An investigative committee that is trying to decide whether San Juan Basin Public Health is the right fit for Archuleta County will have to wait a bit longer to receive answers to some of its many questions.
In a letter sent Sept. 7 to the health department, Archuleta County requested general and specific information about the health department’s many services and outreach programs. Archuleta County also requested a cost breakdown for those programs and services, especially as they relate to the county. It also requested a meeting with SJBPH to receive further answers to questions.
The health department responded by providing hundreds of pages of documents, but also pointed committee members to the agency’s website where most of the information is posted.
“We generally respond that most of the information is available to all constituents on the SJBPH website and, in addition, has been routinely made available to the SJBPH Board of Health, as well as Archuleta County and La Plata Boards of County Commissioners,” SJBPH board members wrote Sept. 17 in a response letter.
Archuleta County commissioners expressed a degree of frustration with the response, saying it didn’t appear SJBPH was serious about meeting with committee members or answering their questions.
But at Thursday’s health board meeting, the board apologized to commissioners who might have misunderstood the tone of the letter and voted to schedule a meeting with commissioners sometime in October.
Archuleta County first looked into potentially splitting from the joint health district about a year ago. Archuleta County commissioners have been at odds with some of the regulations and COVID-19 restrictions administered by SJBPH, saying increased costs and policies are not always in line with residents’ values.
Archuleta County and SJBPH have also bumped heads in the past about minimum standards for regulating septic systems and the scope and breadth of the COVID-19 response.
In an interview Thursday, Archuleta County Commissioner Warren Brown, who is the liaison to the investigative committee, said he is a little “disappointed” the health department wasn’t more accommodating toward the committee.
“I was really hoping that they would answer these questions and to be participative with our committee,” Brown said.
SJBPH Executive Director Liane Jollon said the health department is “extraordinarily busy” responding to an uptick in transmission of COVID-19 – the highest it has been since January.
The health department provided the committee with web links to where it could find documents and provided documents in a dropbox, she said. As for the meeting, Jollon said many of the investigative committee’s questions had to do with board actions and oversight, and could not be addressed by staff members. The health department, therefore, proposed Archuleta County commissioners and health board members hold a joint meeting that is publicly noticed.
Brown said the investigative committee is charged with evaluating the services Archuleta County residents receive from SJBPH, and whether they are adequate and “financially plausible.” As part of that exploratory process, the committee is also investigating whether it is possible or desirable for Archuleta County to start its own health district. Finally, the committee will look at whether the county would benefit from partnering with another health district, for example, Silver Thread Public Health, which serves Hinsdale and Mineral counties.
“I’m not necessarily set on leaving San Juan Basin Health,” Brown said. “I just want to know what is the best we can do as a county for the citizens we have that will provide ... equal service to our county as far as their health needs, and also the other services that San Juan Basin Health provides.”
Brown said Archuleta and La Plata counties are “very different.”
“As far as resources go, Archuleta is much closer to a rural area than La Plata County,” he said.
SJBPH likes to say it serves the total population of La Plata and Archuleta counties, he said, but there should be an accountability of what services are being provided to the individual counties and at what cost.
“I think from a rural medical standpoint, there may be some service inequities that are out there,” Brown said.
Jollon said she understands why Archuleta County officials want to evaluate services and how best to meet the needs and requirements of residents.
But she said Archuleta and La Plata counties have more commonalities than differences.
“Communities can look different, have different interests, be organized differently, have different political ideologies, but at the end of the day, most of us care deeply about our own health and the health of our loved ones,” Jollon said. “This drive to be our healthiest selves and live our lives of full potential with people that we love and care about transcends our political ideology and differences.”
Brown said he is focused on what is best for residents of Archuleta County. If that means a meeting with SJBPH’s health board of directors, then he’s willing to do it. But he said it must be a “result-orientated meeting that has answers to questions that are provided, and it be an open and honest discussion.”
No meeting date has been set.
shane@durangoherald.com
An earlier version of this story erred in saying San Juan Basin Public Health’s board of directors requested a meeting with the investigative committee, Archuleta County commissioners and health board members. The health board asked for a meeting with just the Archuleta County Commissioners.
