Special Health Board Mar 19 2020Whatcom County
Council as the Health Board (Special)
COUNTY COURTHOUSE
311 Grand Avenue, Ste #105
Bellingham, WA 98225-4038
(360)778-5010
Minutes - Final
VIRTUAL MEETING - PUBLIC ENCOURAGED TO VIEW ONLINE
Thursday, March 19, 2020
1PM
Council Chambers
COUNCILMEMBERS
Rud Browne
Barry Buchanan
Tyler Byrd
Todd Donovan
Ben Elenbaas
Carol Frazey
Kathy Kershner
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
Dana Brown -Davis, C.M.C.
Council as the Health Board (Special) Minutes - Final March 19, 2020
Call To Order
Roll Call
Health Board Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 1 p.m. in
the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington (via
web conference call).
Present: 7 - Rud Browne, Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, Todd Donovan, Carol Frazey, Ben
Elenbaas and Kathy Kershner
Absent: None
Special Presentation
AB2020-116 Update on COVID-19
Tyler Schroeder, Executive's Office, gave a brief summary of the agenda.
John Wolpers, Health Department, gave an update on the Unified
Command:
• They have been creating more branches under the Unified Command
and filling various positions
• They have looked at their objectives and changed some.
• They received questions from Councilmembers and provided
answers via an email.
• There are currently seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 in
Whatcom County and there have been 220 negative test results.
• He stated the process for questions. Tyler Byrd will gather questions
and relay them to the Joint Information Center (JIC).
Schroeder spoke about tracking the questions that have been turned in and
how they will be answered.
Deb Slater, Joint Information Center, asked what the questions were that
Schroeder referred to and Schroeder read them.
Elenbaas asked about getting timely information and whether the seven
confirmed cases include the two confirmed cases from Lummi.
Wolpers stated that all information will be pushed out through the Joint
Information Center and Councilmembers are a priority on the distribution
lists. The two cases from Lummi are not counted in the seven because they
were being followed up on and counted by King County.
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Council as the Health Board (Special) Minutes - Final March 19, 2020
Slater gave Board members the JIC email but prefers they to use Byrd as the
liaison. She encouraged them to attend daily briefings at 9 a.m.
Buchanan stated the Council is not invited to that because of quorum issues.
Karen Frakes, Prosecuting Attorney's Office, clarified that if
councilmembers are just passively listening it's not an issue.
Byrd asked if press releases from the JIC could be sent via email to elected
officials an hour or two ahead of other recipients so that they are prepared
to answer questions from the public. He stated he noticed that there are
State agencies who are doing fever testing before people come into their
offices and whether it is possible to set up nursing homes to do fever
testing.
Wolpers stated it makes sense and he would have to look into it and talk to
Unified command. They may look at doing thermometer testing of people
coming into the Unified Command. They don't have them currently but
could probably get them.
Byrd referenced conversation on Tuesday, March 17 about setting up an
emergency overflow hospital system similar to King County and asked
whether there is additional information or movement on that.
Wolpers stated he has had no direct contact yet with the hospital. He
thought a hospital representative would be at the Unified Command this
morning but there was not.
Charles Prosper, Peace Health Northwest Chief Executive, from St. Joseph
Hospital, stated that Robert Taylor, the hospital representative, has been a
participant in the incident command process. He is working under the
operations section chief and that's where the hospital's updates are being
delivered.
Bill Elfo, Whatcom County Sheriff, stated that a large part of the planning is
to ensure that the hospital is not overwhelmed with a surging need for
space. The hospital is very essential to the process.
Prosper stated the hospital is more than happy to have organizational
structure revised but they have been at every meeting they have been invited
to.
Rud spoke about a recent visit to the doctor at which he was concerned
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Council as the Health Board (Special) Minutes - Final March 19, 2020
about the following of guidelines as he would expect under these
circumstances.
Frazey stated they would like to see Peace Health involved in the 9am
briefings and on every level of the Unified Command.
Prosper stated they would be more than happy to participate at any level
requested. Their primary function right now is to protect their care givers
and providers, and said they would be virtually present at meetings to
maintain safety and be a role model and will participate at the 9am briefings.
