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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth Committee January 22 2008WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Health Committee January 22, 2008 Committee Member Laurie Caskey- Schreiber called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: L. Ward Nelson None Barbara Brenner Also Present: None SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS 1. ELECTION OF COMMITTEE CHAIR Caskey- Schreiber nominated Councilmember Nelson. Brenner moved to approve the nomination by acclamation. Motion carried unanimously. OTHER ITEMS 2. APPROVE FOCUS GROUP PROPOSAL Susan Sloan, Health Department, stated she has completed 26 one -on -one interviews. Six more are scheduled, and three more will be scheduled. They did one internal focus group with disease response and control staff this morning. She introduced Michael Shepherd, who will work with the focus groups. They are doing two more internal focus groups tomorrow at the Health Department. They will do more focus groups that piggyback on existing meetings. The focus groups will be more logistically challenging than the one -on -one interviews. The interview questions worked well this morning. The Health Department will handle incentives and make sure a good diversity is represented. The real challenge is the public forums. They have scheduled facilities, dates, and times for the forums. Questions have come up on how many people will attend. Service providers are enthusiastic about this project. People like the idea that they are working in the county, not just in Bellingham. They are looking for input from all quarters. Nelson stated a problem with public participation is informing the public about what is going on. Consider how to get the message out to the public and get people interested. Brenner stated that if they let people know that an aspect of this plan is to prepare them in case of a pandemic flu, people will pay attention. Health Committee, 1/22/2008, Page 1 1 Unidentified staff person stated the biggest issue is getting people involved. It will 2 be an energizing event for people. There will be a lot of good will. People will feel that 3 they've been listened to and contribute useful information. 4 5 Brenner stated there are great email lists through various county organizations. 6 Staff person stated a goal is 50 -100 attendees. It's hard to raise a crowd. The key thing is 7 to get a planning group together that can get the word out. There will not be a podium or 8 pre- determined topics. People will bring up their own topics and determine the agenda. 9 Many of these meetings are longer than three hours, and are followed by action planning. 10 They can also be used just to gather input. 11 12 Whether there are ten people or 100 people, the participants will feel very good 13 because the County listened well. Those people will talk to other people. They will create 14 goodwill and energy. 15 16 The challenge is to raise a crowd. The best way to get a crowd is via word of mouth. 17 When someone they trust in the community encourages attendance to address personal 18 issues, people will show up. The planning group will define who to talk to, determine how to 19 get the word out, and decide how to make this a desirable place to be. Find out from each 20 community who will be listened to and respected. Get those people behind the effort to get 21 people to attend. 22 23 Caskey- Schreiber asked if they've considered going to large employers in the county 24 to ask for time with their employees or gone to senior centers around the county. Sloan 25 stated they are having a forum at the Lynden Senior Center. 26 27 Nelson stated staff time and effort is required for that. They are trying to set up nine 28 meetings to reach out to the public. The focus groups are first, and will compose a list of 29 interest groups. He asked if they've been contacted. Sloan stated they have not been 30 contacted. Mr. Shepherd will do that. They need to gather more individual information. 31 The public forums will be open to what the public wants to discuss, and will be less about 32 what the experts know. What they learn from the experts will go into the process later. 33 34 Nelson stated the public will see the notice and want universal coverage. All they 35 will attract will be people who want insurance. This is about much more than that. Have 36 the focus groups outline questions and types of services that exist in the community. They 37 already have proposed sections for the plan. That would start the public process. Invite 38 those people who have already been involved in the process. Sloan stated she's inviting 39 people who have been interviewed and their friends and neighbors. The same applies to 40 focus group participants and work groups. A monthly newsletter beginning in February will 41 tell people about all the opportunities to participate. The people who participate will be 42 asked to spread the word. 43 44 Nelson stated focus on the focus groups, get them started, and they will spread the 45 word. 46 47 Brenner stated that Birch Bay residents consider themselves separate from Blaine 48 residents. Have a separate meeting for those residents. 49 50 Nelson stated that everyone, whether or not they're an expert, lives in the 51 community and provides input. They want to hear from anyone in the community, whether 52 or not they're experts. Sloan stated everyone will have a different perspective. Experts 53 may have a perspective on the same topic different from someone in the community. Health Committee, 1/22/2008, Page 2 Brenner stated most of these will be in cities except Sudden Valley and Birch Bay. Contact the City governments now and work with them. Nelson stated get community leaders to open the meetings. Staff person stated the planning group will strategize these kinds of ideas. To get the word out, the people in the community have to have enthusiasm and understand the purpose. They must be willing to go talk to people in the community. During the meetings, people will talk to each other and feel that they've been heard. In each group, people will post different health care topics they want to discuss. They will get at least ten topics from each group. From those topics, people will choose who they want to talk to. They need to provide at least 45 minutes to get the discussion going and make notes. Allowing only one 45 minute discussion will short- change the participants too much. All the meetings are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Brenner stated someone from the County should go to City Council meetings and invite the people publicly to attend. The media will be there, also. Nelson asked if they've talked with Joe Bates about campaigning the project. Sloan stated she hasn't talked to Mr. Bates. She's worked on an outline for a communication plan. Nelson asked how many people will be on the planning group. Staff person stated eight to ten people will be on the planning group. Ms. Sloan is working on the list of