Increased funding from the state will help the Yakima Health District continue its work to prevent opioid overdoses, inspect restaurants, complete mosquito surveillance and address environmental contamination next year, local officials said.
The health district’s recently approved budget will increase 18.3%, from $9.9 million in 2023 to $11.7 million in 2024. The expanded budget is due mostly to a $1.3 million increase in Foundational Public Health Services funds from the state. Since 2020, the number of district employees has grown from 34 to 48.
Ryan Ibach, the health district’s chief operating officer, said recent hires include a disease control coordinator, a grants project coordinator and public health and developmental disabilities program managers. He said many of these positions are filled via internal promotions. Positions left vacant by these promotions then require new hires.
Andre Fresco, the health district’s executive director, said there is an emphasis on hiring locally and providing robust training and work experience to benefit employees in future jobs.
“We have spent a great deal of time cross-training and working collaboratively on projects, which gives people an experience level that they wouldn’t ordinarily get, certainly in government,” Fresco said. “That creates an opportunity for them to advance as their experience continues. Our goal is to hire people locally and who want to be here long-term.”
Environmental issues
Ibach said the health district’s continued growth is also due to an increase in environmental health needs within Yakima County. Staff members are needed to address issues like the PFAS groundwater contamination in East Selah and the nitrate groundwater contamination and air pollution in the Lower Valley, he said.
It took more than a decade of working with the Legislature to get the Foundational Public Health Services funds that have paid for the new hires and expanded programs, Fresco said.
“The increase (in funding) has been really helpful for us,” Fresco said. “We’ve seen far more environmental health hazards lately, and our goal is to have a well-trained team that can respond to the needs of the community.”
The Board of Health will likely vote next month on an ordinance that would give the health district the ability to work more closely with the residents of East Selah affected by PFAS, also known as forever chemicals. Forever chemicals can persist in the environment for years and are toxic to humans even in low doses.
The ordinance would allow the district to aid in remediation efforts for smaller water systems in the area that would otherwise be at risk of being shut down by the state because of the contamination.
“We’re now seeing (PFAS) creep into drinking water, which concerns us,” Fresco said. “We also want to support homeowners with the reality of their concern over the value of their homes, and we are very interested in supporting land development. Unless you have alternatives to this problem that can address the issue through filtration, you can’t develop the land unless you have access to clean water. This is about public safety and welfare. We want to ensure the value of this land continues to grow because people have lived there and invested in their homes that they love.”
In the Lower Valley, the health district will spend the next three years using money from a $1 million Environmental Protection Agency grant to help address the water and air pollution issues.
Though those funds won’t go directly toward a 2022 pilot program started by the health district to provide bottled water to residents with high levels of nitrate in their water, state funds are being sought to continue the program past 2024.
Narcan
The increased funding also has helped other programs. In July, Lilian Bravo, director of public health partnerships for the district, announced the health district had purchased 1,500 boxes of Narcan, a life-saving drug capable of reversing opioid overdoses, and two vending machines to provide access to free Narcan in the Upper and Lower Valleys.
With access to large quantities of Narcan, the health district started a pilot program to provide Narcan and training on how to use it to participating businesses. Bravo said the health district has worked with 10 businesses and organizations so far, including a notary business, a church and a shelter.
During the December Board of Health meeting, Bravo said the health district had distributed 100 doses of the overdose-reversing drug and training on how to use it to 175 people.
The vending machines, one placed near the OIC offices on Fruitvale Boulevard in Yakima and the other outside of the Yakamart in Toppenish, have dispensed 118 doses of Narcan. The Lower Valley machine distributed 67 doses while the one in Yakima distributed 51.
In the meeting, Bravo said the health district is working on ways to share its Narcan with first responders across the county.
Between the 1,500 boxes of Narcan and the two vending machines, the health district spent just under $90,000, all of which came from Foundational Public Health Services funding.
“One of the benefits of adding on these different team members and resources is that we have the capacity to do this work,” Bravo said. “We’re building our infrastructure to be able to do more; that’s always the goal, how can we better improve the work that we’re doing to better serve the community.”
The health district’s harm reduction program, which is funded separately, also is distributing more Narcan through its mobile unit.
In 2023, about 1,800 kits of Narcan were distributed by the program, said Melissa Sixberry, director of disease control at the health district. Last year, that number was closer to 900.
Other needs
The health district also tracks disease outbreaks and has dealt with issues at the county’s private landfills this past year.
Fresco said other programs like the district’s food inspection program are growing as more restaurants and food trucks open in the area, requiring more work from district staff.
“We’ve seen a growth in food establishments,” Fresco said. “We have hundreds more than we did years ago, which means we have more work to do. As I said, one of the reasons we are committed to cross-training is that our environmental health staff is prepared to surge toward the needs”
Fresco said there is always more work to be done in Yakima County.
“It’s really about trying to mirror the needs of the community with our work, and we are grateful that we have a team that can respond quickly,” he said. “There’s a lot to do. There is no lack of projects.”
