North 5th Street, Shelton, WA 98584 March 22, 2022 Attendance: Randy Neatherlin, County Commissioner; Kevin Shutty, County Commissioner; Sharon Trask, County Commissioner; Mark Neary, County Administrator; Darrin Moody, Hospital District No. 1; Peggy VanBuskirk, Hospital District No. 2; Kathy McDowell, City of Shelton Council; Gary Plews, Fire Commissioner; Keri Davidson, Shelton School Board; McKenzie Smith, Clerk of the Board; Lydia Buchheit, Community and Family Health Manager; Alex Paysse, Environmental Health Manager; Ian Tracy, interim Environmental Health Manager; and Dedrick Allen, Mason WebTV 1. Chair Peggy Van Buskirk called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. 2. Approval of Agenda Cmmr. Shutty/Kathy McDowell moved and seconded to approve the agenda as presented. Motion carried. 3. Approval of the January 25, 2022 Minutes Cmmr. Neatherlin/Kathy McDowell moved and seconded to approve the January 25, 2022 Board of Health Minutes as presented. Motion carried. 4. Declaration of Public Health Month Lydia Buchheit shared the 2022 National Public Health Week Proclamation. Cmmr. Shutty/Cmmr. Neatherlin moved and seconded to approve the 2022 National Public Health Week Proclamation. Motion carried. 5. Community Health Assessment Lydia shared that the Community Health Assessment is a working document that will be adjusted as needed. The one in the packet is what will be published on the County website. Cmmr. Trask/Cmmr. Shutty moved and seconded to approve the Community Health Assessment. Motion carried. 6. Health Officer Report No Health Officer report. 7. Administration Report The Administration Report was included in the packet. 8. Environmental Health Report by Alex Paysse Alex Paysse shared that January was a slower month for permits but returned to the normal higher level in February. Alex announced that he accepted another position and will be leaving Mason County. Ian Tracy will be the interim Environmental Health Manager. B o a r d o f H e a l t h P r o c e e d i n g s M a r c h 2 2 , 2 0 2 2 | 2 9. Community Health Report by Lydia Buchheit Lydia shared that the Community Health Report shares what staff have been accomplishing and gave an update on COVID slowing down. With the Community Health Assessment being done, Lydia and staff can focus on the Community Health Improvement Plan with Mason Matters and the Health Coalition. Concerns include the loss of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Family Planning in 2021. 10. Board Composition Ordinance Cmmr. Trask shared that this is per Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill (E2SHB) 1152. This bill provides additional guidance for the composition of Boards of Health, adds new representatives, and adds term limits. The Board of Health shall consist of members as follows: three Elected members of the Mason County Commission, one Elected member of the City of Shelton, one representative of the Squaxin Island Tribe, one representative of the Skokomish Tribe, at least one representative of Public Health/healthcare facilities/providers, at least one consumer of Public Health, and at least one community stakeholder. If needed, one Board member can represent two different groups. The term limit is three years for the non-Elected members. Cmmr. Shutty/Kathy McDowell moved and seconded to approve the Board Composition Ordinance as presented. Motion carried. 11. Other Business and Board Discussion No other business or Board discussion. 12. Public Comments No public comments were received. 13. Adjourned at 3:20 p.m. B o a r d o f H e a l t h P r o c e e d i n g s M a r c h 2 2 , 2 0 2 2 | 3 ATTEST _______________________________ McKenzie Smith, Clerk of the Board MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON BOARD OF HEALTH MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON _______________________________ Darrin Moody, Hospital District #1 _______________________________ Kathy McDowell, City Commissioner _______________________________ Kevin Shutty, Commissioner _______________________________ Randy Neatherlin, Commissioner _______________________________ Sharon Trask, Commissioner _______________________________ Peggy Van Buskirk, Hospital District #2 _______________________________ Gary Plews, Fire Commissioner _______________________________ Keri Davidson, Shelton School Board From the Director’s Desk May 2021 Time to get that COVID-19 vaccination! 27 months and counting with COVID-19 Omicron has dominated much of the response this spring across the state even with the reduction of cases and restrictions. We are starting to see an uptick in cases again but this is much more difficult to measure than during the early part of the response. When we were using only PCR tests, we had pretty good forecasting based on lab data. With the advent of take-home antigen testing, we’ve lost a lot of that data collection. We have new variants that are replacing the original Omicron and more variants of concern on the horizon. We’ll be using a combination of monitoring of both case rates as a means to give a rate/direction of disease and hospitalization rates as a means of measuring the level of disease within the community. From the Director’s Desk We are moving forward with addressing those areas that most affect health. The 2022 