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Home My WebLink AboutSigned Minutes Joint Meeting 03-29-21 Special Joint Meeting Minutes Arlington City Council Arlington Public Schools Board of Directors Skagit Regional Health (PHD#1, Skagit County) Board of Commissioners Stilly Valley Health (PHD#3, Snohomish County) Board of Commissioners Monday March 29th, 2021 Conducted in Zoom format and streamed on the City of Arlington’s YouTube channel. Arlington City Council, Arlington Public Schools Board of Directors, Skagit Regional Health (PHD#1, Skagit County) Board of Commissioners, Stilly Valley Health (PHD #3, Snohomish County) Board of Commissioners held a joint meeting via Zoom to discuss matters of mutual interest. In Attendance: City Of Arlington Council Members: Jesica Stickles, Don Vanney, Debora Nelson, Michele Blythe, Marilyn Oertle, Mike Hopson, and Jan Schuette Mayor: Barb Tolbert City Administrator: Paul Ellis City Attorney: Steve Peiffle Communications Manager: Sarah Lopez Arlington Public Schools Board members: Michael Ray, Judy Fay, Mary Levesque, Marc Rosson Superintendent: Dr. Chrys Sweeting Director of Communications: Gary Sabol Executive Director of Operations: Brian Lewis Skagit Regional Health Commissioners: Julie Blazek, Peter Browning, Bruce Lisser, Dr. Jeffrey Miller, Dale Ragan, Gary Shand Regional VP of Operations: Jola Barnett Director of Marketing and Communications: Kari Ranten President and CEO: Brian Ivie Regional VP and COO: Danny Vera Stilly Valley Health Connections Commissioners: Tim Cavanagh, Tina Davis Superintendent/CEO: Ardis Schmiege Director of Finance: Erika Coghill DocuSign Envelope ID: 04899A28-C8FC-4885-906C-A74450769932 Call to Order Skagit Regional Health hosted the meeting. Jola Barnett called the meeting to order at 6:31 pm and the Pledge of Allegiance followed. Approval of the Agenda Commissioner Gary Shand moved to approve the agenda as presented. Bruce Lisser seconded the motion, which passed unanimously by voice vote. Roll call followed. Working Together Communication representatives from each agency, Kari Ranten, Gary Sabol, Erika Coghill and Sarah Lopez, presented a PowerPoint to share their combined success, as a result of this collaboration. They shared the four agencies working together to navigate through the pandemic. Their focus of developing relationships, and sharing current factual information, while coordinating messaging of pivotal information and resources, held great value and was of benefit to the whole community. Moving forward this group will continue to meet monthly, and include a representative from the Snohomish Health District, to track and communicate vaccine and other COVID-19 information. Group Updates: Arlington Public Schools: Dr. Chrys Sweeting shared a PowerPoint reviewing the Arlington School District’s responses to Covid-19 and how it has gradually brought all grades back, step by step, into the hybrid model following all safety protocols. The district is currently on step five, out of its six step plan. Plans moving forward include: Advancing Academics & Well-Being – Student Recovery Plan, Graduation Activities – Waiver of Certain Graduation Requirements, Summer School Programs and Advancing Programs, and planning toward next fall. Dr. Sweeting shared her thanks to the generous community partners: Arlington Community Food Bank, Stilly Valley Health Connections, Skagit Regional Health, Snohomish Health District, City of Arlington, Stillaguamish Tribe, Snoh. Co. Dept. of Emergency Management. Dr. Sweeting noted that academic grades have been challenging. She also shared that there have been 68 positive Covid cases in the district since March 2020, but with the protocols in place, the spread has been contained to one probably school-exposure case. Some plans for summer school programs include Literacy Camp, Book- Mobile, and Math-Mobile. City Of Arlington: Paul Ellis shared a PowerPoint reflecting on the many ways the City responded to the effects of the pandemic, including financial support. Business Support included: Rent Relief grants totaling $349,360 for 109 businesses. Utility payment grants to businesses, totaling $5600. Established Economic Recovery committee, WSU assistance, Stilly Valley Chamber partnerships, and Shop Local Arlington online website. Restaurant support included outdoor dining areas, website and brochures, right of way permits, and communicated programs and assistance to businesses. Community Organizations and Family Support included a mask mailer to every resident in the City, and approximately 37,000 handmade masks distributed at food bank. $25,000 to Food Bank for expanded service. $150,000 to Arlington Community Resource Center serving 3,393 families. City utility credits for 96 households. $40,000 to Boys and Girls Club –to increase capacity for child care from 90 to 200 youth. Established Snohomish County Job Portal. Skagit Regional Health: Jola Barnett shared a PowerPoint highlighting the recovery efforts, vaccination activities and growth of the organization. SRH has now begun the demobilization planning as they move toward recovery efforts. One year of the pandemic has created hundreds of new policies, procedures and workflows to deal with COVID related issues. Meetings with medical advisors, leaders and other expert DocuSign Envelope ID: 04899A28-C8FC-4885-906C-A74450769932 stakeholders are taking place to determine the triggers or targets at which point certain activities can change. As COVID infection rates continue to decrease in our community, any change in operations will be made with an abundance of caution. The current experience of COVID cases at both hospitals is quite low compared to last summer and particularly over the winter. 