On Feb. 27, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a contract between the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Navajo County Public Health Service District to increase the capacity of the local health departments to address social determinates in health.
The public outreach coordinator for Navajo County Public Health, Allison Hephner gave a brief presentation in which she said, “The grant monies received from NACCHO will go toward the development, implementation and promotion of a countywide survey assessing health care in our communities.” It will also cover the training as well as developing an action plan.
In a follow-up interview Director of Navajo County Public Health Jeff Lee, gave some additional insight into the contract. Lee said that the County received a small grant of $15,000 from NACCHO to help facilitate training and complete the countywide evaluation and assessment of health.
“Every five years,” Lee said, “the county does a community health assessment with about 30 participants countywide evaluating and developing the different elements of health as noted by the assessment.”
This year the health department is doing a citizen-wide survey with the hope of getting as much involvement from the residents of Navajo County as possible.
Within the survey, will be an opportunity for the residents to share what they consider to be important health issues as well as current health problems within their household. From there Lee said, “We will get data from the county epidemiologist as well as birth and death records, hospital discharge data and add it to the citizen survey.”
The ultimate goal is to identify three to five critical areas that can be addressed within the social determinates of health. Within that, Lee shared that they want as much participation from county residents as possible. “We will be targeting social media, the schools, hospitals and health facilities to get the word out,” said Lee.
In other business, the board:
* Approved an agreement between Gila Community College District and Northeastern Arizona Innovative Workforce Solutions for joint exercise of their powers to create a workforce pipeline in Gila County for in-demand workforce development occupations through the Arizona@Work programs.
* Approved a memorandum between the Navajo County Family Advocacy Center for the purpose of applying for the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) Fiscal Year 2018 Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking Grant Program.
* Authorized a Letter of Laws Assurance from the county attorney’s office for the grant application for OVW Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence and Stalking Grant Program.
* Approved the appointment of Bill Arendall to the Board of Adjustment, representing District IV.
* Authorized a contract with Jon Saline for professional services; a contract between Navajo County Flood Control District and Tomhave Group, Inc., for professional services and vendor installation Agreement with cStor for replacement equipment for the Sheriff’s Office dispatch servers.
* Approved a professional services agreement with Necia Adams to perform public health nursing duties on an as needed basis beginning March 1 through Dec. 31, 2020. This contract will not impact the Health District’s general fund. The contractor will be paid from various grant contracts and from revenue generated from billable public health services. The contractor will be utilized on an as needed basis only, and will not have a set schedule of regular hours.
*A perpetual drainage easement over and across real property in the Sky Hi Retreat community to Navajo County for drainage, construction and maintenance purposes.
* Recognized Adam Henderson of Blue Ridge High School, for winning the Division III State Wrestling Championship in his weight class; Jackson Allen and Westin Keime of Show Low High School, for winning the State Wrestling Championship in their respective weight class; and Breck Williams and Nik White of Show Low Junior High School, for winning the 2017-2018 State Junior High School wrestling title in their respective weight classes.
