News - Local News

POSTED: Tuesday, Jul. 29, 2008

County readies for next steps on community health planning

Think more food needs to be grown locally for the health and safety of the community? Care about Lake Whatcom water quality protection? Think plastics should be banned?

Some Whatcom County residents agree with you, depending on your interest, and officials are now another step closer to determining the health priorities and planning for the county.

Since 2007 the Whatcom County Health Department has been working on the county's Comprehensive Health Plan, which is designed to guide the government in decision making, program prioritization and resource allocation for public health and health-related issues and programs.

Most recently, hundreds of county residents participated in 10 forums to offer up their thoughts on what county officials should incorporate into the plan. The ban on plastics, for instance, came up during discussions about solid waste collection.

Farmers showed up, too, to chat about local agricultural products staying in the community for consumption.

"This first step was to really ask people what they cared about," Health Department Director Regina Delahunt said.

Officials summarized all of the public comments into a 113-page document. Now that information will be used to figure out the county's priorities. The entire process is supposed to take about three years before a final plan is finished, according to county documents.

But the public comment concerned Whatcom County Councilwoman Barbara Brenner Tuesday, July 29, as she and her peers acted in their capacity as the Whatcom County Health Board.

"I don't really know what was asked of people but, I don't know, I know a vision is a vision but ... we're government, too. It has to start off being realistic and some of this stuff, it just seemed like this is not even human," Brenner said.

Delahunt acknowledged that some of the suggestions from the public might have been "kind of up there."

"When you go beyond that, it gives you a broad ideal," Delahunt said. "The big document is just a documentation of what people said and what people cared about in the community. It will be used as a basis to prioritize."

Brenner's fellow Health Board members didn't appear to share Brenner's concern that people may have their hopes up and then not get what they want in the final outcome.

"Whose expectations are going to be dashed by wanting to have a 'fabulous' health care system?" Councilman Seth Fleetwood asked Brenner, quoting one part of the public comment.

In the end, Brenner acquiesced.

"See, I did it. I'm the bad guy and something came out. We got it out," she said. "I feel better."

Reach Sam Taylor at sam.taylor@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2263. Read his Politics Blog at TheBellinghamHerald.com/blogs.