The Wednesday, September 9th meeting of the Pierce County Board of Health began with the decision to use a $1,700 grant from United Way to increase Spanish-speaking resident’s ability to use resources provided by the Pierce County Hunger Prevention Council. The Board unanimously approved the expenditure and the PC Hunger Prevention Council will now be able to hire Spanish-speaking interpreters to aid local residents.

The Board convened into closed session for a short time, but no action was taken after open session resumed.

Members of the Public Health Department reported to the Board that when they spoke with parents regarding their child’s exposure to COVID-19 at school, they were met with hostility. The parents seemed to be uninformed about the details that went into their child going back to school.

Each school district in Pierce County independently decided the details on how they would reopen their schools. The Pierce County Board of Health provided recommendations to all of the school districts, but ultimately were not the ones that made the decisions and implemented the details. All of the school districts were responsible for their own plans of reopening.

Board member Ruth Wood brought some ideas forward on how the Board could positively improve their public image. Board members were encouraged to write Letters to the Editor where they could outline all of the different things that the Public Health Department is responsible for, as they are responsible for much more than just COVID-19 related actions. Public Health has different departments, including Birth to Three, Environmental Health, Reproductive Health and WIC, or Women, Infants and Children.