Coos County Public Health Administrator Frances Smith spoke about the importance of public health awareness during the first meeting of the newly formed nonprofit, Coos County Friends of Public Health, on Jan. 16 at the North Bend Community Center. - World Photo by Jo Rafferty

Its mission: to promote good health in Coos County.

Community members interested in a budding nonprofit organization, Coos County Friends of Public Health, met for the first time last week, with the idea in mind to help county residents become healthier.

Bylaws were adopted, board officers were elected and many in the audience pledged to be members. Board officers elected included Molly Ford, president; Dr. Carla McKelvey, vice president; Dale Helland, treasurer; Sylvia Mangan, membership committee chairwoman; and Dale Schlack, development committee chairman. The board will meet at least monthly, and the organization, yearly, unless the board calls a special meeting. Committees will meet as often as deemed necessary.

Most of the attendees signed up for the organization’s committees. Some board officer and committee head positions are still available. Nominations are still being sought for the board secretary position, as well as chairmen of the communications committee, public education committee and the advocacy committee.

According to organizers, the organization, the first of its kind in Coos County, has been  formed to promote an understanding of the public health needs and the availability of services to address those needs; increase community collaboration and provide public health services; encourage volunteerism; and to generate resources for public health programs, according to information distributed at the meeting. Its slogan is “Working for your well-being.”

Friends of Public Health was the brainchild of Coos County Public Health Administrator Frances Smith, who said she hopes the organization will increase public awareness. It’s often difficult to demonstrate how health education can affect the community, and the devastating situations that can result from a lack of education, she said.

“I think it’s hard to get across that connectedness,” Smith said, using examples, such as; how unplanned pregnancies can lead to neglect, and failure to get childhood immunizations can result in more diseases in adults.

Initial funding for the program will be provided by Northwest Health Foundation in Portland.

“They have said they will pay our filing fee for nonprofit status, which is $900, and pay a consultant to help us set up our organizational structure,” Ford said, adding that the exact amount hasn’t been determined.

Other funding will come through an annual membership dues of $15 for individuals, $25 for families and $50 for businesses; and donations.

Some of the health problems in the county Smith identified during the meeting are the lack of immunizations, a high incidence of chronic disease and the need for more funding for family planning and parent education.

She identified tobacco use as a huge problem in the county, where 46 percent of women in the Coos County Healthy Beginnings program who are tobacco users.

“That’s compared to 12 percent nationwide,” she said.

Other challenges specific to the county are the state’s highest incidence of lung disease, and high rates of diabetes and dental caries.

“I see people die in their 40s and 50s,” Smith said.

In the past year, Smith said the Health Department has handled two active cases of tuberculosis and seven cases of people with a latent form of TB.

“We want to find who the people are who get exposed, so in our community you can go out to a public meeting and not get TB,” Smith said.

In another case in which a child came down with meningococcal disease, the department treated more than 70 people who may have been exposed.

She said 76 people had been checked last year as part of the Breast & Cervical Cancer Prevention Program, which is income-eligible for people with no insurance. What people don’t realize, she said, is that if someone is found to have cancer while in the program, Medicare will pay for treatment.

Promoting knowledge about immunization programs available is a big hurdle, too, she said.

“This can be quite an expense to the family,” she said, acknowledging contributions of programs including the Bay Area Rotary Club’s Shots for Tots and the federal Vaccines for Children Program.

Other immediate problems include the loss of a grant, which resulted in cutting the county prevention program coordinator position and no current funding available for sexually transmitted disease education, such as the Students Today Aren’t Ready for Sex abstinence program for teens, that has been discontinued.

She said the Women, Infants and Children nutritional program served 3,009 of the county’s women and children in 2006 with only four full-time employees and one half-time employee.

Mary-Margaret Stockert, a Coos Bay resident and kindergarten teacher at Madison Elementary School, who worked for the WIC program, said once people enter one program it opens up all the other resources available to them.

“The Health Department is the hub,” she said. “As long as you walk in the door, the system works together.

“You’re touching so many lives,” she told Smith.

North Bend City Manager Jan Willis, who attended the meeting, also praised the new organization.

“I hope this group grows, because it’s really a good cause,” she said.

For more information, those interested can call Coos County Public Health Administrator Frances Smith at 396-3121, ext. 545.