County Health Rankings have been released (Mason County, Washington | County Health Rankings & Roadmaps) and we’re using that data to inform our plan to implement a community improvement plan known as the Blue Zones Project. We’re also using the Community Health Assessment (CHA) to provide further detail into exactly what our county statistics show us. Working in conjunction with the Cascade Pacific Action Alliance, CHOICE Health Network, and Mason Health we believe that Mason County is ready to move forward. This process of Blue Zones is on a temporary pause as CHOICE reorganizes its staffing and processes. Foundational public health funding (FPHS) continues to improve and management is working diligently to analyze and implement the additional funds. Last week, we received word that even more funding will be coming our way that is focused on the “life course” which we can use to address the things in chronic disease that we know really impact the most lives. This will allow public health in Mason County to expand water quality work, septic, and solid waste complaints and resolutions, communicable disease response, improve cross-cutting business capabilities, increase assessment capabilities, and surveillance of disease patterns. We’ll be able to expand into obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, areas where we haven’t had funding for more than 15 years. This month we say goodbye to Lydia Buchheit, our Community Health Manager after 21 years of service. We will truly miss her here at public health. Last month we said goodbye to Alex Paysse, our environmental health manager who has moved on. Alex is also very much missed. We have selected Melissa Casey as our Community Health Manager and Ian Tracy as our interim Environmental Health Manager. Things are changing here in public health and we are growing some new leaders and moving into exciting times. David Windom, MSHS Ordinance No. An Ordinance Amending Board of Health Ordinance No. 01-21 Concerning the Composition of the Mason County Board of Health WHEREAS, RCW 70.05.030 allows the board of county commissioners/board of health, at its discretion, to expand the size and composition of the board of health to include elected officials and persons other than elected officials as members and, WHEREAS, the Board of Mason County Commissioners believe that having officials representing other governments within Mason County will enrich the Mason County Board of Health through discussion of public health policy to ensure that the public health needs of the citizens of Mason County are being met and, WHEREAS, ENGROSSED SECOND SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1152 provides additional guidance for the composition of local boards of health, adding new representatives, and term limits and, NOW, THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED by the Mason County Board of Commissioners as the Board of Health that the composition of the Mason County Board of Health shall consist of members as follows: Three (3) elected members of the Mason County Commission One (1) elected member of the City of Shelton Commission One (1) representative of the Squaxin Island Tribe One (1) representative of the Skokomish Tribe At least One (1) representative of Public Health, Healthcare facilities, and providers as defined by ESSB 1152 At least One (1) Consumer of public health as defined by ESSB 1152 At least One (1) community stakeholder as defined by ESSB 1152 BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all members of the Board of Health shall have the ability to vote on all issues pertaining to public health policy and priorities. However, any Board of Health supported issue requiring additional funding from the County will be forwarded as a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners for final action, and BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that a quorum shall consist of at least one County Commissioner and at least three other members. BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the elected members of the Mason County Board of Health shall serve terms consistent with the terms of the entity they represent, and BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that all other members of the board of health shall serve three-year terms and, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that members will serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed for travel expenses approved by the Mason County Board of Health and, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that at the first annual meeting of the board of health, the members shall elect a chairman for the period of one year and, BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that non-elected board members shall be approved by a majority vote of the county commissioners. Passed this day of , 2021. 