Byrd stated their participation is crucial and they can help each other.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
2. AB2020-151 Update from Peace Health on COVID-19
Charles Prosper, Peace Health Northwest Chief Executive, gave an update.
He stated they have been doing this type of disaster planning for a while
with other viruses. They have had their incident command structure in place
for over a week and a half in terms of in -person activities but they've been
planning for months. The hospital currently has an adequate number of
supplies in the hospital for every patient encounter but supplies are days on
hand. There is a nationwide shortage so they've been focused on
conservation strategies and careful control of those supplies so they don't
disappear or get overused. They are looking at taking care of nurses,
doctors, and other caregivers, at sick leave and time off policies and
strategies to connect caregivers to childcare services. The fundamental
practice is to send resources where the demand is greatest. Seattle is
reaching 100% of capacity and 100% of their available ventilators on hand
so if there is going to be a State allocation of resources, they will go to
Seattle first because that is where the need is.
Frazey asked whether there is an exclusive contract for Quest to do testing
and whether they can only do 50 tests a day.
Prosper stated at first all test were done through the State lab at first, but as
soon as commercial labs became available they began to utilize Quest
because of the ability of those tests to come back and interface with
medical records. It's important that results come back to the testing doctor.
Everyone is experiencing delays in results.
Browne spoke again about doctors wearing masks when getting near a
patient's face and asked why the hospital only has a few days' supply of
Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) if they have been preparing for
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Council as the Health Board (Special) Minutes - Final March 19, 2020
months.
Prosper apologized for the doctor/patient encounter that Browne had and
explained why he doesn't believe a mask is needed in such an interaction.
He stated there have been pleas to tell the general public not to hoard PPE,
but despite efforts to over -order it's been unsuccessful because of supply
and demand as opposed to a lack of preparation.
Elenbaas stated the Health Officer and Health Department are responsible
for protecting the citizens of Whatcom County and not Peace Health, but
we've been asking for specific numbers and just hearing "adequate." It's
important to get more definite answers in order to protect the citizens of
Whatcom County. The hospital has been aware of questions asking for
specifics but the questions have not been answered. We have funding
sources and the ability to help you so the more information, the better we
can all plan.
Prosper stated they have been submitting supplemental requests to the
Unified Command. He spoke about surge capacity, the needed equipment
and environment for patients requiring intensive care, and the steps the
hospital has been taking including setting up alternate sites of care to
potentially triple the capacity of their ICU, and working with all members in
the medical community to see if they can contribute their own medical
protection equipment.
Byrd asked about using the vacant St. Luke's building for extra capacity if it
was cleaned up, whether outdated masks at the hospital could be exchanged
out with new masks the county is getting for front line individuals, whether
their main restrictions are beds and ventilators, whether they have seen an
uptick in the number of calls or people coming to the hospital, whether the
Unified Command has access to that information, and whether the hospital
is doing temperature testing for people and staff coming into the building
and doing tent screening
Prosper stated that the St. Luke's facility is not a good environment for
patient care. With respect to supplies, they are doing an inventory of all
supplies and have an algorithm as to when supplies should be used. Some
old masks are still viable. They might be able to have dialogue about
exchanging of resources. Emergency room volume has dropped. People are
getting the message not to come in to the ER and are seeking care
elsewhere. They have been doing symptom reviews at the door but are
within 24-48 hours of being able to do full temperature testing at the door.
Tent screenings have been used in other communities only if you have a
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Council as the Health Board (Special) Minutes - Final March 19, 2020
Other Business
Adiournment
physician order and they've met those needs in the current medical group
settings such as doctor offices, walk-in clinics and the Emergency
Department. They re-evaluate the demand every four to six hours.
Board members, Erika Lautenbach, Health Department, and Cathy Halka,
Council Office, discussed where they are working from, following up and
engaging with the hospital to get updates, Board members listening to the 9
a.m. briefings and getting a link to be able to join the call.
This agenda item was DISCUSSED.
There was no other business.
The meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m.
The Count Mw,%ed these minutes on June 16, 2020.
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