Othello Matters: Adams County Integrated Health Care Services, others, band together to help locals

OTHELLO — Adams County Integrated Health Care Services and several other health care and outreach agencies based in the Columbia Basin came together Thursday to support Othello community members’ needs for the Othello Matters outreach event at the Othello Church of the Nazarene.

The event was coordinated by IHCS Mental Health Counselor Charlotte Hillman.

“Overall, it went really well,” Hillman said. “We were able to feed between 150 and 160 people that also included all the community members and providers and supports that showed up as well. And law enforcement stopped in and supported (us) as well, from Othello (Police Department) and Adams County Sheriff's Office. So, it was a really good turnout.”

Hillman outlined who contributed to the event.

“Classic Grill’n was there. They're the ones that provided the meal. We had it at the Othello Nazarene CChurch, but they were also handing out Narcan because they’re a Narcan distributor,” Hillman said. “HopeSource was there. (Columbia Basin Health Association) was there. Adams County Integrated Health Care Services, we had our Emergency Housing, (Women, Infant and Children) and Mental Health Services out there. The Housing Authority was there.”

Hillman also said the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’s Mobile Community Services Office attended the event, as well as Othello business Cheli’s Beauty Salon. Cheli’s gave free haircuts, providing around 20 to 25 haircuts to community members.

Another event partner was Kadlec Regional Medical Center. Kadlec Community Health Worker Maria Perez said they helped hand out supplies and information. 

“It was really, really nice,” Perez said. “I think it was perfect. I think it was a really good location for people.”

The event was the first of its kind in Othello, Hillman said. 

“I didn't know what to expect because nothing like this has been done since pre-COVID. So it was a good turnout. Everyone else in my office said that they haven't had a turnout like this before when they've tried to put on an event, so it went really well.”

Hillman said coordinating the various agencies involved went well.

“All the agencies worked really well together,” Hillman said. “All of them I heard back from said they'd like to come back again.”

Hillman said IHCS will be doing the event again next winter. 

“It'll be a yearly event,” she said. “We’re talking about also doing one in the summer.”

Hillman said IHCS would like to expand the number of agencies involved in the event and is already making a list of who to reach out to.

“We'd like to get (Narcotics Anonymous) and (Alcoholics Anonymous) to partner with the event, and we'd like to bring in either Simplot, McCain's or SVC,” Hillman said. “(And) getting more churches involved as well.”

Hillman said one thing she would change next year is the layout to help people flow from table to table better.

“During the middle of it we kind of changed things around and it helped with the flow of traffic in there, and then all the providers just worked really well to kind of help man things,” she said.

Agencies were not the only people helping with the event.

“We just had a lot of support from the community,” Hillman said. “We had a ton of donations that came in, so we couldn't have done this event without the community support, so that was nice to have. The things that were donated were jackets, gloves, scarves, hats. We had enough to pass out and then towards the end we had a few extra things and we just told people to take what they needed and everything was gone.”

Gabriel Davis may be reached at gdavis@columbiabasinherald.com. Download the Columbia Basin Herald app on iOS and Android.

    Booths set up by Columbia Basin agencies provide information and supplies during the Adams County Integrated Health Care Services Othello Matters outreach event Thursday. Event partners included various local healthcare and outreach organizations.
  

    The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services’s Mobile Community Services Office sits in front of the Othello Church of the Nazarene, the venue for Thursday’s Othello Matters outreach event.
  

    HopeSource and Kadlec Regional Medical Center booths sit inside the Othello Church of the Nazarene waiting to assist Othello community members during the Othello Matters outreach event Thursday.