1 March-April 2022 Communicable Disease & Notifiable Conditions (3 programs-CD, TB, STD) Staff: Audrey O’Connor, Back- up: Elizabeth Custis & Rebecca Shipman March-April our communicable disease (CD) program nurse received 59 reports requiring data entry into the State database, and/or investigation and follow-up. * Chronic Hepatitis C cases are being directly entered into new WDRS database by DOH. This does not include their work in COVID-19 case investigations. We are no longer keeping COVID line list. Current case numbers provided by WA DOH. Disease March-April Total to date COVID -19/2022 489 5,514 Campylobacteriosis 1 2 Cryptosporidiosis 0 1 Giardiasis 0 0 Shiga Toxin 2 0 0 Shigellosis 0 0 Mumps 0 0 Haemaphilus Influenza 0 0 Hepatitis B- Acute 0 0 Hepatitis B-Chronic 0 0 Hepatitis C- Chronic * * Hepatitis C- Acute 0 0 Hepatitis D 0 0 Lyme 0 0 Pertussis 0 0 Salmonellosis 0 0 Yersinia 0 0 Coccidioidomycosis 0 0 Carbapenemase- resistant enterobacteria (CRE) 0 0 Hepatitis A – Ruled out 0 0 2 Meningitis-Ruled out 0 0 Vibrio- Ruled out 0 0 Listeriosis- Ruled out 0 0 Legionella 0 0 Suspected rabies/sample sent 0 0 Malaria 0 0 Tuberculosis- Ruled out 0 0 Tuberculosis-Latent 0 0 Tuberculosis-Active/open cases 0 2 Vibriosis (non-cholera) 0 0 Listeria 0 0 Congenital Syphilis 0 0 Chlamydia 41 73 Gonorrhea 10 22 Syphilis 5 5 Herpes 2 3 HIV 0 0 Totals 59 108 Hepatitis C Screening Staff: Christina Muller-Shinn With the new foundational public health funding, we will be focusing on this program by funding staff in this position. Maternal Child Health Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN Elizabeth provides back-up RN support for Communicable Disease and COVID programs as needed. SMART Team of Mason County Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN Elizabeth continues to participate in the Mason County SMART (School Medical Autism Review Team) which evaluates and may diagnose children with Autism. Team members are Dr Rayos and Dr Malit, Speech/Occupational Therapy/Physical Therapy from school districts and Mason General Hospital Pediatric Rehabilitation Team, Special Education teachers, and Birth to Three Early Intervention Providers. Without this team, many children wait 12 -18 months to see a specialist for diagnosis, which can delay needed services. Our local pediatricians and other providers on this team have been specially trained to evaluate children. Elizabeth’s role is to assist families to get the support and resources needed during or after their child is diagnosed with Autism. Elizabeth has developed an initial parent resource guide for parents to be able to prioritize options without being overwhelmed. This team will be highlighted and on the cover of the June Mason Health Scope Magazine, including Elizabeth’s work. Maternal Child Health Parenting Program-Incredible Years Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN This evidence-based parenting program is funded by the Division of Children Youth and Families to provide services for parents referred by Child Protective Services. Elizabeth is in process of coordinating all details in the grant requirements to be able to begin teaching this class for up to 18 sessions to complete the program. 3 Breastfeeding Coalition of Mason County Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN Breastfeeding Coalition meetings and support group remain on hold during the pandemic. Elizabeth has continued to share breastfeeding information with Mason General Birth Center staff and Mason Clinic Pediatricians. Early Learning Coalition of Mason County Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN Elizabeth is part of this team, where providers work together to support early learning, identify gaps, and assist with promoting opportunities in early learning for children in Mason County. The coalition continues to update a mapping project to compile supportive early learning resources available in the county. Once complete, the data will be evaluated to see any gaps or areas that might need better support opportunities. Immunization Improvement Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN Elizabeth continues to encourage parents and newly vaccinated adults to apply for online access to their child’s and their own Immunization Information System records. This is for COVID records and other vaccines. Immunization records may be provided to individuals without internet access or those having difficulty with the state system. Immunization guidance and recommendations are provided for school and college attendance. New DOH immunization data about the pandemic effects of the vaccination rates of children from 2019-2021 will be released in May. Elizabeth will continue to work with providers to share these results and recommendations. Children with Special Health Care Needs Staff: Elizabeth Custis, RN Elizabeth provides consultation, care coordination, and referrals to families with children that have special health care needs in Mason County. This RN participates in monthly Pediatric Care Coordination Meetings that include Mason Health Pediatricians, Birth to Three Early Intervention, School, and Mason Health Speech, Physical, and Occupational Therapy, and Developmental Preschool and Special Services staff. The goal of these coordination meetings is to better provide services to families by reducing duplication of services, matching needs with appropriate providers, and assist families to access the medical care and services needed for their child. In the past 6 months, referrals have included an increased number of very medically complex children from many agencies and children newly diagnosed with Autism from the Mason County SMART team. Social Service Programs Staff: