Yesterday morning, a packed audience was treated to a lengthy — and I mean lengthy — discussion about broadband connections yesterday morning, during which a group of broadband proponents urged the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners to dedicate $500,000 in county funding to a collaborative, $4 million fiber optic project along Highway 151 in the southwest corner of Archuleta County.
Most of the packed audience had not come to hear this broadband discussion, however, but rather, to witness a “New Vision” related to public health.
Four presenters — Shalene Zarate, Marybeth Snyder, Kathryn Ridenhour and Dwight Vilhauer — discussed four key reasons why, in their opinions, Archuleta County ought to separate itself from San Juan Basin Health District, the local health district formed jointly by Archuleta County and La Plata County back in 1947, a year when SJBPH administered over 1,000 vaccines to local schoolchildren for diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and smallpox. The following year, SJBPH began the task of inspecting restaurants, dairy barns and milk processing plants.
During the succeeding 74 years, the populations of the two counties had grown — from about 15,000 to about 56,000 in La Plata County, and from about 3,000 to about 14,000 in Archuleta County — and the scope of services expected of SJBPH had also changed.
From the SJBPH website:
The programs and services provided by SJBPH reflect both the traditional public health needs such as immunizations and restaurant inspections, as well as those in response to the modern-day health challenges such as positive youth development and suicide prevention programs.
In particular, the expected services had changed drastically starting in March 2020. From their website, dated March 17, 2022:
With Archuleta and La Plata counties both in level ‘Low’ according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels, and statewide cases trending similarly downward, the State of Colorado has indicated that state-sponsored community testing and vaccination sites will be phased out of local communities in the coming months.
The community vaccination site at the Old Main Post Office in Durango will close on March 31. Other local community vaccination clinics will continue through at least the end of April. In La Plata County, 77% of eligible residents have received at least one dose and 70% are fully immunized. In Archuleta County, 69% of eligible residents have received at last one dose and 63% are fully immunized.
At the BOCC work session, Mr. Vilhauer began with an expression of concern:
“We’re here to day because we know we have a common concern, and that is, for the health of everyone in the community. That is one thing we all share. Primarily, our purpose and goal today is this: to encourage you to do something that I know you’ve already talked about — to complete the [Health District Investigative Committee’s] work, by forming perhaps a smaller task force, to look at areas where they hadn’t completed their work, to do a cost analysis for forming our own county health department.”
The presentation and discussion continued for the next hour and 30 minutes.
The 2021 Health District Investigative Committee had been charged with a very broad mandate — perhaps, too broad? — to look at how other single-county health districts operate in Colorado, what it might cost to form an independent health department, what services SJBPH provides in each of the two counties, which of the two community the SJBPH employees live in, how the SJBPH Board of Health operates, how Board bylaws might be amended, how communications could be improved…
After five months of research, the volunteer committee was unable to make a definite recommendation about ‘staying or leaving’. At that point, the BOCC seemed to accept the idea that ‘leaving’ might be a bigger task than anyone wanted to take on, and the commissioners began to focus on how to best communicate the BOCC’s desires to the SJBPH Board of Health, and how to improve overall transparency and communications.
The four presenters on Tuesday morning came from a different perspective. The four presenters were offering themselves as a small committee of volunteers who could figure out, on behalf of the commissioners, the best way for Archuleta County to divorce itself from SJBPH.
Kathryn Ridenhour spoke at some length about Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, and zinc supplements, and questioned why SJBPH had focused exclusively on poorly tested vaccines during the height of the COVID crisis, when other treatments and preventative regimens were available. She also addressed public health programs that she believes are not offered in Archuleta County.
Marybeth Snyder spoke about improving options for outpatient and home-based care, and emergency preparedness. She also touched on the demographic differences between the two counties.
Shalene Zarate addressed the difficulties that she experienced, during COVID, communicating with the officials at SJBPH. She also referred to last week’s presentation by SJBPH Executive Director Liane Jollon, which included a discussion about health care workers who have felt harassed and threatened during the COVID crisis.
Here’s a sample slide from Ms. Jollon’s presentation, last week.
Ms. Zarate, speaking yesterday, suggested that the harassment door swung both ways during COVID.
“I would love to see a survey, asking the public if they feel safe, or if they trust the medical establishment now. I bet many citizens feel just as bullied and ostracized as the health care workers do. We’ve all be subjected to coercion and dishonesty…”
Mr. Vilhauer tackled the political side of the argument, from a clearly right-wing, ‘Constitutional’ perspective. For example:
“We are all obligated, as Americans, to challenge whatever is unlawful, or whatever is in violation of constitutional rights that are God-given rights, when we see that happening. Our own health department and health board can act independently, and can act, say, in concert with other counties that have similar concerns to us, when things like this happen… just as states do, in banding together to challenge federal laws that they feel are unconstitutional. We have an obligation as individual citizens, as commissioners, as people in this county, to do the same thing, when we perceive that rights are being violated — that are God-given, and should not be taken away under any circumstances…
“Where will we be, if we see statutes that we’re not comfortable with now, and we leave them unchallenged in our state, and we see other statutes that are passed, perhaps on ‘gender equality’ — perhaps related to primary education, from kindergarten up through 3rd grade, and statutes come into existence that say we need to have gender education, and transgender education to these young children. Are we just going to sit by and say, just because it’s a statute, we can’t challenge it in any way?
“A health board has a responsibility to look at, and see how things like that can affect the children in its community, and have an adverse effect. And challenge it, legally, when necessary… and the sharing of female bathroom facilities, and problems that have come up with that, in various states throughout our country…”
Mr. Vilhauer is apparently distressed by the idea that San Juan Basin Public Health would feel obligated to follow Colorado laws, and would refuse to challenge the laws that Mr. Vilhauer views as violating ‘God-given’ rights.
Ms. Synder told the commissioners that resources are available to a county that decides to form its own health department, and she assured the commissioners that volunteers are willing to step forward to help with the process. Ms. Ridenhour indicated that this particular group of four volunteers would be willing to serve as the ‘Phase II’ investigative committee.
Ms. Zarate summed things up:
“I hope this was one of many conversations, and I think that we can all agree that you guys care. You show up to work every day, to work for us. And we care; we showed up here. We all care. So let’s do what’s the best for our community…”
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.