Category Archives: Health

Articles, Education, Health, Youth

Del Norte’s School Wellness Guide Prompts Discussion Over Birthday Parties, Cupcakes, and Equity

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Thumbnail photo: Fish tacos were on the menu for Del Norte High School students in this file photo from last year. Julie Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of nutrition services, presented an updated wellness policy and guide to the DNUSD Board of Trustees last week. | Photo courtesy of Josh Mims

Julie Bjorkstrand’s attempt to clear up confusion surrounding a wellness policy and accompanying guide turned into a plea for community involvement after questions about classroom birthday parties, cupcakes, pizza and other treats persisted.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires school districts participating in the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs to adopt a school wellness policy. Such policies are required to include guidelines that set nutrition standards around food and drink sold or provided to students on campus during the school day. 

Treats for classroom parties fall into the latter category, said Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of Nutrition Services, but it doesn’t mean having to give them up entirely.

Continue reading Del Norte’s School Wellness Guide Prompts Discussion Over Birthday Parties, Cupcakes, and Equity →
Activism, Articles, Crescent City, Education, Health, Youth

Del Norte DHHS Walk for Mental Health Awareness; Board of Supes Proclaim May as Mental Health Awareness Month

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It was a peaceful spring morning when staff, clients, and friends of Del Norte Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) walked down Pacific Avenue to the Flynn Center to receive a proclamation for Mental Health Awareness. On May 13, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors proclaimed May as Mental Health Awareness Month, with the aim to ”raise awareness and understanding of Mental Health and to increase access to Mental Health services by offering hope to those in need.”

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Articles, Health, In Media Res, Youth

Del Norte’s Drug Problem

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I recently accepted an invitation from Jermaine Brubaker to join Rx Safe Del Norte Coalition’s quarterly call. During the call, Michelle Greene from the Del Norte County Coroner’s Office presented opioid overdose data that challenged many of my own misconceptions. 

Del Norte’s Drug Problem –  2024 By the Numbers:

  • 198: calls to emergency services for suspected overdose 
  • 65: times Naloxone was administered to reverse a suspected overdose
  • 24: drug-related deaths in Del Norte County
Continue reading Del Norte’s Drug Problem →
Articles, Health

Sutter Coast Hospital To Break Ground On EmPATH Unit Next Month

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Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose

Nearly six months after Del Norte County rolled out its new Providing Access to Hope program, Behavioral Health Director Shiann Hogan briefly mentioned Sutter Coast Hospital’s new EmPATH unit.

Hogan had brought her staff and the clients they serve before the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to commemorate May as Mental Health Awareness Month. In addition to thanking her team — “the ones doing the daily work to improve lives” — Hogan said the hospital’s latest development is one of several new treatment options that will be available on the North Coast.

“Yesterday it was announced by the governor many projects that are going to be funded through the Prop 1 BCHIP funds,” she said, referring to the Proposition 1 Bond Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program.

Continue reading Sutter Coast Hospital To Break Ground On EmPATH Unit Next Month →
Articles, Health, Youth

Meeting New Medi-Cal Requirements For Incarcerated Youth Is Challenging Even With A $1.5 Million Grant, Del Norte’s Chief Probation Officer Says

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Though his office was awarded a $1.5 million grant that will allow youth in their care to either connect or reconnect with Medi-Cal upon release from a detention facility, Lonnie Reyman isn’t thrilled.

Reyman, Del Norte County’s chief probation officer, told supervisors on Tuesday that he’ll likely use the CalAIM PATH 3 grant to hire a consultant to help create a plan for implementing the state-mandated program. But having to suddenly navigate the nuances of the “healthcare world” while relying on technical assistance from those who are also still figuring the program out is irritating, he said.

Reyman used a conversation he had during an October technical assistance call with teams from the University of California, Davis who, he said, were working with the state to help guide him and other counties through the program.

Continue reading Meeting New Medi-Cal Requirements For Incarcerated Youth Is Challenging Even With A $1.5 Million Grant, Del Norte’s Chief Probation Officer Says →
Articles, Community News, Health

Funding Challenges, Uncertainty Persist For Del Norte Senior Nutrition, Energy Assistance Programs

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Charlaine Mazzei acknowledged the truth in a statement Chris Howard made at the last Board of Supervisors meeting: There’s no word yet on whether the Del Norte Senior Center will get the federal dollars it needs to feed more than 800 individuals.

