Month: January 2024

Overdose Response Collection

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We need your support! Please help the Malheur County Health Department collect overdose reversal data by completing this survey if you responded to an opioid overdose in Malheur County this year.

Earlier this week, Health Promotion and Prevention Supervisor, Hannah Woods, raised awareness for overdose data collection on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud radio show. Listen to the interview here.

You, too, can raise awareness for our overdose data collection effects by sharing this post and filling out our Overdose Response Survey if you respond to an overdose.

Across the country, opioid overdoses are increasing and there has been a heightened response from communities like ours to respond. Many friends, family, and bystanders are reversing overdoses with Naloxone, a life-saving medicine. However, these measures often go unreported and the data available to show how the opioid use is affecting our area does not reflect that many people are using and nearly dying. Thanks to Naloxone and people willing to respond, more people are alive and able to access treatment, including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), which is effective in the treatment of opioid use disorders. Recovery is possible.

The MCHD Overdose Response Survey is anonymous. Collecting this information will give us a better picture of the opioid overdose epidemic happening in our community and help us plan for and adequately leverage resources, like Naloxone, accordingly. Please share the survey link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R7TBYHM. We also have the link on our MCHD Forms page for easy reference later.

Visit the Malheur County Health Department at 1108 SW 4th Street in Ontario during business hours to get free Naloxone (also called Narcan), peer support, and other substance use resources. Or call us at 541-889-7279 to talk with a peer. Learn how to respond to an opioid overdose here.  

Need help? SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Wear Red this Friday

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February is American Heart Month. Communities will light up red on Friday, Feb. 2 for National Wear Red Day. Join the Malheur County Health Department by wearing red to raise awareness of the No. 1 killer of women, cardiovascular disease.

National Wear Red Day is Friday, February 2, 2024. Together, we can continue to wear red, share and rock our red, all to help save more lives. Since 2004, the American Heart Association’s signature women’s initiative, Go Red for Women, has addressed the awareness and clinical care gaps of women’s greatest health threat, cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Learn the Warning Signs & Symptoms of Heart Attack and Stroke, how to perform CPR, and about Heart Disease in Women.

Share the posters in English and Spanish and don’t forget to wear red Friday, February 2nd! Learn more at https://www.goredforwomen.org/en/.

Introducing Family Connects to Malheur County

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Family Connects Oregon (FCO) is a free, nurse home visiting program for all families with newborns. FCO supports parents by linking nurses, community resources, and families. Our mission is to connect you with resources that nurture your whole family and support your child. It’s about planting seeds for the future. Together, we’re growing healthy babies!

We’re excited to announce that Malheur County Health Department will start offering Family Connects to residents later this year. Family Connects Oregon is a voluntary, opt-in, evidence-based universally offered home visiting program for all families with newborns. Eventually, Family Connects will be available to all families in Oregon. Using the Family Connects model, FCO builds on Oregon’s existing home visiting programs, like Babies First!, linking families to nurses and community resources, nurturing the whole family, and creating a foundation for improved wellbeing across a newborn’s lifespan.

Heather Burrows, RN, Maternal Child Health Supervisor, is starting a Community Advisory Board and working with health care providers to prepare for the Family Connects roll out in Malheur County. Reach out to her with any questions or ideas at 541-889-7279 or heather.burrows@malheurco.org.

If you are a parent of a child 0-5 and live in Malheur County, we can connect you with another free home visiting program at the health department or one of the many excellent home visiting options in the area. Call us at 541-889-7279.

Learn more at Family Connects Oregon.

Turn in Your Application for the Stringer Memorial Scholarship through 1/31

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Please share with people in our community who are in recovery and want to advance their education!

We are proud to promote the Stringer Memorial Scholarship, sponsored by Four Rivers Healthy Community, in memory of our colleague, Nathaniel Sean Stringer. The spring application period is open now until January 31, 2024.  Please share this opportunity with people who live in the area who are in recovery to attend any continuing education opportunity. Scholarships up to $5,000 available. Learn more on the 4RHC website. Thank you for sharing this flyer.

MCHD Peer Support Specialists are happy to help anyone with their application. Call us at 541-889-7279 or just stop by our office during office hours. We can also type, print, and/or any applications.

The Matthew W. Stringer Fund, in care of the Oregon Community Foundation, makes the Nathaniel Sean Stringer Memorial Scholarship available to people of all ages in recovery from addiction to attend any community college, university, or continuing education opportunity, including certificate and professional development programs. More details on eligibility are in the scholarship application.

