Washington County proclaims National Public Health Week; disability advocate urges stronger emergency preparedness

The Washington County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously March 17 to proclaim April 6–12, 2026, as National Public Health Week in Washington County after a staff presentation and remarks from a disability-rights nonprofit.

Marie Bowman Davis, the county's local public health administrator and public health division manager, introduced the request and invited staff and community partners to present the proclamation and describe planned events tied to the week.

Lindy Petty, alcohol and drug prevention senior program coordinator for the public-health division, outlined a slate of staff and community activities, including a virtual learning series, staff appreciation events and a community celebration planned for April 10 that will feature an art walk and awards. Petty said the county is accepting youth art submissions through April 22 and described two age categories (reported as roughly 10–14 and 15–21); she said staff will confirm category details and run the judging process.

"When the power goes out, it isn't just an inconvenience. It's a life-threatening loss of access to the assisted technology, to the medical equipment, and tools that maintain our independence," Brooke McCall, board president of Upstream Access, told the commission. Upstream Access, a cross-disability nonprofit based in the region, described a person-centered emergency-preparedness pilot called Peps and said it expects to have certified about 60 participants by the end of the month. McCall urged county officials to include disabled people as partners in resilience and climate-justice planning.

During discussion, a commissioner asked whether the board would consider declaring racism a public-health crisis after reading a constituent's note reporting white-supremacist and anti-LGBTQ stickers in a neighborhood. County staff said they would route the constituent report to the sheriff's office and noted the district attorney's office has a federally funded bias and hate-crimes unit. "We don't tolerate bias or hate crime," a county staff speaker said when describing the process for reporting such incidents.

Public-health staff offered to return to the board with information about declaring racism a public-health crisis and noted the Oregon Legislature and state agencies have previously made such declarations. Commissioners praised the public-health division's work and thanked Upstream Access for highlighting gaps in emergency systems for people with disabilities.

Chair Harrington called for a motion to adopt the proclamation; the motion passed by a recorded vote of 5–0. Commissioners then invited presenters forward for a photo opportunity.

The proclamation, as read to the board, catalogs Washington County Public Health programs and affirms the county's commitment to accessible information, community partnerships and data-driven public-health work. Staff said more program details, event registration information and confirmation of contest categories are available on the county public-health website.