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Dear Douglas Public Health Network: Thank You

3:45 AM · Jan 13, 2021

Recently it was announced that Douglas County had the lowest new case rate for any county in the US with over 100k residents. That is a remarkable achievement. Today, I want to highlight a local organization that has worked tirelessly over the past year to support Douglas County residents in our fight against Covid-19; DPHN, or Douglas Public Health Network. With the help of Douglas County and the Douglas Country Covid-19 Response Team, DPHN grew from a core staff of 6 people to over 35 this past year. They have 4 trained teams doing epidemiology work. DPHN is one of the only local public health organizations in the state of Oregon that has highly trained infectious disease epidemiologists, and currently has 4 staff members with graduate degrees in epidemiology. All of the teams are made up of local Douglas County residents, some who have worked in the community for decades. So what do these teams do? Each team provides support to all positive cases and contacts of those cases, ranging from 300-600 people a day. They have reached out to every confirmed case, over 1,500 now. The support that the teams provide include initial interviews and discussion with cases and contacts about exposure, answering questions about symptoms and possible medical needs. But it doesn’t stop there. The teams often help with providing food and supplies to people in quarantine to help keep them home while they are infectious as well has connecting them with other community resources that can help meet various needs. They have also provided pulse oximeters and thermometers to help people monitor symptoms in case they need to seek urgent medical attention. The help they provide isn’t always medical related. One time they got a birthday cake for a girl on her 12th birthday. Another time, team members went out and picked up medications for a patient that was in cancer treatment. So, to the entire DPHN team, thank you for all that you have done this past year and which you continue to do. It has been a long, stressful year, but your work has been enormously helpful to our community more than we will likely ever know. Thank you! If anyone would like to drop a quick note, a thank you, or a kind word of encouragement, here are a few ways you can do so. To email the DPHN team, you can do so to the following email address: vanessa@douglaspublichealthnetwork.org To send a physical card, you can send it to: DPHN Att: Vanessa Becker 621 West Madrone Roseburg 97470