CALPHO Newsletter - December 4, 2020

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--  E-News   December 4, 2020  --  Top News                                        Whirlwind Special Legislative Session on COVID-19 Relief – No New PH Funding The “First Extraordinary Session” of the 72nd Colorado General Assembly convened on Monday, November 30 and ended on Wednesday, December 2. Over 30 bills were introduced but only 10 were passed and CALPHO was closely monitoring the two bills below. For full details about this historic session, read this summary from Frontline Public Affairs. SB20B-001: Provides direct grants and suspension of certain license fees to certain small businesses, chiefly those affected by health-related capacity limitations. Eligible businesses include restaurants, bars, wineries, taverns, gyms, recreation centers, caterers and others. Funds for these businesses will be provided to local governments that are in compliance with public health orders and are in the “red” or “purple” levels of COVID restrictions. SB20B-004: Transfers $100 million from the General Fund and allows its use in the Disaster Emergency Fund for public health and emergency response expenses associated with the COVID pandemic emergency. This is not new funding, but rather transfer and repayment of funds that are necessary to use and obtain reimbursement for federal funds and assuring compliance with requirements for the disaster emergency fund that must be funded each year.  Emily Brown Leaving CALPHO…… to Become Interim PH Director for Alamosa! Emily was able to help out CALPHO on a part-time basis over the last few months, and we were lucky to have her. Our luck continues as she transitions to her new role as interim public health director for Alamosa County, starting on Monday, December 7. Farewell and welcome back, Emily! Funding Opportunity: Building Workforce Capacity of Rural and Frontier Local Health Departments to Respond to COVID-19 With support from CDC, NACCHO will offer funding to approximately 35 rural and frontier LPHAs to help build their workforce capacity to respond to COVID-19. Applicants may apply for funding awards of up to $35,000 to support activities in one of the following focus areas: (1) contract tracing and testing and (2) vaccine administration. Application deadline has been extended to December 7. You do not have to be a NACCHO member to apply. Learn more and apply here.   Upcoming Events  Click HERE for full event calendar of events, many of which will likely be cancelled Health Equity Advocacy Summit - Colorado Legislative Summit: Planning for 2021 December 7 2:00pm - 4:00pm What’s in store for Colorado communities in 2021? Please join us in a conversation with state legislators who will share their plans and vision for the 2021 legislative session. --REGISTER--> Webinar: Community Health Worker Impact and Intervention  December 9 12:00pm - 1:00pm Dr. Erica Shelton. will be discussing the results of a block randomized study examining CHW partnership with emergency department frequent flyers.  --REGISTER--> CHI Hot Issues in Health - Virtual December 11 10:00am - 12:00pm Attendance will be free for this years’ Hot Issues in Health. --REGISTER--> 2021 Culture of Data April 8-9 The theme of the 2021 conference is Public Health at the Confluence of Current Events. CPHA is now accepting abstracts! --LEARN MORE--> Click HERE for full event calendar  Kudos & Accolades                                                   Welcome Dr. Kolawole Bankole, New PH Director for Rio Grande County Dr Bankole joined Rio Grande in November, moving from Florida where he was a public health official. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Bankole on his new position.     News & Current Events                                            Some Activity, A lot of Talk, and Some Hope for Federal Stimulus in 2020 On Tuesday December 2, A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators proposed a $908 billion stimulus plan, including $160 billion for state and local governments. Majority Leader McConnell also offered a proposal but did not release details. His number is likely closer to the $500 billion package he has offered twice previously, and it is unclear whether he will accept the moderate group’s proposal. President Trump has not weighed in on new stimulus since the election, but Treasury Secretary Mnuchin is still involved in the discussions and is reviewing all proposals. Democratic House leaders have put forward their own $2.2 trillion proposal, which they submitted to Mnuchin earlier this week, but have also expressed support for the $908 billion package. Read more in this New York Times article. CO Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Approves Significant Changes Under their new role mandated by SB 19-181, the COGCC implemented sweeping rule changes to oil and gas development activities. The most significant changes include a setback of 2000 feet in most cases and limits on flaring. The commission, which is now comprised of professional, paid members, has more changes planned as part of its new mission to prioritize human and environmental health in oil and gas development. Read more in this Colorado Sun article. FDA Funds New Cooperative Agreements to Advance Retail Food Safety The 2-year, $1.25 million program will fund three national associations -- the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO), the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), and NACCHO -- to help advance standards, best