Category Archives: Health

Articles, Crime, Health

Healthcare District Is Investigating Allegations That Sutter Coast ER Doctors Are Refusing To Test, Treat Sexual Assault Victims

Leave a comment

Thumbnail photo by Persephone Rose

Editor’s note: The following article includes a reference to the sexual assault of a minor.

Del Norte Healthcare District officials are investigating allegations that Sutter Coast Hospital emergency room doctors have refused to examine sexual assault victims, including those who are minors.

The initial complaint came from Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office Det. Maia Mello, a member of the Sexual Assault Response Team. At the DNHCD’s July 28 meeting, Mello asked the Healthcare District Board to provide the hospital with a “letter of encouragement to follow established federal and state law, locally established and agreed upon protocols and the best practices in the treatment of victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.”

“Sutter Coast is the best place for our victims to receive treatment for their acute injuries and conditions,” she said, according to meeting minutes for July. 

Continue reading Healthcare District Is Investigating Allegations That Sutter Coast ER Doctors Are Refusing To Test, Treat Sexual Assault Victims →
Articles, Health, Housing

Last Week’s DNSO Operation To Get Waldo Area Homeless To Move On Raises Questions; Advocates Say It Came On Short Notice

Leave a comment

Thumbnail photo: Unhoused people living in Waldo area encampments were told to pack their belongings and move along during a Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office operation on Oct. 2. The DNSO went to the area with Behavioral Health Branch staff and Del Norte Mission Possible representatives. | submitted photo

Del Norte County Sheriff’s Capt. Melanie Currie said an operation last week to urge people living in the encampments near Waldo Street to move along wasn’t about kicking them out.

Deputies didn’t arrest anyone on Oct. 2, she said. They arrived with the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office chaplain, specialists with the Behavioral Health Branch and Daphne Lambert, Del Norte Mission Possible’s director of homeless services. The intent, Currie said, was to offer services and get people help.

“Daphne came out with a truck and we were helping people call family members that could come and help them pack,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “Daphne was offering totes for people to put their belongings in and transportation, the same with Behavioral Health.”

Continue reading Last Week’s DNSO Operation To Get Waldo Area Homeless To Move On Raises Questions; Advocates Say It Came On Short Notice →
Articles, Community News, Crescent City, Health, Youth

A Milestone for Del Norte Public Health: DNPH Hosts Its 30th Annual Community Health Fair

Leave a comment
Group Photo from the 29th Annual Del Norte Community Health Fair | Photo courtesy of Del Norte Public Health via Facebook

Del Norte County Public Health is bringing the community and its partners together for its 30th Annual Community Health Fair on Saturday.

K through I Streets and 3rd Street will be blocked off from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for organizations and their booths. The plaza between the Del Norte County Library and Price Mall will host kids’ activities.

According to Anna Porter, a Del Norte Public Health Office Technician, a variety of services and support will be offered at the health fair. 

Continue reading A Milestone for Del Norte Public Health: DNPH Hosts Its 30th Annual Community Health Fair →
Articles, Community News, Economy, Education, Health, Tribal Affairs, Youth

Klamath Promise Neighborhood Brought $30 Million to Del Norte and Tribal Lands, But Also Had Its Challenges

Leave a comment

Team TACOCAT, a collaboration between Rx Safe Del Norte and KFUG Community Radio, was one of the local programs that received Klamath Promise Neighborhood support. | Photo courtesy of KFUG Community Radio

Editor’s Note: KFUG Community Radio and Redwood Voice Community News are recipients of Klamath Promise Neighborhood funding. Redwood Voice also has its origins through Building Healthy Communities.

Achieving Promise Neighborhood status for Klamath was a long shot in 2021.

Alison Ramsay and Kevin Malone had to find, and convince, a local agency to take the lead, get partners together to sign memorandums of understanding and write a proposal. 

Ramsay knew what she was getting into — she wrote two successful Promise Neighborhood grants in San Diego. Normally organizations get four to five months, she said. 

Two years after relocating to Del Norte at the invitation of Terry Supahan, executive director of True North Organizing Network, Ramsay and Malone said they noticed that the community lacked a comprehensive youth-serving organization. 

Continue reading Klamath Promise Neighborhood Brought $30 Million to Del Norte and Tribal Lands, But Also Had Its Challenges →
Articles, Health, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, Aug. 25, 2026

Leave a comment

Among the items discussed at Tuesday’s Del Norte County Board of Supervisors meeting:

California Automated Response and Engagement System: County supervisors received an advocacy letter from the Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services to state legislators concerning the launch of the Child Welfare Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES).