Prevent Cervical Cancer

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Did you know that 93% of cervical cancers could be prevented by screening and vaccination?

January, Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, is your reminder to get screened for cervical cancer. Anyone with a cervix is at risk for cervical cancer, which occurs most often in people over 30. Long-lasting infection with certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer. Screening tests and the HPV vaccine can help prevent cervical cancer. When found early, cervical cancer is highly treatable and associated with long survival and good quality of life. Learn more here.

For uninsured or underinsured individuals, cervical cancer screening is available free through OHA’s ScreenWise program. Learn how to become a ScreenWise patient here. You can also call (877) 255-7070 for assistance.

We are here to help! The Malheur County Health Department provides pap tests and HPV vaccine. Call us at 541-889-7279 to make an appointment.

Meal Site Now Open!

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50 free meals will be available each weekday at the St. Matthews Episcopal Church located at 802 SW 5th Street in Ontario.

The meal site will be open starting Tuesday, January 23rd and operating until Friday, February 2nd from 11:30 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.

Thank you to the Hog Rock Cafe for supporting our community by providing these meals.!

Point in Time Count Coming Up

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The point-in-time count is meant to serve as a snapshot of homelessness in a community and to provide a sense of the overall scope of homelessness in America. Every other year, communities must conduct a count of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness and every year we must count the number of people who experience homelessness and are sheltered. This year that date is January 25th. Each count is planned, coordinated, and carried out locally. Community in Action coordinates for Malheur County.

Please call Community in Action at (541) 889-9555 for more information or to volunteer.

Point-in-time counts are important because they establish the dimensions of the problem of homelessness and help policymakers and program administrators track progress toward the goal of ending homelessness. On the local level, point-in-time counts help communities like ours plan services and programs to appropriately address local needs, measure progress in decreasing homelessness, and identify strengths and gaps in a community’s current homelessness assistance system.

Spotlight on Environmental Public Health

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Environmental Public Health is a part of the Malheur County Health Department, run as part of our Modernization workplan to strengthen the public health system as a whole. Along with the county Environmental Health and Emergency Management departments, and our Public Health Emergency Preparedness program, we coordinate on efforts to prepare for hazards that may impact people’s health through the environment. This includes fire, earthquakes, drought, extreme heat, air quality, and infectious disease.

Environmental Public Health is different from Environmental Health, which is a stand-alone department in Malheur County. They issue on-site septic system permits, run the Licensed Facility Program, and Drinking Water Program, and are in charge of the County Solid Waste Program. The Environmental Health staff focus on health and safety through the relationships they build monitoring food, pool, and lodging entities in Malheur county. Environmental Public Health is non-regulatory and focused on the relationships between departments and community partners that make the comprehensive public health system stronger.

We want to help families, businesses, healthcare providers, and law enforcement when they need support in times of need. Community engagement and communication are key to our preparedness and our Climate Adaptation Plan is part of our comprehensive public health strategy, including concurrent All Hazards and Health Equity Plans.

Recent environmental public health emergencies in Oregon and around the world have raised concerns about environmental health and how resilient our communities are to adverse weather events and other disasters. Through Environmental Public Health, we can work together as a system and a community to take practical steps to prevent disasters and be ready to respond if disaster strikes. In Malheur County, the Health Department, Emergency Management, and Environmental Health are part of the same public health system that helps keep everyone healthy across nearly 10,000 square acres.

Learn More:

Warming Shelter Update

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Open through Friday at noon

Due to the extreme cold temperatures, Malheur County Emergency Management, with cooperation from the Red Cross and Oregon Department of Human Services, OREM Division have opened a temporary warming shelter at Girvin Hall at the Malheur County Fairgrounds. The shelter is open day and night until Friday, January 19th at noon. Anyone that needs to get out of the cold during this period of time may join us. Companion animals must remain with their owners in a kennel while in the building. Pet owners are responsible for their pets.

Rides

To schedule a free ride to the Warming shelter, courtesy of EOCCO NEMT, call (877) 875-4657. Free rides are also provided courtesy of Oregon Department of Emergency Management by calling 1-866-698-6155 or dial 711.

Volunteer

We are currently not set up to take donations of food, clothing or other goods. We are only taking volunteers to help staff the shelter at this time. We are needing volunteers to help at the warming shelter Tuesday – Thursday 8 am -12 pm and 4-8 pm or later. If you are available to help please contact MCHD Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Tristan Wishard at 541-212-1274 or 541-823-3230. You can also sign up to volunteer here.

Thank you to everyone who has shared the flyer below and volunteered!