The Board of Health met 09/11/2024. The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a review and discussion of the Appleton Health Department’s 2023 Annual Report.
The report is 63 pages, so Health Department Deputy Director Sonja Jensen did not review the entire report but rather highlighted specific items.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
THE COMMUNITY HEALTH ASSESSMENT – This was “a comprehensive examination of health status, behaviors, resources, and social determinants of health within Appleton,” which was conducted via surveys, statistics, and focus groups and included the Homelessness Summit, the Point-in-Time Count of homeless people, and the Age-Friendly Survey. They were going to continue working on this in 2024 with the aim of completing it before the end of the year. Per the report, “Early data analyses show that access to affordable housing and mental health services are among the leading areas of concern among Appleton residents.”
INITIATIVES – Deputy Director Jensen highlighted the Age-Friendly Appleton initiative which was done in conjunction with the AARP. “We developed the survey with Age Friendly Appleton to better understand and prioritize the needs of older adults. The survey was conducted June through August of 2023 and it covered key topics such as accessible housing, transportation, healthcare, social engagement, and other factors that contribute to healthy aging.”
INTERNSHIP AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES – The city continues to work with various educational institutions, including UW Green Bay and Lawrence University. Austin, one of the Health Department’s environmental employees, was working on getting a masters degree from Texas Tech University. In addition to his paid 8-hour workday in the Health Department, he completed his internship requirement for his degree through the Health Department. His capstone project was focused on the Wisconsin lead and water testing and remediation initiative. The Health Department received a $15,000 grant that allowed him to educate local early child care centers about the free lead testing program. He also collected water samples, none of which showed elevated lead levels. Deputy Director Jensen attributed those lead levels to the city having made an effort to remove and replace lead laterals in the city.
EXPANDING SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE – The Health Department worked to increase its Facebook audience and also expanded its social media presence to Instagram and LinkedIn.
COLLABORATIONS WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS – Deputy Director Jensen highlighted the city’s partnership with the Building For Kids both through the Covid-19 pediatric vaccination clinics they held there as well as the fact that the Health Department was an advisory partner for the BFK’s Food To Grow initiative that aims to educate children and families about nutrition, good sourcing, and food equity through a new exhibit.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASES – She did not touch on most of the communicable diseases, but she did mention hospitalized influenza, stating, “[T]here was a notable decrease in this in 2021. There may have been another respiratory virus going around at that time, but we think that many of the mitigations that were around for covid helped with other respiratory viruses, and that did hold true in our statistics as well.”
CHILD PASSENGER SAFETY – Deputy Director Jensen pointed out this program and said it continued to expand.
OVERDOSE FATALITY – One of the Health Department’s nurses is part of the Overdose Fatality Review Team for Outagamie and Winnebago Counties. As part of this team, she has worked with the Appleton Area school District to provide counselors, nurses, and support staff with information about substance use disorder and the resources available through the We Heart You Program.
COMMUNITY HEALTH DIVISION – This division within the Health Department was created in July of 2023. It included the creation of a Community Health Supervisor and the moving of the Coordinated Entry Specialist from the Community and Economic Development Department to the Health Department. This division was part of the Basic Needs Team which focused on assisting homeless individuals and families.
Mayor Woodford said that other communities have been asking questions about the Basic Needs Team. He said it started out with the effort to embed a clinical therapist with the Police Department. That got them thinking about how they could better respond to the needs of people in the community. Embedding the coordinated entry specialist with the Police Department helped them better assess and address needs in the community by directing people to the right services and resources rather than having to rely on law enforcement. He thought it was a great innovation and said they were seeing great results. “[T]he right response is not always a clinical therapist response, but just the same it’s not always law enforcement response either. And so, by deepening that partnership, we’ve created some great resources.”
Board chairperson Cathy Spears thought that people in crisis were sometimes more open to receiving help versus someone not in crisis. Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) mentioned that he had heard some really good stories about how well the program was working and he thought it would be worth expanding it.
LICENSED ESTABLISHMENTS: INSPECTIONS – Deputy Director Jensen said there had been an increase in inspections from the preceding three years. This was the result of having added a new environmentalist position in 2023 which allowed the department to meet its routine inspection numbers goal for the first time in 8 years.
Mayor Woodford spoke highly about Health Officer Charles Sepers’ leadership in this area and thanked the Common Council for increasing staffing in this area. He noted that they were now both delivering a better service and also capturing more of the costs associated with delivering those services. The result was that the amount of taxes going to pay for those inspection activities had been dramatically reduced if not eliminated.
Board Chairperson Spears noticed that the inspections of lodging facilities has increased. She asked if this was due to Airbnbs. Deputy Director Jensen confirmed that was the case.
ACCESS TO & LINKAGE WITH CLINICAL CARE – Again, Deputy Director Jensen highlighted the Health Department’s partnership with the Building For Kids and how they had worked with the BFK, the Autism Society of Greater Wisconsin, and Mosaic Family Health Center to provide sensory-friendly vaccination clinics. This was covered by grant money, and they were going to be offering those against this year and in 2025. She said the clinics really decreased any fear the kids had.
She also mentioned that the Health Department remained an active member of the Appleton Refugee Resettlement Team which was led by World Relief Fox Valley.
CONSUMER PROTECTION – In 2023, Appleton added the Village of Greenville to the East Central Weights and Measures Consortium which “inspects and tests all commercially used weighing and measuring devices for accuracy and proper operation.” Additionally, one of the Appleton Health Department’s employees was the president of the Wisconsin Weights and Measures Association.
TOTAL DEATHS, ALL CAUSES – Deputy Director Jensen pointed out that there had been an increase in suicides. It had been in 12th place in 2022 but had now moved up to 10th place. The city was working with in the community to help prevent suicide.
She also noted that Covid deaths had moved from 4th place in 2022 to 12 place in 2023.
FINANCIAL DATA – Deputy Director Jensen finished up her overview by highlight that even though services had been increased the Health Department’s total levy impact had decreased from 2022 to 2023, dropping from $1.2 million to $778,000. 30% of the Health Department’s budget had been covered with grant dollars in 2023.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1224340&GUID=D7ED7772-6F60-480E-86A4-FF97DD92BBCE
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