MOUNT VERNON — KSAAT, a 14-year-old effort to combat drugs in the community, will continue its work in Year 15, but under a different structure.
The Knox Substance Abuse Action Team is a coalition that works to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other substance abuse in youths and adults.
Health Commissioner Zach Green told the county commissioners on Thursday that the Knox Health Planning Partnership (KHPP) will absorb KSAAT under the Communities Coming Together subcommittee.
KHPP is a coalition of community agencies charged with improving health and wellness in the community.
Formed in 2011, KSAAT voted last month to dissolve its 501 (c) (3) status. The change came about because KSAAT’s 10-year Drug Free Communities grant ends this month.
Green said the idea is to streamline partnerships and professionals under one umbrella, with a single funding stream and bylaw structure.
Looking ahead, KPH wants to explore emotional health issues stemming from AI. Specifically, AI tools are not being used in a manner that is in the best interests of individuals.
“How do we, as professionals, get that information out there?” Green asked.
“Although there’s a lot of value in technology, and I’m not dismissing that, it’s also what you’re using it for, like anything else, right?”
One idea is to place a Teen Advisory Council (TAC) member on a panel to reach their peers directly. TAC operates through KSAAT and New Directions and encourages healthy lifestyles among teens.
The department’s next initiative is a forum this fall on suicide awareness, suicide prevention, and potential triggers as the community moves into the holiday season and winter months.
School-based health services
Part of the department’s community health improvement plan (CHIP), which is based on the Community Health Assessment (CHA), is to increase awareness of and acceptance of behavioral health substance abuse disorders.
As part of that strategy, the department will put a full-time behavioral health counselor in Centerburg schools through its planning grant from the Ohio Department of Health.
KPH has also applied for implementation funding for an RN or LPN in the Mount Vernon office who would be available for telemed services to the schools and create access for acute care.
Green said services are in collaboration with the school administration to ensure that parents and guardians are aware of any encounters and can be part of those conversations.
“No student can engage in those services without permission from their parents or guardians, and that was under the clear foundation of discussion from day one between administration and Knox Public Health to ensure that families have full transparency in any of those services,” he said.
“They are there to be an opportunity, but not necessarily a mandate.”
KPH is also in the training phase with Mount Vernon High School to bring behavioral health professionals into the school. The idea is to create a shared space where established clients can meet with their respective agencies.
“It’s kind of a new initiative, but it meets those kids where they are in a controlled environment,” Green said.
KPH flu clinics start Sept. 26
The health department will begin its community flu shot clinics on Friday, Sept. 26.
KPH also received 180 doses of the Pfizer COVID vaccine. The company has identified individuals 65 and older, as well as those 5 and older with underlying health conditions, as those who should receive a vaccine.
“The CDC, in particular the advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, has not released any of their recommendations at this point,” Green said.
“Knox Public Health has not actually put that information out there. We really like to see what the advisory committee at the federal level comes out with in collaboration with the CDC.”
The Federally Qualified Community Health Center is in the midst of its three-year Service Area Competition grant. It involves polling the center’s service area to determine how it is meeting patients’ needs.
When the center completed the previous SAC grant, it had around 3,000 patients. Today, it is just shy of 10,000.
Green attributes the growth to being easily accessible in a downtown location.
•KPH on-boarded a new psych nurse practitioner, Ciara Haas, in July.
•There were 149 reported cases of Lyme disease at the end of August. That compares to 99 in 2024.
•KPH now accepts Tricare.
