Carson City Health and Human Services: A year in review

This column appears in the Nevada Appeal Tuesday health pages. It addresses topics related to the health of our community.

The end of the year is a common time for people to think about what has happened over the past 12 months and to set goals for the upcoming year. The staff at Carson City Health and Human Services, your health department, has taken some time to think about our successes in 2017. Below are a few of the highlights of what we have accomplished this year.

Human Services

CCHHS strengthened partnerships with Nevada State Welfare Division, Aging Disability Resource Center and Financial Guidance Center offering their services on site for Medicaid and SNAP applications, resources for homebound individuals, and financial planning/credit building.

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provided nutrition education and issued benefits to 11,419 recipients in Carson City and Douglas County. WIC has implemented a paperless database/case management system.

The housing program rehoused and stabilized 39 households and provided one time assistance to 36 households through grant programs. CCHHS is the coordinated entry agency for Carson City and conducted 92 assessments for homeless persons and assisted 37 in obtaining vouchers through Nevada Rural Housing Authority. In general, 811 individuals sought assistance at CCHHS; 176 households received a direct service; 194 households were given a case plan; and 1,781 outside referrals were made.

The CCHHS Workforce Program continues to work with the unemployed and underemployed. The Workforce Program has expanded to employment retention and life skill training. Additionally, CHHS has implemented a Community Health Worker (CHW) program. The CHW works with the community on discharge planning and as a liaison between individuals and medical providers to ensure continuity of care.

Clinic Services

Clinical Services continued to collaborate with the Carson City School District and Chief School Nurse to be sure students had received all required vaccines before school entry. Extra vaccination hours and coordination with the schools assisted with same day vaccinations. In the last three months of 2017, we initiated the direct transmission of vaccinations from our electronic medical record into the Nevada State Immunization registry. By providing specific identifying information when receiving vaccinations, individuals and parents can securely access an official immunization record by visiting the Nevada WebIZ Public Access Portal at izrecord.nv.gov.

Disease Control and Prevention

CCHHS Environmental Health and Epidemiology staff attended Epi-Ready training. This training enhanced their skills to respond to a food borne illness outbreak.

Chronic Disease

The Tobacco Control and Prevention program has assisted Western Nevada College with becoming the first community college in Nevada to go Tobacco Free. The program has also assisted some of our local multi-unit housing properties with developing smoke-free policies. Carson City now has more than 900 apartments that are smoke free. More than 500 high school students have been educated on tobacco harm and emerging tobacco products. We continue to work with healthcare providers to complete brief intervention and referral to cessation resources (Nevada Tobacco Quitline) for their patients. The Diabetes Prevention program has also reached several healthcare providers with education on certified referral sources for those with pre-diabetes and diabetes.

Public Health Preparedness

In 2017, Preparedness staff gave more than 5,000 flu shots to people within our community including seniors and children. We also updated several of our emergency plans to prepare to serve our whole community during an emergency, including those who use durable medical equipment and those with access and functional needs. Throughout the year, we have also participated in numerous community events including National Night Out, Epic Rides, and the opening of the new I-580 freeway extension, to educate our residents about how to be better prepared for an emergency. Finally, we have been developing the Western Nevada Medical Reserve Corps (MRC), by adding community volunteers who are interested in helping during an emergency. If you are interested in learning more about the Western Nevada MRC, please call (775) 887-2190.

For information about services and programs available to you, through Carson City Health and Human Services, please visit our website at gethealthycarsoncity.org, follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/cchhs, or call us at(775) 887-2190. You can also find us at 900 East Long St, in Carson City.