Scott County health board spotlights home visiting gains, naloxone access and WIC expansion

Scott County Community Health staff told the county board on May 20 that family home visiting, naloxone access and WIC services expanded in 2024 even as funding pressures and infectious-disease threats persisted.

Lisa, Community Health Services Administrator, opened the report, saying the board meets twice annually and outlining program highlights from the department’s recent report to the community. "We are required, mandated, thank you very much, to meet as a community health board twice per year," Lisa said as she summarized program trends and upcoming work.

The county completed 2,233 family home visits in 2024, Lisa reported, with program mix shifting as Scott County added a Parents as Teachers option in 2022. Last year, 36% of visits were Parents as Teachers, 41% were the MESH maternal early sustained home visiting model and 23% were traditional short-term home visits. Staff-run evaluations and parent surveys show high satisfaction: "100 percent of parents reported that they feel that they are better able to cope with life and understand their baby's child development," Lisa said. She added that 85% of participating families reported reading or telling stories to their children daily and that 80% of children in the programs were screened for developmental concerns on time.

Jody Lieris, who presented the WIC update, said the county continues to expand WIC beyond the government center. WIC services now operate at the Family Resource Center in Shakopee and at the Savage Library, and staff are preparing to add services at the Jordan Library. Lieris said WIC has referred 133 families to early childhood screening and that the program distributed about $1.3 million in food benefits in the year reviewed. She described the program’s hemoglobin screening protocol and said nutritional counseling and referrals follow any flagged low results.

On substance-use prevention, Lisa described the county’s drug-disposal and naloxone work. Scott County began serving as a naloxone access point in 2023 and added a 24-hour naloxone box in 2024 stocked with naloxone, fentanyl test strips and at-home drug-deactivation (Deterra) bags. Lisa noted the county tracks drug take-back weights and distributed nearly 2,000 Deterra-style kits in 2023 and about 1,067 in 2024. She also said overdose deaths are tracked from coroner data: the county recorded 20 overdose deaths in 2023 and nine deaths in January–August 2024, with the 2024 total not yet final.

Health staff pointed to a Community Readiness to Change score that has risen over a decade, from about 1.5 (denial/resistance) a decade ago to 4.6 in the most recent survey — a level staff describe as "initiating change." Lisa cautioned, however, that recent legalization of marijuana at the state level and possible future policy changes could affect youth substance use and program progress.

Dr. Wilcox, Scott County Medical Director, briefed commissioners on infectious-disease trends and vaccination priorities. He said routine childhood vaccination coverage in the county remains well below prevention targets and emphasized measles risk: national and state outbreaks in 2024–2025 include multiple clusters, and, Dr. Wilcox noted, CDC figures show most recent U.S. measles cases occurred in unvaccinated people. "We're well below that [96 percent vaccination level] for all of the vaccines that we are listing here," Dr. Wilcox said, urging continued outreach and clinic efforts to catch children up on recommended vaccines.

Lisa described two near-term department priorities: finishing the county’s five-year community health assessment and launching a public-facing Power BI dashboard to display assessment data; and expanding WIC and vaccination outreach in 2025. She also reported a funding change: federal cuts reduced the county’s planned AmeriCorps capacity; the department had planned to receive four full-time AmeriCorps members in July but will now pursue an alternate Recovery Corps placement that could provide one full-time member.

Commissioners asked for clarifying data and staff agreed to provide follow-ups. Commissioner Brecke asked whether overdose counts represent Scott County residents; Lisa said the supplied figures reflect incidents that occurred within Scott County, not residents only, and offered to email resident-versus-incident breakdowns on request.

Why this matters: the programs discussed address early childhood development, substance-use prevention, vaccine-preventable disease risk and food security. Staff framed the work as a mix of direct services, community partnerships and data-driven outreach intended to reduce preventable illness and improve access to care.

Looking ahead, staff said the community health assessment will be finalized and used to shape a county community health improvement plan, and the dashboard will make assessment findings publicly available once IT completes deployment. Lisa and other staff also said they will continue naloxone distribution and drug-disposal upgrades and will press schools and community partners to improve childhood vaccination rates.

Speakers quoted and cited in this article are listed in the speakers section below; program facts and direct figures reflect the presentations and discussion during the Scott County Community Health Board report at the May 20 meeting.