Subscribe to the RSS feed.Coos County Non-Profit Cushions Blow to Public Health
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CHP | Posted on: August 12th, 2009
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Public health agencies across the state could learn something from the bootstrap efforts in Coos County.
BY DAVID ROSENFELD – Special Correspondent to Community Health Priorities
These days, county public health agencies throughout Oregon are strapped, especially in rural counties hit hardest by last year’s loss in dedicated federal timber revenues.
There couldn’t be a starker sign of the times than in Coos County where volunteers collect spare change for childhood immunizations. It’s just one of the ways a local non-profit group since last year raised close to $10,000 for the county health department. The funds plugged holes in key services and kept Coos County commissioners from relinquishing public health services to the state.
Now, officials across Oregon and perhaps the country are paying attention to this rural coastal county with the thought of possibly creating a similar non-profit in their community, modeled after Friends of the Library, to educate the general public and raise money for the health department.
“We just thought it was a great idea,” said Frances Smith, Coos County Public Health administrator.
When the idea to start a non-profit came to Smith, who formerly worked for Eugene Public Library, and Molly Ford, a retired public health educator, the idea made perfect sense. They called the new organization, for which Ford serves as president, Coos County Friends of Public Health.
Teaming with a non-profit has immediate advantages. “There are groups such as local service clubs with funds to give out but they are limited to giving them to non-profit 501(c)3 organizations,” Smith said. “I have been trying to argue that a government-run health department is also a non-profit — but it’s a public non-profit.”
Forming a non-profit made the connection much easier. The group accepted $5,000 from the Bay Area Rotary club for children with special needs, $1,500 from the Zona Club of Coos Bay to buy 400 dental kits for pregnant women. It also received a $3,000 grant from the Northwest Health Foundation to pay for the process of gaining non-profit, tax exempt status.
The idea to use a non-profit to support a public health agency is surprisingly novel. No other county in Oregon has a similar arrangement. Ford said she found just one other example nationwide.
“I know how important the work is that the county health department does,” said Ford who worked for the health department for many years. “The department now is strapped in communicable disease investigation. They have one nurse in Coos County who can be tied up for days with a couple different cases. People don’t realize how busy they are, and then the swine flu comes around.”
In 2006, the last year public health was funded with timber revenues, Coos County reduced spending almost in half on public health from $600,000 per year down to $375,000 this year. The health department in turn reduced staffing from 41 employees down to 29 today.
Over the same period, the health department’s total budget based predominantly on state and federal funding dropped by nearly 30 percent, from $3.2 million to $2.2 million. This year, Smith budgeted less for a part-time position for communicable diseases such as swine flu. The county so far received $10,000 in stimulus funds to prepare, but more would go a long way further.
“This worries me,” Smith said. “I do not have enough staff or funds to respond. We were maxed out this past spring just with answering questions from the public, other agencies, and the media. And we didn’t even have a confirmed case.”
Over in Josephine County, the situation is about the same. “We are bare minimum, basic mandates,” said Belle Shepherd, public health director.
Shepherd also serves as vice chair of the Conference of Local Health Officials, where efforts in Coos County often get discussed. So far, no other county has said they will copy the idea, but several administrators – including Shepherd – say they’re interested.
“The biggest problem we have in public health is telling people what we do,” Shepherd said. “Part of it is about fundraising. This seems to be a wonderful way to get out the message about what public health does.”
But Shepherd doesn’t have the time to organize a non-profit in her community, an effort that really needs motivated community volunteers. The idea too could face pushback from those who feel their tax dollars alone should pay for public services, she said.
“If it’s a mandate, the county feels the state or federal government should pay for it, so the county and the community don’t feel they should step up,” Belle said.
Ford and members of Coos County Friends of Public Health thought the community should step up last year and increase taxes to restore vital services. A ballot initiative in November 2008 failed with just 31 percent voting ‘yes’ and 68 percent voting ‘no.’
Although the measure didn’t pass, the campaign helped educate people about the needs of public health programs.
Ford said it was a good experience that taught the group to start campaigning and raising money earlier.
“We knew we were really up against the odds with this one,” she said, considering the country was at the height of the recession and the relatively conservative community is generally averse to increasing taxes.
Coos County Commissioner Kevin Stufflebean looks on the bright side. “It was supported by more voters than any other ballot initiative last year,” he said.
He tipped his hat to the non-profit. “We’re just hanging on a shoestring. Had it not been for their help and support we would have been in severe trouble last year.”
While Stufflebean doesn’t see how the county can restore its previous level of funding, he said efforts by the group helped to advance the issue among state and local leaders as well as the general public.
“You hear how important healthcare is,” Stufflebean said. “But you don’t hear anybody talking about the public health system, which is an essential backbone to individuals in poverty.”
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My wife joined the Friends non-profit following its creation. During the first year she involved me as a volunteer (I subsequently joined the Friends via a family membership). Most of these efforts have been assisting the operation of the Coos County Public Health booth at various community activities.
The booth has provided PH information, as well as seeking citizens to begin to collect their spare change for donations to the support of the child immunization and WIC programs. Just the presence of Coos County Public Health at such events has been beneficial in terms of increasing public awareness.
Among the events where the PH presence has been demonstrated are the Blackberry and Fun Festivals, the Coos County Fair, community health fairs, Senior Resource displays, and programs designed for parents and children. Each event has provided another avenue for getting the message out.