Agenda 05-24-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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11 1 Bruce Baldwin praised the Orange County Public Health Department. He said Orange 2 County was a model for managing a pandemic. He reviewed the makeup of the Board of Health 3 and the rules for serving. He said they meet monthly. He read the general statutes governing 4 the Board of Health. He said almost everything people do is affected by their health and well- 5 being. He said every monthly board meeting has three or four educational presentations. He 6 said some presentations are required by the state of North Carolina as part of the re- 1 accreditation process, and that Orange County will be going through that process soon. He 8 said the new mobile dental clinic is parked at Southern Human Services and sees patients two 9 days a week. He said the plan is for it to be driven around the county when they hire a new 10 dentist. He said Environmental Health remained open for business during the pandemic and 11 added services related to COVID-19. He said the health department was a pilot for an 12 electronic death certificate process. He said the deputy registrar provided over one hundred 13 affidavits of parentage due to state office closures. He said the health staff offered smoking 14 cessation classes to seventy-eight people and provided 261 nicotine replacement therapy kits. 15 He said employees provided well-child checks and family planning appointments through 16 telehealth. He said the health department provided routine immunizations through drive through 17 events. He said there are three permanent subcommittees of the Board of Health. He said the 18 three subcommittees are related to the priorities identified through the community health 19 assessment survey. He said the subcommittees were suspended for a year and a half due to 20 the pandemic but are meeting once again. He said the Health Equity subcommittee has been 21 recently reviewing the need for municipal sewer service in the Gaines Chapel neighborhood. 22 He said they held a forum in a church parking lot recently to provide education and resources to 23 residents. He said the Substance Use Disorder subcommittee is planning to support the work 24 of the opioid task force. He said the Access to Care subcommittee is meeting soon for the first 25 time in a while, and they will be developing a work plan for the next two years. 26 Chair Price said the work on opioids is ongoing. She asked about smoking cessation. 27 She asked if there are any activities for vaping and young people. 28 Bruce Baldwin said just prior to the pandemic they discussed the vaping issue. He said 29 since the pandemic started, vaping has not been discussed. He said they will be discussing it 30 again soon and likely discussing the use of vapes in public spaces. 31 Quintana Stewart said the tobacco coordinator continues to work with the schools to 32 address vaping issues. She said they had discussed similar rules to the tobacco use in public, 33 but they have not proceeded because tobacco could have a $20 fine and there are no 34 exceptions for vaping and that would lead to violators getting a criminal charge. 35 Chair Price said she was thinking of vaping restrictions for the young people and that 36 she is not seeking to criminalize it. 37 Bruce Baldwin said that the state has discussed vaping being a misdemeanor and they 38 are focusing on education rather than criminalization. 39 Pat Garavaglia and Lindsey Shewmaker presented for the Board of Social Services. 40 Pat Garavaglia said that DSS has accomplished serving an average of 5,076 families 41 per month in food in nutrition and over 8,000 in Medicaid. She said they have also worked with 42 PORCH, Interfaith Council, Orange Congregations and Missions, Friends of DSS, the Foodbank 43 Central and Eastern NC, and the Diaper Bank to help fill in service gaps. She said that they 44 have also managed the new DHHS water assistance program to help people catch up on 45 overdue water bills. She said they have paid over 2,000 utility bills for families in Orange 46 County. She said DSS staff are responsible for managing over $125 million that does not show 47 up in the county budget. She said there will be changes to DHHS policies and public assistance 48 that will cause many families to lose benefits including food and nutrition and Medicaid. She 49 said many families will need help and staff will be more in demand to answer questions. She 50 said that the work will be focusing on prevention and families that have struggled to recover 51 since COVID. She said DSS staff try to prevent struggling families from falling even further