WHIDBEY NEWS-TIMES: Community Health Advisory Board to resume meetings

Karina Andrew reports that Public Health Director Keith Higman announced the Island County Community Health Advisory Board (CHAB) will begin meeting again in June after a six-month hiatus. In January, the CHAB unilaterally decided to take this hiatus citing staffing difficulties and the unavailability of some board members as primary reasons.

“I was frustrated, and still am frustrated, that during the pandemic, we were not getting the type of feedback we needed,” Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson said of CHAB’s decision to pause operations with the parallel health threats of COVID-19 and systemic racism still raging.

Despite frustrations, Johnson said she’s happy and excited for the advisory board to return to its important role and expects members will continue the investigation of systemic inequities in the county’s public health system that the Board of Health had tasked them with before they took their pause.