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Tacoma‑Pierce County Health Department outlines street medicine, septic O&M waiver and school safety work
Summary
Pierce County Health Department leaders briefed the board on local programs including a new street‑medicine outreach team, a waiver approach and timeline for septic operations & maintenance, school safety and online resources the health department shares with other jurisdictions.
Leaders from the Tacoma‑Pierce County Health Department presented the board with an overview of local public health programs and how they serve the county’s mix of urban, rural and military communities.
Director Chantelle Harmon Reid and Deputy Director Cindy Jitsi described a new street‑medicine program funded by the Health Care Authority that brings a clinic‑without‑walls model to unsheltered populations. The mobile team includes a primary‑care clinician, behavioral‑health services, wound and chronic‑disease care and a certified peer navigator; staff said the program will aim to bill for some services to support sustainability and will coordinate with community partners and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Pierce County staff detailed their operations and maintenance (O&M) program for onsite septic systems (about 90,000 systems in the county) and said DOH granted the county authority to operate an O&M waiver program that will extend routine inspections from three to five years for qualifying systems; the department said it expects to launch the waiver program in May–June 2025 and a planned DIY inspection option in early 2026 after additional design work and piloting. Staff said they are mindful of equity and the repair costs that could burden low‑income households.
The health department also described shared‑services products it develops for other jurisdictions, including an online food worker card training (“Do It Right, Serve It Safe”), a provider resource website for reportable conditions, and fentanylfacts.org — an online toolkit the county developed and is packaging for statewide use. Pierce County staff said they have used foundational public health services funding to sustain staff and shared projects.
On school safety, the department described routine school inspections, site reviews for remodels and the county’s involvement with the state school rule project. Pierce County said it was recently authorized under DOH to operate an O&M waiver and that the department had helped remediate a contamination event that affected a small shellfish operation (Minter Bay), working with state DOH and property owners to correct failed septic systems and support reopening.
Board members asked about sustainability for the street‑medicine program, linkage with regional community care hubs, and the county’s timeline for launching a DIY septic inspection program; Pierce County staff said the street medicine funding was initially one‑time but the county is building billing capacity to sustain services and expects the waiver program to start in mid‑2025 with DIY inspections expected by early 2026.
