Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department office is shown in Hancock. The WUPHD board heard some preliminary results of its latest needs assessment survey during Monday’s meeting.

ONTONAGON — The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department is finalizing the release of its first community needs assessment survey in four years.

The assessment measures where the U.P. stands on a number of community health issues, and will also be used to track progress over time. It looks at subjects involving five social determinants of health: neighborhood and built environment, social and community context, health and health care, economic stability and education.

“When it comes to planning for our individual counties in the Upper Peninsula, we can depend on surveys at the state level or national level at our own risk, because what happens is they only sample a few people from each of our counties, and that doesn’t tell us what’s happening at the county level,” WUPHD medical director Robert Van Howe said at Monday’s board meeting.

Self-reported marijuana use has tripled since the previous survey, which was taken in 2017, prior to its legalization in Michigan, Van Howe said. The results could be skewed by people having been less willing to acknowledge marijuana use before it was legalized, he said.

The other notable change from the last survey was an increased interest in having mental health services and substance abuse services available.

Van Howe said 1,700 surveys were sent to each county in the WUPHD. Because of Keweenaw County’s low population, it was combined with Houghton.

Total response was 25% lower than the last time the WUPHD conducted a needs assessment. Greater mistrust of the WUPHD since the start of the pandemic may play a role, Van Howe said. So could survey fatigue.

“People get surveyed to death,” Van Howe said. “You can’t go to Burger King without them saying, ‘Do a survey, I’ll give you a burger.”

Avian flu discussed

In her report, WUPHD health officer Kate Beer said a wild bird found in Ontonagon County was a presumptive positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. The bird was acting in a manner similar to others that had tested positive for the flu, but tests had not confirmed it, Beer said.

“It’s a wild bird,” she said. “It’s not in our local flock yet, and that’s when we see problems.”

So far, the bird flu has been confirmed in Menominee County and in nine downstate counties: Branch, Kalamazoo, Livingston, Macomb, Muskegon, Oakland, Saginaw, Washtenaw and Wexford. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to humans is low.

Last month, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development stopped poultry and waterfowl exhibitions in the state until it goes 30 days without a new case.

The WUPHD is also considering adopting a four-day work week for July and August. While general services will close on Friday, the lab would remain staffed, Beer said.

Beer said the four-day weeks are intended to boost morale.

“With people on (family and medical leave) and short staffing, it’s really hard to schedule a vacation for somebody,” she said.

The WUPHD board also approved a 12.95% salary increase for Beer. In performance review results announced Monday, Beer scored a 4.35 out of 5, which is considered excellent.

Beer said she had been making roughly the same amount as her predecessor while also serving as administrator. Her salary is below the midrange of health officers in Michigan, most of whom are serving fewer counties, she said.

“I would say sure, it sets a precedent, but I think it can be justified by the work that she does,” said board member Gretchen Janssen.