Todd Parker, Haley Foelsch, Jamie Ellertsen, Christina Muller-Shinn Housing ($5,994,321 Annually: 12 funding sources – grants, tax, local recording fees, 12 subcontracts, and 20+ programs) Staff: Todd Parker, Haley Foelsch Eviction Rent Assistance Program ERAP 2.0: (Effective October 1,2021- June 30,2023) The Eviction Rent Assistance Program (ERAP) 2.0 became effective in October replacing the Treasury Rent Assistance Program (TRAP) 1.0. ERAP 2.0 is intended to prevent evictions by paying past due and future rent and utilities while distributing funds equitably. Two organizations are ensuring that funds are distributed to equitably. Crossroads focuses on populations age 25+ and Shelton Family Center focus on the population under the age of 25. The following is a breakdown of how many evictions were prevented from October 2021 to April 2022: • 17 evictions prevented in October 2021 • 74 evictions prevented in November 2021 • 80 evictions prevented in December 2021 • 112 evictions prevented in January 2022 4 • 103 evictions prevented in February 2022 • 51 evictions prevented in March 2022 • 39 evictions prevented in April 2022 Community Homeless Survey-Businesses A survey was conducted asking businesses in Shelton about their experiences with the homeless population, contributing factors that they believe lead to homelessness, and suggestions for ways to improve homelessness in Mason County. The survey was completed before the Point in Time Count and was conducted since the Needs Assessment is underway. Education material was also handed out as well including the Mason County 5-year plan and booklets of behavioral health resource guide. The following was found from the original in-person survey in Shelton and through a survey monkey and then the in-person survey in Belfair to represent North Mason. From the Shelton Survey, the main finding were: • Finding #1: For unduplicated induvial homeless people that businesses had a negative experience with over a month was only 1-5 people (52% of business said) and 24% said 16 or more. • Geographically, the largest populations of homeless resided near Post Office Park and businesses within a 2-block radius of the park was where businesses were mostly affected. • The largest themes on what businesses experienced were going to the restroom outside, trash concerns, theft, and sleeping in front of businesses. • The largest concerns from these experiences were safety, trash concerns, going to the restroom in public, and mental health and substance use disorder. • The number one thought that contributed to homelessness was that more mental health and substance use disorder facilities are needed. From the North Mason Survey: • There is estimated to be approximately 6-10 people seen in town that appear to be homeless. • Over a month, the negative experiences that businesses experienced with the homeless population ranged from 0 to 2 people. • There is a lot of panhandling happening in North Mason but not all are homeless. • People will pretend to be homeless and creates issues for businesses and customers and police are limited with what they can do. • Crime has been up in the North Mason Area, and it is not due to the unhoused population. • North Mason could use more resources to go to there is not a referral place. North Mason does have North Mason Resources but could always use more of a resource center. • The main area was the homeless are located are around the grocery stores like QFC. • Main concerns were trash, disrespecting property, mental health, and safety • Contributing factor thought to lead to homelessness were mental health, poverty, medical bankruptcy, drug use, financial, separation, divorce, and willingness to work. • Suggestions for helping solve homelessness were having homeless housing complexes were individual has to pay a little bit on, stopping panhandling, MH and SUD facilities in North Mason, affordable housing, healthcare, job counseling. 5 Behavioral Health Staff: Jamie Ellertsen, Christina Muller-Shinn, Audrey O’Connor Mason County Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Response (7 programs) Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) OD2A staff continue to provide opioid overdose surveillance. Overdose trends continue to increase at a troubling rate. Staff participated in the Community Lifeline Resource Fair, providing harm reduction education and naloxone distribution to participants. OD2A staff provided several overdose education and naloxone administration trainings to the Cascade Pacific Action Alliance regional Peer Workforce Support and Professional Development monthly meeting, with professionals from several counties. Staff also joined a newly formed local health jurisdiction Overdose Prevention group, with the purpose of starting a conversation about what we are seeing state-wide in terms of substance use disorder and discussing creative solutions to navigate the changes we are seeing in our communities. Substance Use Mobile Outreach of Mason County The program funder, Cascade Pacific Action Alliance, has decided to extend this grant for one more year, so the program has secured funding until the end of 2022. Substance Use Mobile Outreach activities continue as usual. There were 12 new participants during this reporting period; the program