practices, and process improvement (including the adoption of the FDA food code). Read more here. CMS Approves Colorado’s Substance Use Disorder Benefits Waiver On November 13, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Colorado's application (and those of 29 other states) to expand substance use disorder treatment benefits to Medicaid clients in residential or inpatient treatment settings. It will also support state efforts to enhance provider capacity, improve the availability of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and improve access to a continuum of SUD evidence-based services at varied levels of intensity, including withdrawal management services. Read more here. News from NACCHO                                                         NACCHO Seeks Nominations for Vacant Board of Directors Seat  Vacated by former Rio Grande Public Health Director Emily Brown, this seat represents Region 8 on the NACCHO Board of Directors, and its term runs through June 30, 2021. Regional directors represent their region's perspective at board meetings and serve as regional connectors for various outreach, engagement, and advocacy efforts. Read more about the expectations and benefits in this document, and email NACCHO directly if interested. Additional seats have recently opened up, so expect additional announcements on this soon.   Health Equity                                                            Do Health Impact Assessments Improve Health Equity? New Report from Pew The Pew Charitable Trusts set out to evaluate whether Health Impact Assessments (HIA) had a measurable impact on a broad array of equity metrics, and just released their results. This first attempt to evaluate such impact ran into many barriers and complexities, and connecting HIAs to long-term outcomes proved challenging. “Without extensive primary data collection and costly, protracted research studies, the data available to document HIAs’ effectiveness over time is incomplete and of relatively low quality.” Their effort did produce many useful recommendations that may prove useful for evaluating all types of public health assessments. Read about it here.  Highlights from our Partners                                     Your Input Needed on Establishing a CO Behavioral Health Administration The Behavioral Health Task Force presented the Blueprint for Reform to Governor Polis in September 2020 and implementation is now underway. They are holding a stakeholder input opportunity on December 15, from 3pm-4pm to provide an update on their work so far, as well as solicit your feedback on one of their big Phase One priorities: establishing a Behavioral Health Administration (BHA). Register here.  Letters of Support Needed for CSU and CU Wildfire Smoke & Health Grants The complimentary proposals to the EPA would bolster smoke exposure measurement and communications strategies for Colorado communities. The CU proposal, "Informing school decision-making during wildfire events," would involve using low-cost sensors to provide data on whether schools or homes are safer places for students to be during wildfire episodes based on indoor PM2.5 data collected from low-cost sensors and its associations with health outcomes among students. The CSU proposal, "Colorado Communication Strategies for Smoke Ready Communities," will foster smoke-ready communities through the delivery of timely, locally relevant air pollution data coupled with clear health messaging. They need letters of support by next Wednesday, December 11. Learn more and find templates for letters of support here.  Behavioral Health Training Institute for Health Officials, 6th Cohort RFA Now Open The National Council for Behavioral Health will select 70 public health and behavioral health officials to participate in the sixth cohort of this eight-month professional development initiative. Selected health officials will gain direct access to training and technical assistance opportunities on behavioral health topics such as crisis leadership during emergencies and integrating behavioral health in public health settings. Learn more and apply here.  2020 APHA Annual Content: Access now Available for Purchase This year’s Annual was held virtually back in October and had a violence prevention theme. You can now purchase access to a curated selection of content (with continuing education credit available), or all the content on-demand. Learn more here.   CDC Guidance on Indoor Air Filtration for Wildfire Smoke CDC has released a comprehensive evidence review and set of recommendations on the efficiency and effectiveness of various types of filters and filtration methods. It includes significant detail on the standards for measuring filter performance for both large-scale systems and stand-alone units. Download it here.    Thank you for reading. If you have any comments or ideas for future CALPHO e-newsletters, please email us at info@calpho.org.  The purpose of this e-newsletter is to provide news updates, events and informational resources on hot topics in local public health and CALPHO. Any staff person of a CALPHO member agency is welcome to join our email list to receive this e-newsletter. If you have a colleague interested in receiving this e-newsletter, please forward this message to them. Copyright © Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials 2020, All rights reserved.   Our mailing address is: 1385 S. Colorado Blvd., Bldg. A, Suite 622 Denver, Colorado 80222

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