76% of the medical staff received Covid vaccinations. Two vaccine clinic locations have given about 34,000 doses total. COVID-19 has had a higher impact on the BIPOC population and a lower rate of vaccination availability. SRH has used data from the state and MyChart to help identify patients who are vulnerable, based on Zip Code, income, language, age and chronic disease, and extending invitations to them to receive vaccine. Last weekend the SRH Leadership helped participate in a vaccination clinic in collaboration with several churches to reach an underserved minority group. Since Feb. 1, vaccines given to the BIPOC population has increased from 13.7 percent to 35.4 percent as a result of this equity work. Growth and Access focus is continuing to improve primary care access in the north Snohomish county region. In November 2020, operations expanded in the Family Medicine practice in Smokey Point, and recruited 7 new providers to support that location. SRH has recruited new practitioners for Arlington Family Medicine, Darrington Family Medicine and the Stanwood and Camano clinics. SRH staff are resilient as they move into the next phase of the pandemic response. The focus is on the safety of patients, staff and community. There are numerous activities to perform to adhere to changing CDC and DOH guidelines and the “new normal” is constantly evolving. The Board and Executive leaders are firmly committed to future growth to serve the needs of the greater Arlington community as part of the Skagit Regional Health family. The community partnerships are invaluable on this journey, and Jola took a moment to thank all for being with each other every step of the way. Stilly Valley Health Connections: Ardis Schmiege reported most of programs and community presentations were in person until the pandemic hit, and were stopped with the exception of the school counseling programs. The school counseling program shifted to counseling the students via teleheath, with the exception of Darrington which was either via telehealth or via phone. The major focus in 2020 was to complete the renovation and move into their new building in Smokey Point. Hopefully in Phase 3, they will be able to bring some services back in small groups and activities. Most partners are now better able to provide classes and educational activates online. They have held some cooking and nutritional classes. Presentations this spring also included a diabetes living well class in collaboration with Verdant and Hospice educational services online. With schools back in session, the counselors have been able to come back to seeing students face to face and it has made a tremendous difference. They are looking at expanding mental health services for suicide prevention, including providing training for families and the community. They are presenting a Zoom presentation, “Ending the Silence”, on April 14th in partnership with King County NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). This presentation focuses on signs and symptoms and early warning signs of youth mental health issues. Register on their website, www.stillyvalleyhealth.org. They will be looking at opening the new building to the community, bringing back their educational series and support groups in person, and celebrating with an open house as soon as allowed. Activity Paul Ellis, Chrys Sweeting, Jola Barnett, Ardis Schmiege, Gary Sabol, and Brian Lewis led participants in breakout discussions for about 10 minutes. The focus was on three questions: What would we like to see in the future? What lessons did we learn that we can make improvements on? Where do we go from here? After the breakout session, the group rejoined and each facilitator shared the highlights from their group. Common ideas included: continue to collaborate and coordinate communication and messaging between the different entities, look at growth, emergency preparedness and management, focus on equity and cultural responsiveness, mental health, encourage outdoor activities, public engagement, look at increased access to the internet. DocuSign Envelope ID: 04899A28-C8FC-4885-906C-A74450769932 General Announcements: Jola Barnett appreciated the attendance and the flexibility of the attendees to stay a little longer. The next meeting will be November 29, 2021, hosted by Arlington Public Schools. Adjournment With no further business to come before the group, the meeting was adjourned at 7:42pm. ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Ms. Barbara Tolbert, Mayor Dr. Chrys Sweeting, Superintendent City of Arlington Arlington Public Schools ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Mr. Gary Shand, Board Secretary Ms. Judy Fay, President Skagit County Public Hospital District No. 1 Arlington Public Schools Board of Commissioners Board of Directors ___________________________________________ Ms. Jennifer Mullin, Board Secretary Snohomish County Public Hospital District No. 3 Board of Commissioners DocuSign Envelope ID: 04899A28-C8FC-4885-906C-A74450769932