Douglas Public Health Network

Modernization: Public Health modernization is a program funded by the state of Oregon Health authority through the Public Health division. Public Health modernization efforts at dphn fall into four general categories with a universal goal of improving the Health of the community. These categories are: 1) communicable disease and immunization education; 2) Health equity & access to Health services; 3) emergency and all hazard preparedness; 4) Health promotion and disease prevention. Cross-sector collaboration, community capacity building and diversity, equity and inclusion (dei) are key guiding principles across all four categories of work. Efforts span from individuals to families, communities and organizations.

Tobacco prevention and education: oregons tobacco prevention and education program (tpep) was launched in 1997 with a clear and simple mandate to reduce tobacco-related illness and death. Since its inception, tpep has been a comprehensive program addressing the issues of tobacco use; and oregons anti-tobacco efforts are saving lives and money. Current efforts focus on youth vaping prevention, and reducing smoking in pregnancy.

Communicable disease: disease prevention and control is a cooperative effort involving Health care providers, local and state Health department personnel and members of the community. The communicable disease program at dphn works to prevent the emergence and spread of communicable diseases through investigation and education. This includes collecting and analyzing disease reports, studying risk factors, protecting exposed individuals and families, developing guidelines for disease prevention and control, and planning and responding to Public Health emergencies involving communicable diseases.

Covid-19: collaborate with local and regional partners to assure adequate culturally and linguistically responsive covid-19 testing is available and contact tracing and case investigation is conducted to limit the spread of covid. Support people who are in isolation/quarantine with basic resources to support successful isolation/quarantine. Convene and collaborate with local and regional partners to assure access to covid vaccine. Overdose prevention: Douglas Public Health Network receives funding from the Oregon Health authority (oha) to improve local prevention and response to opioid and other drug overdoses. This funding is part of oregons overdose data to action (od2a) funding from the centers for disease control & prevention (cdc), Oregon state opioid response funding from the substance abuse and mental Health services administration (samhsa) and ohas injury prevention program. Overdose prevention has been focusing efforts on fentanyl awareness, & narcan distribution to prevent fentanyl deaths. Emergency preparedness:dphn works with emergency management, local ems, healthcare organizations and other agencies across our county to provide preparedness education, identify community needs, and maximize existing preparedness resources and networks. Phepr works with local, regional, and state partners to improve preparedness and response capabilities in Douglas county. Much of the phepr work has been concentrated on pandemic response and the effects of wildland fire on communities. Immunizations: immunization services are provided to the community to prevent and mitigate vaccine-preventable diseases for all people by reaching and maintaining high lifetime immunization rates. Services include Public education, enforcement of school immunization requirements, and technical assistance for healthcare providers that provide vaccines to their patients.