PORT HADLOCK — A new health services contract improves services for inmates at the Jefferson County Jail but is missing one key component, according to the county sheriff.
“Buying local in Jefferson County has always been our mission,” Dave Stanko said Monday.
“It disappoints me that we weren’t able to hire a local provider for this because it means that $97,000 will be leaving the county.”
The one-year contract approved unanimously by the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners on Monday is between the county and the Olympia-based Healthcare Delivery Systems, which provides similar services to jails in Thurston and Mason counties, and in Olympia, Puyallup and Fife.
Services include twice weekly sick calls and twice monthly mental health evaluations along with continued medical oversight and round-the-clock medical triage service.
The contract cost for the rest of 2016 is $72,750 with funding coming from $32,000 in unspent budgeted funds for jail health care and the remainder to come from the general fund.
Part of projection
The increased cost of jail health care has been anticipated and is part of the county’s five-year budget projection, according to the agenda bill. The amount of the increase over last year was not immediately available Monday.
Prior to the contract, jail medical services were provided by nurse practitioner Kenneth Brown, who has cut back on his involvement and has indicated that he wanted to retire, Stanko said.
Stanko sought to develop a local package with Jefferson Healthcare and Jefferson Mental Health providing medical services but the combined cost was prohibitively high. A total cost estimate for this package had not been completed.
Both entities will still provide as-needed services to the jail but it will be an additional per-case cost, Stanko said, such as a recent four-day hospital stay that required the sheriff to pay both medical costs and overtime for a deputy stationed outside the hospital room at all times.
The Healthcare Delivery Systems contract, which expires March 31, 2017, gives the county time to find local options, Stanko said.
‘Continuity of care’
Aside from keeping the contract money in the county, local health services provide continuity of care and a chance to reduce the current 70 percent recidivism rate, Stanko said.
“We have several ‘frequent fliers’ with drug or mental issues that we see on a regular basis,” Stanko said.
“But they don’t have a continuity of care once they are out of jail, which would reduce the recidivism.”
Stanko said that when an individual follows up an arrest with involvement in drug court and mental health court, the recidivism rate falls to 50 percent.
Stanko credited jail supervisor Steve Richmond with getting the Healthcare Delivery Systems plan in place.
“This agreement is addressing the total health concerns of our clientele,” Richmond said in a statement read by Stanko at the commissioners’ meeting.
“The county will continue to explore solutions in our community to further address the physical and mental well-being of our inmates.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