engaged with 41 unduplicated participants. Several participants have reported recently discontinuing their illicit substance use and getting on the methadone or other MAT programs, specifically to avoid the influx of fentanyl. There was one success story that stands out. One participant, who has been using illicit opioids to self-medicate a rare and severely painful disease had confided that they wanted to stop but had not been able to find a provider who was willing to treat their disease due to their opioid use disorder. Mobile Outreach staff reached out to a doctor who is very involved in harm reduction and was willing to see the participant as a patient. The participant reported back after the visit that with the new therapies they are now on, they experienced their first pain free day in years, and have successfully stopped their illicit drug use. This had been one of the programs oldest participants; this story highlights the unique relationship between the community and Mobile Outreach staff who are willing to go above and beyond and help participants the moment they are ready for a change. Mason County Behavioral Health Network The Community partnerships, systematic change, program coordination (COAP/COSSAP) project completed their four-year grant at the end of October 2021. The project emphasis on system coordination is a critical discussion that public health continues to carry on. Mason County Behavioral Health Network has taken on the important role of continuing conversations generated through the COAP/COSSAP project. The emphasis has transitioned on analyzing the behavioral health system focusing on crisis response and crisis stabilization. We are working on bridging the gaps in our behavioral health network. The development of the Behavioral Health Network zoom meeting has allowed for collaborative brainstorming with community partners on how to address crisis in our community. We have begun working with WATrak tracking and alert system. The goal is to engage behavioral health facilities to 6 participate in the free program and log their bed availability and outpatient assessment openings. This will be made viewable to community partners that would benefit from service. The system would allow for individuals seeking substance use or mental health inpatient to receive a quicker admittance into a facility because it would decrease the time needed to find bed availability. MCLEAD (Mason County Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) Mason County Public Health coordinated with Olympic Health and Recovery services and the LEAD contract was signed. The contract is fully executed with a contract term ranging from January 1st, 2022- June 30th, 2023. The implementation and continued efforts of the LEAD program continue to be used by the Public Defenders Association as an example to other rural communities for how to develop, implement and coordinate an appropriate LEAD program. Referrals continue to be received through all three referral pathways: arrest, social contact, and community referrals. The program coordinator and Olympic Health and Recovery Services are working together to complete the interface process. This will interface Olympic Health and Recovery case management program and our referral program, Julota. The interface will allow for the platform to be customized to submit raw data, smoother referral processes and better serve our participants. • Number of active cases in March 2022: 38 active cases with (13) social contact and (9) community referrals. 16 out of the 22 referrals were admitted into the LEAD program. • Number of active cases in April 2022: 41 active cases with (1) arrest diversion (6) social contacts and (12) Community referrals. All 19 referrals were admitted into the LEAD program. Behavioral Health Navigator Program The Behavioral Health Navigator Program is steadily increasing in referrals by law enforcement. Our law enforcement partners have expressed gratitude for the program and the quick response time by our navigators. Law Enforcement partners have been utilizing the behavioral health navigator program with numerous success stories. The behavioral health navigators have been collecting data to track the progress of desired outcomes. Tentatively the program has worked with approximately 250 unique individuals since February 2021. The success rate of individual getting enrolled in at least one community support program is very high and actual data for these figures will be released soon. The partnership between Public Health having (0.5 FTE) with the Sherriff’s office and Olympic Health and Recovery Services has allowed for implementation of 1.0 FTE peer counselor stationed at the Shelton Police Department. The ability to have a full-time staff on site has increased the response time and helped law enforcement tremendously. This program is continuin to grow as staffing becomes stable and consistent. The program coordinator continues to analyze operations and develop new policies and procedures. Behavioral Health Transportation Support (pilot program) The Behavioral Health Transportation Program is a partnership between Mason County Community Services and two transportation providers: Patty Wagon and Gethsemane Ministry. Patty Wagon is providing transportation services within Mason County and Gethsemane ministry is providing out of County transportation. 