Approved Minutes of March 2, 2024 Board Retreat

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MINUTES-Draft ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH RETREAT March 2, 2024 they chose not to focus on equity at this time and then realized they aren't paying adequate attention to equity a year in, to which Ms. Stewart replied no, they can always adjust if needed. Dr. Rodgers pointed out that if the committees are internally accountable then remaining focused on equity should be a non-issue and cited that she knows that she and Mr. Bagby will both hold their committees accountable. Mr. Bagby suggested creating some kind of alarm clock system to periodically make sure the board is centering health equity. • Dr. Stuebe requested an example of what is expected from the BOH in terms of work completed in a year, to which Ms. Stewart explained that it depends on the board and how active they are, but generally 2-4 campaigns or projects from each committee within four years would be reasonable. In response to Dr. Stuebe's question about funding, Ms. Stewart explained that the Health Department will help support the work of the board, and that especially if the priorities align with other initiatives (e.g., Healthy Carolinians of Orange County) then it would be easier to divert funds to support the board's work. • Dr. Jonnal summarized her understanding that, based on the conversation, it seemed that the board agreed that there should be an Access to Care committee, that they could combine the Substance Use Disorders and Behavioral Health areas into one broad priority, and if all committees are intentionally working through a lens of health equity then the Health Equity committee is not needed, meaning the third priority area would be Connections to Community Support. The two new priorities would each have a broader scope and thus might need some additional time to gather information and settle on specific topics to address and actions to take within their focus area. • Dr. Crandell suggested taking a poll to ensure that there was enough support for each of the proposed priority areas, as he felt that a successful committee needs 4-5 dedicated members and that if most of the interest fell in 1-2 of the proposed priority areas then it might make more sense to split one of the proposed priority areas into two committees instead. • Commissioner Fowler asked what the BOH can do to help with connections to community support—that is, would an example goal be creating a unified resource page or actually providing funding to things like affordable housing. This reminded Dr. Jonnal of when she was a resident, and that there was a resource guide at the hospital with many resources that were out of date, so they were not helpful to her patients. • Dr. Jonnal asked about activism that the board can take regarding community issues, for example affordable housing. Commissioner Fowler gave examples of supporting zoning laws, providing free education that helps people make living wages, and advocating for policies at the state level to address affordable housing. Dr. Stuebe mentioned building political will to address issues, giving the example of redlining and zoning strategies to address historical segregation as a health issue. Ms. Stewart agreed and said that to her, the role of the BOH is to link the health impacts to the social determinants of health. • At Dr. Pickett's suggestion, Ms. Phillips-Weiner took a show of hands of those who were potentially interested and willing to serve on each committee. For Connections to Community Support, Dr. Stuebe, Mr. Bagby, Dr. Pickett, Mr. Whitaker, and Dr. Jonnal were interested. For Behavioral Health, Commissioner Fowler, Dr. Nickelson, Dr. Royce, Dr. Jonnal, Dr. Baldwin, and Mr. Whitaker were interested. For Access to Care, Dr. Royce, Dr. Rodgers, Dr. Pickett, Dr. Nickelson, and Dr. Stuebe were interested. S:\Managers Working Files\B0H\Agendas&Abstracts\2024 Agenda and Abstracts/130H Retreat Page 11