participants for the group. If the councilmembers know someone who may be interested, they should encourage them to join the group. They need people from each community to give advice about what works in each community. Sloan asked for ideas about who from each community can participate. Brenner stated Kathy Berg could participate for Birch Bay. Nelson stated that people who run for office will be the community leaders, including government officials, school boards, and park commissions. Caskey- Schreiber stated they could talk to graduates of the Whatcom Leadership Academy. Nelson stated some community leaders may not be able to participate, but can recommend someone else in the community. Staff person stated they don't need community leaders to run the meeting, but to introduce the Health Department staff. Nelson stated get an elected official from the community do that opening. Sloan asked if any councilmembers would like to open some of the meetings. Nelson stated he would. Brenner stated she would. The Health Committee includes councilmembers from each of the three Council districts. Staff person stated councilmembers' attendance will send the message to the public that the County wants to hear from them. Health Committee, 1/22/2008, Page 3 Nelson stated they could get Executive Kremen to open a meeting. Also include officials from the cities. He also suggested Henry Bierlink, with the agriculture interest and Kathy Berg for Birch Bay. Brenner stated she suggested calling the Sudden Valley Community Association. Nelson stated he nominates Councilmember Brenner be a member of the planning group. She knows how to get people to meetings. Also, he recommends talking to Joe Bates and other people who have experience getting large groups of people together. Talk to people at the Planning and Development Services Department. Caskey- Schreiber stated talk to the Parks Director to find out how the Parks Department outreached to the public for its meetings, or how the Parks Department made mistakes. Nelson stated he recommends Sue Sharpe. Brenner stated she recommends the Chambers of Commerce, realtors, the Building Industry Association, and Futurewise. Nelson stated there are many people who have experience getting groups together. Caskey- Schreiber stated the Public Health Advisory Board may have ideas. Brenner stated she recommends Dr. John Hruby. 5. NEXT MEETING Nelson stated this committee will address any concerns or questions from the Board of Health. So far, everything is moving forward smoothly. The committee is available to facilitate anything the Health Department needs to accomplish this task. 3. REVIEW IDEAS FOR EXPANDED MEDIA CAMPAIGN Nelson asked if Joe Bates has any ideas to get the word out to the public through a media presentation. Joe Bates, Administrative Service Department, stated it's difficult to get 100 people together on an issue like this. Brenner stated more people. attend when the Council meets out in the community. Bates stated define whether they want to have lots of participation. If so, it can be very difficult. If they scale it back to expect ten or 15 people at each meeting, it will be easier. A three -hour meeting on a weeknight creates challenges. They can make a concerted effort in a short amount of time to get media attention. Generating a huge participation will require a huge effort. It will be almost impossible to get 100 people at each meeting. Nelson stated they didn't have that many people even for the Comprehensive Plan process. Bates stated understand that they will do the best they can, know that they have a plan, and then allow whatever happens to happen. He can help develop a media plan. Caskey- Schreiber stated she agrees that it's optimistic to hope for ten people for a three -hour session. She's fine with that. People who want to get engaged will get engaged. Health Committee, 1/22/2008, Page 4 1 One thing that really helps is if the County writes its own press releases and gives them to 2 the media. If they wait for a reporter to pick up the issue, it won't happen. Bates stated 3 earned media is contacting reporters and media outlets. It's all about relationships. That's 4 what he does. There's a lot they can do, depending on what the Board of Health wants. 5 6 Caskey- Schreiber stated put together a public service announcement for the stations 7 to air. 8 9 Brenner stated call the local paper in the area about two weeks before the event. 10 Every area has a small weekly paper. 11 - 12 Bates stated his job is to get the word out, and let the experts use the material 13 however they want. 14 15 Sloan asked what minimum number of people they will hope for at a meeting. 16 17 Brenner stated there is no minimum. 18 19 Nelson stated he also doesn't have a minimum. 20 21 Caskey- Schreiber stated a minimum would be five to ten. 22 23 Staff person stated they wouldn't be happy with five to ten. If they get 25 or 30, 24 they'll be pleased. 25 26 Bates stated the same few people attend over and over again. He can work on 27 something to make it work. Put a face on the Health Department. This issue needs to have 28 a face attached to it. 29 30 (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) 31 32 Bates continued to state that he's trying to make Dr. Stern the face and voice of the 33 Health Department overall, because he's the Health Officer. For this issue, they can have 34 Regina Delahunt be the face people recognize. 35 36 Brenner stated she disagrees with the comparison to the Council meetings. They 37 don't do outreach to get people to come to the meetings. 38 39 Caskey- Schreiber stated that to get the public engaged, they need someone who can 40 communicate in laymen's terms. She's not sure Dr. Stern can do that. Hold something at 41 St. Joseph's Hospital and the senior centers, and they will find the five to ten people readily. 42 43 Sloan stated two of the forums are at St. Luke's. 44 45 Caskey- Schreiber stated get the hospital employees involved. 46 47 Nelson stated this isn't just about physical health and medical care. It's also about 48 lifestyle. There are bike groups and mental health groups. He is fine if they get ten or 15 49 people at each meeting. 50 51 Bates stated he will help, and they will all do the best they can. 52 Health Committee, 1/22/2008, Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Nelson stated make Regina Delahunt the face of the Health Department. They want someone who will be excited about doing it. Make sure this committee is informed of any glitches, roadblocks, or problems that arise. 1. FINAL APPROVAL OF WHATCOM COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH PLAN (CHP) This item was not discussed. 4. OTHER - STAFFING This item was not discussed. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at approximately 2:20 p.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription : fill .....,, -J• , �ana,Bgp n- % 1.Icou�il Clerk •. SH% • WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON L. Ward Ne son, ommittee Chair Health Committee, 1/22/2008, Page 6