PORT ANGELES — Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic is increasing its work in the field.
The clinic provided the Clallam County Board of Commissioners with an update on its work in 2024 during the board’s work session on Monday.
“(Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic) have established and been operating the mental health field response program as a law enforcement partner since their initial agreement with Port Angeles Police Department in 2017, and since 2024 with the Sheriff’s Office,” the agenda memo said.
The clinic tries to meet people where they’re at so it’s been increasing its work on the streets, commissioners were told.
During 2024, the clinic had nearly 14,000 encounters with 71 percent of those encounters in the field. That was a 47.5 percent increase for the clinic.
The clinic is working to expand services to the West End, commissioners were told. One way the clinic has done that is by opening an office in Forks.
The clinic also has partnered with Jamestown Healing Clinic to provide transportation for patients from Forks to Clallam Bay.
In 2024, the clinic saw a 9 percent increase in total encounters and saw an increase in agencies coming to it to correspond on services. The clinic has corresponded with Port Angeles Police Department, Port Angeles Fire Department, Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Forks Police Department, Clallam County Code Enforcement, state Department of Natural Resources, the National Parks Service and the state Department of Transportation.
The clinic is seeing an increase in the age of the population it’s serving, commissioners were told.
The clinic also reopened its dental clinic, which had been closed due to COVID-19.
In other business Monday, commissioners heard about contract renewals for three different programs.
The first was a contract with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) for the Child Advocate Volunteer Guardian Ad Litem Program (CAP). It has about 25 case volunteers right now and is actively tracking 64 cases, commissioners were told.
The second contract is with the AOC for the county’s Becca Program.
“The purpose of this Agreement is to engage the services of Juvenile Services to process Truancy, At Risk Youth and Child in Need of Services programs and services,” the agenda memo said.
The juveniles involved in this program are at the front end of the system and are having trouble attending school or exhibiting out-of-control behavior, commissioners were told. The program is trying to keep those juveniles out of the formal offender process.
The third contract is between the state Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF), Juvenile Rehabilitation (JR) and Clallam County Juvenile Services to provide detention-based services.
Clallam County Juvenile Services is working to bring back its Employment Education Training program, commissioners were told.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
