Insights & News
Health Insights are designed to deepen our Coalition’s understanding of specific issues that affect our community’s health, and engage our Coalition as participants, partners, and strategists in solutions. All Health Insights address one or more of the social determinants that affect the health of people in our Okanogan County community and are written by members of our community health network.
Latest News
Okanogan CHI meetings every last Thursdsay, 12 to 2pm. Get in touch to join!
[Video 2/29/24 CHI Mtg] Legislation and Community Health
Hear CHI members talk about new legislation from Olympia that could influence our CHI members’ work and the health of our Okanogan community.
CHI members came together to talk about new legislation being discussed in Olympia that could influence our CHI members’ work and the health of our Okanogan community.
Click below to hear from local leaders about action in childcare and early learning, housing, healthcare capacity and workforce, mental health, and substance use and more.
[Video 6/29 CHI Mtg ] Senator Short & Learning Abt the Blake Bill
Check out a recording of 7th District Senator Shelly Short about this year's legislation and how it could influence Okanogan County community health.
Part 2 focuses on specific substance use legislation that was updated this year and how those changes have influenced our community's substance use approach and resources.
At the June CHI meeting, our local Senator, Shelly Short joined the Okanogan CHI to talk about actions in the 2023 legislative session that could influence health in Okanogan County. Check out the video below.
Community health issues are complex, our CHI Team shared about the framework of Clock vs Cloud solutions to support our network in thinking about big legislative changes like the Blake Bill.
Learn about the Blake Bill, passed in 2021 and amended in 2023, and how it influences criminal penalties for drug use and funding for direct services. Dr. Caleb Banta-Green from the University of Washington.
Stepping up Crisis Response Systems
Over 50% of calls to 911 in Okanogan County are non-criminal. These calls are often connected to bigger community health issues like substance use, homelessness, and mental health, and the resources our community members in crisis need often expand beyond law enforcement.
Responding to the call for solutions to this growing challenge, partners across the county are coming together and working toward innovative crisis programs, new collaborations, and better crisis systems.
Over 50% of calls to 911 in Okanogan County are non-criminal. These calls are often connected to bigger community health issues like substance use, homelessness, and mental health, and the resources our community members in crisis need often expand beyond law enforcement.
This longstanding challenge in our county has become even more pressing this past year. Responding to the call for solutions to this growing challenge, partners across the county, from law enforcement and mental health to addiction services and social work, are coming together and working toward innovative crisis programs, new collaborations, and better crisis systems.
On Dec. 8th, community partners spoke to the challenges in our crisis response systems, the way partners are stepping up, and how your organization can both utilize new resources on the table and contribute to future solutions.
Watch the video below to hear about new 24/7 recovery programming, a new mobile mental health crisis team, Omak PD's new social worker, the 'Crisis Response Collaborative' and more.
