Public health director: CHA complete, CHIP work to start next fiscal year; bike rodeo gives out six bikes

Ruby Taylor, Broadwater County public health director, updated the Board of Health on June 16 about department activities, including the Community Health Assessment (CHA), planned Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), immunizations and recent community events.

Taylor said the CHA is complete and she will distribute a draft to board members and the community; she noted the CHA data are compiled but the final publication and community release remain pending. Taylor said the CHIP work remains in progress and she expects to begin the CHIP in the first quarter of the next fiscal year because the hospital’s community health needs assessment (CHNA) has been delayed. "I have not yet published the CHA; I will get that to you," she said.

Taylor reported the department’s bike safety rodeo was better attended than last year. The department distributed six bikes, three donated by local businesses, and received roughly $500–$600 in local donations for supplies and snacks. She said the department plans to acknowledge donors in the local paper and may send personal thank-you notes.

On immunizations, Taylor said the county continues to obtain COVID vaccine but noted inventory challenges: a box of vaccine recently expired with eight doses remaining, which the county cannot recover for reimbursement. She also said vaccine orders arrive in increments of 10 doses and that the county will work to accommodate residents who need vaccination despite ordering minimums.

Taylor asked that the board expect a follow-up on plan-signing status at the next meeting and said she would coordinate with the state for CHIP next steps.

No formal policy changes were adopted during the update; the session was informational.