Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/orange-county-health-care-agency/)
Local hospitals, eyeing surges in coronavirus cases in other parts of the country, are stretching out their capacity to a total goal of 5,367 beds available countywide, and county health care agency officials say the medical facilities are more than 60% full.
Recent orders — and subsequent clarifications — by the county health officer weren’t immediately translated into non-English languages when they went into effect Tuesday. Meanwhile, local activists and doctors have taken it upon themselves to ensure key information about the novel coronavirus gets across to immigrant families and businesses where English isn’t the first language.
The virtual meeting — which got nearly 2,000 comments and more than 16,000 views on Facebook as of Thursday — comes as health officials have reported only six known cases countywide, out of the 3.2 million total people in OC, and no evidence of the virus spreading in the county yet.
Coronavirus is not known to be spreading in Orange County and health officials currently assess it is a low risk. They’re urging a series of preventative measures by the public yet the virus is triggering tense debates across schools and public agencies over how to best protect people.
Orange County Sheriff’s officials outspent their revenues by $33 million during this last fiscal year – prompting county officials to pull millions of dollars from other departments like the Health Care Agency to cover the shortfall.
The county said it was concerned a lack of oversight and care by Telecare Corp. staff was putting people at risk in a residential treatment center for people recovering from mental health crises. Both the county and contractor say the issues have since been fixed.
Telecare Corp. has repeatedly declined to comment on complaints it failed to provide health treatment it was supposed to, didn’t clean dirty rooms at a facility it was overseeing, and unnecessarily escalated a situation with a patient into a physical confrontation.
Orange County is well-known for its youth heroin problem. But opioid addiction is a serious predicament among OC seniors.
Homeless people staying at a motel, which the county is leasing as a mental health treatment facility, expressed confusion and uncertainty about what would happen next.
The proposed mental health center is seen by advocates and officials as a major step toward addressing a severe shortage of mental health service options in Orange County. There was no word Tuesday on when services will start at the property.