Board of Health: Opium Abatement Council, Community Health Assessment, Community Collaboration Committee

Jane Fuller attended the North Sound Behavioral Health meeting last week with Community Health Director Barbara LaBrash and will get an orientation next week.

The County needs to nominate someone to the Opium Abatement Council. Mark Tompkins will report on this to the Council on April 4. Jane Fuller met with the executive director of the Northwest Regional Council and Christine Minney will meet with her and will get an overview of funding sources.

Move forward on a Community Health Assessment, Jane Fuller and Lisa DiGiorgio will be the two Board of Health members on the Community Health Assessment Advisory Committee. Some staff will be assigned to the committee and then they will open to external members.

The elected officials on the Board of Health approved the new health and community service fees and a sliding scale. The new fee schedule reduces many fees, most down to $10 and eliminates others such as most pediatric services, and HIV and STI testing. There is no refusal for inability to pay and fees can also be reduced according to self-reported income standards. Environmental service fees remain unchanged.

Environmental Health Manager Kyle Dodd reported on County programs in 2022, including sewer and sanitation services, seafood and biotoxin monitoring, food safety, water recreation safety, drinking water, solid waste, animal bites (rabies) monitoring.

The Board then adjourned to the Fairground for the launching of the Lucy B. Mobile Health Outreach Van which will bring community health services to locales on all the ferry served islands

Lucinda Boyce was a role model for hundreds of women who braved the strenuous conditions of the island’s early settlement years. She arrived on San Juan Island in 1860 and served as a compassionate nurse and midwife, delivering more than 500 babies and venturing out in any weather (and to outer islands) to care for the sick and injured. Endurance, ingenuity, and a rugged physical and mental disposition were necessary for settler women to survive in the early days. Lucinda didn’t just endure, she thrived. She stepped up and took on the roles of doctor, nurse, and midwife. Lucinda administered care to all who needed it, responding to medical calls any time of the night or day—regardless of the distance or weather. She would ride horseback or drive a buggy over harsh terrain, paddle a canoe or take a rowboat to Orcas, Shaw, Stuart, or Waldron. Lucinda was known for her kindness and compassion to all.

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