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Extraído del Informe Consolidado

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San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury • 2017-2018

Safeguarding the Public’s Health The protection of the health and safety of residents and visitors is the first

Published: May 17, 2018 10 pages

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⚠️ Aviso de traducción: Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 20 findings

EHD acted properly with respect to the complaint regarding the case of Legionnaires’ disease thought to have originated at a hotel in San Luis Obispo County.

San Luis Obispo County’s Public Health testing laboratory does not have the capability to test for Legionella and must send samples to an out-of-county laboratory.

There has been an outbreak of Hepatitis A in several California counties. Hepatitis A can cause death in some cases, especially those with compromised immune systems.

Mosquitoes carrying Zika virus are in adjacent counties and will soon be in this County.

There is currently no mosquito abatement (Vector Control) program in San Luis Obispo County. The BoS occasionally reviews that situation but has not authorized funding for an abatement program.

The 2017-2018 Grand Jury reviewed the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department’s website early in the course of its investigation and found the most recent health statistics available were from 2012. However, the website has since been updated to reflect data from 2016. The Grand Jury also found other county health departments update their websites quarterly.

The turnover in JSO positions leads to younger officers and may improve rapport with the detainees.

The staffing is based upon the 65-detainee capacity, not the average daily population which is approximately 30. Therefore, the facility does not have the staff shortage problems that plague other facilities.

The facility has significant excess capacity. San Luis Obispo County Jail

F10

The entire jail complex appears to have been built piecemeal with no master plan.

F11

The parking for jail visitors is inadequate.

F12

Scheduling visitation appointments is difficult for people without access to a computer or without computer skills.

F13

The lack of a metal detector or other screening at the lobby presents an unnecessary risk to visitors.

F14

The lack of a closed-circuit TV system between the jail and the courthouse results in trips to the courthouse for hearings where the direct presence of the inmate is not mandatory.

F15

The jail has a strong need for a psychiatric hospital facility on-site for both felon and misdemeanant PC 1370 inmates as well as inmate WIC 5150 cases.

F16

The addition of behavioral health staff would reduce the wait time for non-crisis service and could provide 24-hour capabilities.

F17

Addition of correctional deputies, beyond filling the nine current vacancies, would decrease the impact of transporting prisoners within the jail for medical, behavioral 2017-2018 San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury Final Report 63 INSPECTION REPORT FOR SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY DETENTION FACILITIES health, or programming reasons as well as reduce the burden of mandatory overtime now placed on all of the correctional staff. County Coroner’s Facility

F18

The lack of on-site back-up electrical power presents an unnecessary risk.

F19

The use of an administrative assistant as a medical transcriptionist places an uncompensated burden on the employee.

F20

The lack of a foot control for the audio recording system causes unnecessary delays during autopsies.

Recommendations 10

R1

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health should require that customers at commercial hot tub and spa establishments be informed there is a risk of Legionnaires’ disease inherent in that environment.
R2

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health should use only ELITE Program Laboratories to test for the presence of Legionella when there is a known case of disease potentially associated with the samples.
R3

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health should conduct a vaccination and sanitation outreach program among the homeless population to prevent an outbreak of Hepatitis A in the County. Funding to support the program should be allocated by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors.
R4

The cost of starting and operating a comprehensive mosquito abatement program (Vector Control) is known. Funding commensurate with that cost should be set aside each year by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors and County Administration, so that when it becomes necessary, the money will be immediately available.
R5

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health has a program to educate the public about mosquitoes, how to avoid acting as their host, and how to minimize the risk of becoming infected with the diseases they carry. Before mosquitoes carrying the Zika Virus arrive in this County, additional funding should be allocated by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to support expansion of EHD’s public education efforts.
R6

The San Luis Obispo County Department of Public Health website’s statistics should be updated at least quarterly.
R7

The Sheriff should construct a psychiatric hospital (jail bed competency treatment facility) on the jail campus or elsewhere within the County.
R8

The Sheriff should increase the staffing for the jail mental health workers to reduce the wait time for appointments from five days to one day or less.
R9

The Sheriff should increase the staff in excess of the nine positions currently unfilled. County Coroner’s Facility
R10

The County should procure and install a back-up generator (fixed or portable) on site to provide back-up power in case of an outage.

Conclusions 1

CL1

DPH has the responsibility and authority to regulate sources of pollution and infection which put the public health at risk. EHD conducts inspections, testing, public education programs, and collaborative mitigations to accomplish its mission. The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department maintains a website which provides disease statistics for the County, restaurant inspection results, mosquito populations, and related information. Based on our investigation, the Grand Jury found the actions of the County Public Health Department exceeded the existing guidelines, and no evidence was found to support the complaint.

Commendations 1

CM1

The Grand Jury commends the County of San Luis Obispo Public Health staff for their cooperation, professionalism and thorough responses to our inquiry of this issue.

No Responses Found 1

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

San Luis Obispo County County