According to a staff report from DHHS Director Ranell Brown, the County Welfare Directors Association asked the department to weigh in on the issue. The project is expected to go launch on Oct. 26, according to Brown’s letter to Assembly members Jesse Gabriel and Corey Jackson and State Senators John Laird and Carolin Menjivar.

Continue reading Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, Aug. 25, 2026 →
Articles, Community News, Health

North Coast Rape Crisis Team To Move To New Location

Leave a comment

Thumbnail photo: Courtesy of the North Coast Rape Crisis Team

It took nearly nine months, but Amanda LeBlanc says she may have found a new home for the North Coast Rape Crisis Team’s Del Norte office.

LeBlanc, the nonprofit’s executive director, said her team reached out to their community partners and local realtors trying to find a new commercial space to lease. She looked at a space that may serve her team’s needs on Friday, but will need help to turn it into a safe space for children and adult survivors of sexual assault.

“I’m waiting for the final yes it’s yours, but what we will need help with absolutely are the construction costs because you’re not allowed to use state or federal grant moneys for construction,” LeBlanc told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday. “All of that is going to have to come out of general funds, which is unrestricted funds from individual donors or foundations or from our partners and, perhaps, the community in order to get it set up.”

Continue reading North Coast Rape Crisis Team To Move To New Location →
Articles, Community News, Health, Housing, Local Government

‘A Warm Dry Bed’: Del Norte Opens Its Emergency Homeless Shelter, Micro Village

Leave a comment
Del Norte County celebrated the opening of its first emergency homeless shelter and micro village on June 9. | Photos by Aisling Bludworth

From the ashes of the old mental health building the emergency shelter and micro village was revealed to the public last week.

Community members came to celebrate the hard work that brought it to fruition.

“It’s really not every day that your career comes full circle, and you literally find yourself helping make plans to burn down your [old] office.” said Shiann Hogan, deputy director for Del Norte County’s Behavioral Health Branch during the June 17 ribbon cutting at the facility on 200 Williams Drive. 

Continue reading ‘A Warm Dry Bed’: Del Norte Opens Its Emergency Homeless Shelter, Micro Village →
Articles, Community News, Health, Housing, Infrastructure

Del Norte To Cut The Ribbon On Long-Awaited Emergency Shelter, Micro Village

Leave a comment

Thumbnail image courtesy of the Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services

Ranell Brown says she’s expecting a large turnout to cut the ribbon at Del Norte County’s new emergency shelter and micro village on Wednesday.

The result of a collaboration with the county, Del Norte Mission Possible and True North Organizing Network, the shelter’s grand opening comes about a year after the Point in Time Count identified 482 individuals as homeless, according to a Department of Health and Human Services press release.

The campus needs a handful of finishing touches, but Brown, who directs DHHS, said the shelter will begin accepting clients within 30 days of the ribbon cutting.

Continue reading Del Norte To Cut The Ribbon On Long-Awaited Emergency Shelter, Micro Village →
Articles, Health, Local Government

Del Norte DHHS Nets $33 Million State Grant For Behavioral Health Campus

Leave a comment

Thumbnail: This conceptual comparison of a new Behavioral Health Campus versus the current Behavioral Health Branch facility was included in the county’s grant application for BHCIP dollars. | Image courtesy of District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey

Shiann Hogan sees many possibilities for Del Norte County’s new Behavioral Health Campus, but one thing it won’t be is a locked facility.

The deputy director for the county Behavioral Health Branch says the new facility will allow for expanded substance abuse and mental health programming. There will be a new sobering center and a mental health crisis respite center and the facility will complement the new EmPATH unit Sutter Coast Hospital is developing.

But those will be voluntary services, Hogan told Redwood Voice Community News on May 11. 

Continue reading Del Norte DHHS Nets $33 Million State Grant For Behavioral Health Campus →
Articles, Health, Local Government

Del Norte Joins CSAC, Other Counties In Seeking State Funding Ahead of ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Implementation

Leave a comment

Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz

Del Norte is joining a statewide effort that seeks to shield counties from the “health and human services tsunami” that’s coming with the implementation of H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

In an April 14 letter conveying a “multi-year countywide H.R. budget request” to state lawmakers, county supervisors stated that California counties may see an impact of between $6 billion and $9.5 billion due to the federal legislation.

The demand for indigent care is expected to increase, which will force counties to expand their workforce, according to the letter. H.R. 1 will also strain other safety net programs due to people losing access to MediCal as a result. 

But there are so many parts, it’s unclear how much of an impact Del Norte County itself will feel.

Continue reading Del Norte Joins CSAC, Other Counties In Seeking State Funding Ahead of ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Implementation →