By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
There’s a lot to celebrate in Los Alamos, but as Los Alamos County Council discovered during its March 26 meeting, there also is no shortage of challenges.
County Social Services Division Manager Jessica Strong, in her update on the development of the Comprehensive Health Plan to council, listed some of the challenges the Los Alamos Health Council identified after conducting 200 interviews with various community members as well as some of the immediate actions that can be taken to address these challenges.
These challenges were divided into different social determinants of health: health access and quality, social community context, educational access, economic stability and neighborhoods and built environment.
In looking at each of these determinants, Strong said there are strengths and weaknesses.
She touched briefly on the strengths.
“There are many key strengths in our community … Many people reported on how we have a small and safe community where members look out for each other,” Strong said. “There are many opportunities to participate in free and family friendly events throughout the year. There is a strong sense of safety. It’s safe to walk, it’s safe to play and it’s safe to be out in public. There’s free public transportation, free library system, community arts. Residents are highly educated, and the public schools provide a robust education for the community and despite our size and remote location there is a wide range of medical and mental health resources available in our community.”
Still, Strong said, “Even as we are designated the healthiest county in the country and happiest small town that doesn’t mean that is true for everyone in our community … so how do we make sure we are raising everyone up so everyone can live their healthiest lives?”
Through the interviews, meetings and analyzing the data, she said that seven needs were identified as well short-term actionable steps were addressed. There is a discussion on who will take responsibility for the steps and some budget requests will be presented for council’s approval.
Strong reported that one challenge is making healthcare accessible for everyone. Some solutions include coordinating a community-wide training for physical and mental healthcare providers on diversity, equity, inclusion and trauma. As well as being able to serve those whose first language is not English.
Another need is the lack of coordination among programs and services designed for older adults in the community.
Strong said a recommendation for the short-term is to hire a case coordination position in the County’s Social Services Division that solely handles cases for those older than age 60.
While seniors are struggling, so are young people. She said there are gaps in services and programs to support young people with mental health and substance use needs. Therefore, it is recommended to put in a budget request to expand the continuum of care, programs and services provided by contractors to address gaps like intensive outpatient programs as well as advocate expanding telehealth and video health options. Strong added it is suggested to offer training to mental health providers to build capacity to serve additional client needs. Finally, there is a recommendation to include cost-of-living increases for contracted providers under the Social Services Division to maintain staff stability.
Another need identified by parents and students is to address young people’s social and emotional needs, Strong said. In response, the recommendation is to encourage various agencies to continue and expand on this work. She added ongoing health programs at the schools need to be supported and providers and nonprofits should be worked with to develop a plan to distribute opioid settlement funds.
Strong said another challenge is low-income individuals struggling with the high cost of living in Los Alamos. The suggestion is to increase the Social Services Division’s outreach and expand collaboration with other health councils throughout the state.
It is also a challenge to know where to best find accurate health information, she said. As a result, it is recommended to put together a communication plan, increase outreach of the Los Alamos Health Council and encourage young people to remain connected in health-related groups.
The final identified need is a lack of affordable housing and transportation. Strong said it is recommended to collaborate with other County departments, boards and commissions to shape affordable housing and transportation solutions, participate with regional collaborations to help prioritize expansion and meet development and transportation needs.
The Los Alamos Health Council is heading this project
Health Council Chair Lori Padilla emphasized that education is a big driver for this project.
“I think it important that so much of what the Health Council is trying to do, along with Social Services, is to educate, number one, the Health Council members and number two, the County Council,” Padilla said. “I think these two groups of people need to be included in just educating about what does the Health Council do versus what Social Services do and how do they intersect and interact. And where do we need to push things to the council level that can be pushed to the legislative level.”
Strong said the next steps in developing the comprehensive health plan are to do a community-wide health survey and conduct a data analysis, which is expected to happen in May. Council should see the final plan in six months.
Council weighed in on the challenges and the recommendation short-term solutions.
Councilor Randall Ryti asked about methods to increase the number of mental and physical healthcare providers.
Strong said that has been discussed.
“How do we keep building our community so that there is that culture of caring throughout,” she said.
Related to that, Councilor David Reagor said he felt reaching out to the students to join the Health Council was a great idea.
Councilor Suzie Havemann asked if there were any surprises in the feedback received from the interviews.
Strong said it was surprising that opioids were not mentioned and that transportation barriers were identified. She explained that it assumed that either everyone has a car or can easily access the County’s public transportation.
Members of the community weighed in, too.
Brandi Mitchell of Albuquerque who is an advocate for suicide prevention, men’s mental health and minority mental wellness said while she appreciates the efforts to develop a comprehensive plan, it is time to act.
“We’ve had this data for forever,” she said. “We know people have these struggles … I love that we have all these plans (but) I feel like they can get done a bit quicker. It seems like there’s a lot of collecting data instead of solving problems.”
