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Walla Walla County health director seeks temporary traffic-safety hours; board forms behavioral‑health council
Summary
The board approved a temporary increase in traffic safety position hours and authorized a Behavioral Health Council to coordinate homeless housing and behavioral‑health funding. Health officials also reported elevated enteric disease rates and reviewed norovirus and avian‑influenza risks.
The Walla Walla County Board of County Commissioners approved two Department of Community Health proposals and heard a health update on infectious‑disease and behavioral‑health planning.
Nancy Wenzel, director of the Department of Community Health, asked the board to approve a temporary increase to allow the traffic safety position to work 40 hours per week for four months to complete several projects; commissioners approved the temporary increase by voice vote. “We would like to increase our traffic safety person to 40 hours for 4 months,” Wenzel said, adding that the work is grant funded.
The board also approved creation of a Behavioral Health Council to bring homeless housing and behavioral‑health stakeholders together to coordinate funding and services. Wenzel said the county had taken the proposal to the Community Health Advisory Board (CHAB), which agreed to house the council, and that House Bill 1590 helped motivate integrated planning.
Public health staff gave a CHAB briefing emphasizing norovirus and highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) as areas of attention and reported that Walla Walla County’s rate of reported enteric (food‑ and waterborne) disease, including salmonella, is approximately 2.2 times the state rate. Don Shereen summarized differentiators among pathogens and noted that norovirus is not a nationally notifiable condition in the U.S., which complicates outbreak identification in congregate facilities.
Wenzel said staff are pursuing a grant to provide car seats and training and are applying for an epidemiology internship (through an external program) to analyze enteric disease data. The county also operated an extreme‑weather warming shelter over the weekend.
All DCH proposals on the agenda were approved by the board.