But during a conversation with Redwood Voice Community News last week, Mazzei, the senior center’s executive director, added a couple of caveats. One, things change every day, and two, the Area 1 Agency on Aging will contribute $96,000 to the program.

“That’s going to help a lot, but it really is kind of patching things together because we have no clue when the state is going to do anything with the CDBG,” she said. “They kind of do things in their own time. We can’t reliably say, as of this date, we’re going to have funding.”

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Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Health

‘We Need To Hear From People In Our Community’

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Thumbnail photo: Courtesy of the North Coast Rape Crisis Team

Amanda LeBlanc issued a call to action last week.

Appearing before the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, the executive director of the North Coast Rape Crisis Team accepted a proclamation declaring April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. But with a $500,000 grant that pays for five sexual-assault response team nurses in Del Norte County at the mercy of the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze, LeBlanc urged local elected officials and other Del Norters to reach out to their state and national representatives.

“We’ve been told by our lobbying agencies that they are really sick of hearing from us because they understand that we like our jobs and we would like the funding,” she said. “We need to hear from people in our community who are not directly affected by these funds.”

Continue reading ‘We Need To Hear From People In Our Community’ →
Articles, Community News, Health, Law

Law Enforcement Leaders Discuss Challenges When Responding To Non-Criminal Mental Health Calls; Del Norte’s PATH Crisis Team Launches With Limited Hours

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Thumbnail photo: Concept art of the Del Norte County’s Providing Access to Hope mobile mental health crisis response van. Above: Supervising Behavioral Health Specialist Mariah Coats and two of PATH’s team members, Certified Peer Support Specialist Ryan Downs and Behavioral health Specialist Aaron Matthess. | Photos courtesy of Shiann Hogan

Del Norte County’s Providing Access to Hope, or PATH, program has responded to 27 calls for help since it launched nearly two months ago.

In a majority of those cases, the staff manning the new mobile mental health crisis unit have helped those individuals come up with a safety plan and have followed up with those folks, Behavioral Health Branch Deputy Director Shiann Hogan told Redwood Voice Community News.

But, while it’s a resource anyone, including law enforcement, can call upon, PATH is currently only available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday due to staffing issues.

Continue reading Law Enforcement Leaders Discuss Challenges When Responding To Non-Criminal Mental Health Calls; Del Norte’s PATH Crisis Team Launches With Limited Hours →
Articles, Community News, Education, Health, Youth

DNUSD Spared From Cuts To USDA School Nutrition Programs

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Thumbnail photo: DNUSD’s Nutrition Services Department fresh fish tacos to Del Norte High School students last year courtesy of the Community Food Council’s Sea-to-Market program. | Photo courtesy of Michael Hawkins

(Updated at 8:27 a.m. to correct an error. Julie Carter Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of nutrition services, will travel to Sacramento as part of the California School Nutrition Association’s legislative action committee.)

Potential changes to a federal program that offers free meals to socio-economically disadvantaged schools will impact 2.4 million Californian students, but those in Del Norte County won’t be among them, according to Julie Carter Bjorkstrand.

Bjorkstrand, Del Norte Unified School District’s director of nutrition services, also said that a $660 million cut to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food For Schools program won’t impact Del Norte schools.

“It’s actually not going to impact us because I didn’t apply for that grant,” she said. “I didn’t like the reporting. They didn’t have it fully fleshed out and so I didn’t feel all that comfortable applying for it.”

Continue reading DNUSD Spared From Cuts To USDA School Nutrition Programs →
Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Education, Health

FRC Showers Moms with Gifts, Resources, and Support

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Video Courtesy of Monique Camarena

Expecting parents were showered with love, gifts, and resources at the Family Resource Center of the Redwoods’ semi-annual Community Baby Shower on March 15. Through the generosity of Crescent City Elks Lodge #1689 and many community partners, moms four months along or further were able to receive free diapers, diaper bags, baby wipes, books, food, information, and much more.

Along with diapers and diaper bags, the Elks Lodge donated car seats, strollers, playpens, and bouncers that would be up for raffle. RE/MAX Real Estate donated beautifully decorated diaper cakes that would also be raffled off.

  • Photos Courtesy of Family Resource Center of the Redwoods via Facebook
  • Photos Courtesy of Family Resource Center of the Redwoods via Facebook
  • Photos Courtesy of Family Resource Center of the Redwoods via Facebook
  • Photos Courtesy of Family Resource Center of the Redwoods via Facebook
Continue reading FRC Showers Moms with Gifts, Resources, and Support →