7 This is a no cost transportation program for individuals within Mason County navigating the behavioral health system. Individuals navigating the behavioral health system have identified lack of transportation to support their recovery and wellness as a barrier. The program was developed to bridge the gap and support recovery wellness. The service is providing transportation to substance use and mental health related medical appointments, inpatient and out outpatient substance use and mental health treatment, recovery support meetings, UAs, jail re-entry services and other needed support services for substance use and mental health recovery. We developed a detailed flier that highlights the key characteristics of the Behavioral Health Transportation program. These fliers were distributed throughout all of Mason County. The number of transports by Gethsemane Ministry and Patty Wagon continues to increase. The program coordinator continues to hear positive feedback on how the transportation program has positively impacted access to behavioral health related services in our community. RCORP (Rural Communities Opioid Response Program) RCORP activities are running smoothly. Peers continue to connect participants/clients/patients to behavioral health treatment, social services, and broad recovery support services through the jail, community outreach events, the emergency department, and Mason Health’s Behavioral Health Department. Success highlights include attaining several furloughs for inmates to go to treatment. RCORP peers have been utilizing the new Behavioral Health Transportation program which has been a fantastic resource connecting people leaving the jail with inpatient and medicated assisted treatment upon release for seamless linkages to care. Substance Use Prevention Staff: Ben Johnson (Drug Free Communities (DFC) In the past two years the newly developed the Shelton and North Mason Coalitions. The newly named, Mason Substance Abuse Prevention Coalitions has continued to meet via zoom. We have met two times March and April in hybrid in person/zoom meetings and will meet in person at the North Mason Youth Connections in May 18, 2022. Our coalition has partnered with the Regional Youth Marijuana Prevention program to develop a Social Norms Campaign for Mason County. The project will be rolled out in the Fall. We are also working with the Shelton School District to provide a cannabis 101 training for all school employee’s staff. We are also continuing our partnership with prevention leadership groups at the North Mason and Shelton school districts. Focus groups have been planned at Cedar High School for students to discuss how covid may have impacted their life in relationship to mental health and substance use. We partnered with Gay City Pride of Seattle, Shelton Youth Connections, and the CEDAR High School Youth Marijuana Prevention Education program to promote and implement a community diversity training in April 2022. 26 youth and adults participated. Mason County Public Health and the Mason County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition also continues to partner with Family Education Support Systems to provide Guiding Good Choices parenting training. Offering an average of three classes per year for the past 3 years. Also providing Spanish speaking parenting classes during the same time. The Coalition and Mason County Public Health has also Three Mason County Coalition members attended a substance abuse prevention training” Hidden in plain sight” and for members attended community forum and Prevention Specialist Dr. Jason Kilmer. In April 2022. Ben Johnson and Melissa Casey attend the first of a three-week National Coalition Academy 8 training in March. The training is a requirement of a 10 year The Drug Free Communities Grant that Mason County Public Health began implementing in October 2021. Topics include Coalition Building, substance use prevention strategies and policy development. Community Health Education, Assessment and Data Staff: Melissa Casey As of May 2nd, the Community Health Educator position is vacant with Melissa’s transition into the Community Health Manager role. Pending the reorganization of the department, the transition of the temporary COVID team into permanent community health positions, and evaluating the current position description, Melissa will continue facilitating the development of the 2022-2026 CHIP. Emergency Preparedness Staff: Lydia Buchheit, Sunni Evans COVID-19 Response Staff: Rebecca Shipman, Jacob Ritter, Cesar Apaez-Mendiola, Alyssa Medcalf Throughout the month of March and part of the month of April, Covid cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continued to decline. In the latter part of April cases began to rise again. This is largely with the BA.2 sub lineage of Omicron. Cases among county employees has increased as well. With the increase in availability of at-home tests, the demand for testing of employees in-house by Public Health has dropped. As guidance changes the team continues to assist members of the county as needed. You can check the Covid 19 data dashboard for the most up-to-date data. https://www.doh.wa.gov/Emergencies/COVID19/DataDashboard#dashboard