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C. Public Health

The Humboldt County and Del Norte County Public Health Departments’ roles are to prevent disease and promote the health of the community. In Humboldt County, a wide variety of services is offered including:

  • California Children’s Services
  • Child Health Disability Program
  • Family Planning/Women’s Health
  • Health Education Services
  • Healthy Moms Program
  • Immunization Clinics
  • Maternal, Child and Adolescent Programs
  • Milk and Dairy Inspection
  • North Coast AIDS Project
  • Nutritional Programs (WIC, Project Lean)
  • Public Health Laboratory
  • Public Health Nursing Outreach
  • Senior Health Clinics
  • Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics
  • Tobacco Education Program
  • Vital Statistics

The Humboldt County Health Department operates an Adult Medicine clinic in Eureka every afternoon and three mornings a week. The clinic’s focus is the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV testing and counseling, and diagnosis and treatment of lice and scabies. A Women’s Health Clinic is open daily in Eureka from 9:00 - 4:30 and offers services such as family planning, colposcopy, endometrial biopsies, and consultation on menopausal issues. If a medical problem is discovered, the patient is referred to an outside physician in the community for follow-up. An additional Women’s Health Clinic operates one day a week in Willow Creek. The Humboldt County Health Department also operates a clinic in Garberville for immunizations, HIV testing, PPDs, etc. No family planning or adult health services (STD treatment) are offered.

There are separate agencies for the Humboldt County Mental Health Services and Alcohol and Other Drug Programs. The County Mental Health Services operates an inpatient psychiatric hospital (Sempervirens Hospital) in Eureka which has an average daily inpatient census of 15. (The hospital contracts with Del Norte County Department of Mental Health for inpatient care.) The County also offers 23 hour crisis counseling and operates outpatient clinics in Eureka and Garberville. The clinic in Humboldt operates 5 days a week and the clinic in Garberville is a walk-in clinic which sees patients twice a month. Other services include medication evaluations, short term counseling, case management services and children’s services. The Mental Health Department employs two FTE psychiatrists and has approximately 300 active outpatient clients at any one time.

The Humboldt County Alcohol and Drug Programs operate three outpatient clinics in Eureka, Fortuna, and Garberville. In addition, there are four inpatient chemical dependency services in the county (Crossroads, Humboldt Recovery Center, Singing Trees Recovery Center and United Indian Lodge) and eight outpatient chemical dependency program locations.

The Del Norte County Department of Public Health is based in Crescent City. It offers several clinics each week providing the following services: immunizations (2-3 times a week), HIV testing (2 times a week), pregnancy testing and PPD testing. The Department employs two public health nurses who are involved in public health nursing outreach, including home visits to new mothers. Other activities include public health educational activities, a tobacco education program and communicable disease control activities including tuberculosis control. They also offer a senior health clinic every other month as part of a collaborative effort with Humboldt County Department of Public Health. Overall, it is a small department and does not offer general medicine clinics, prenatal care or family planning services or public health laboratory services.

The Del Norte County Department of Mental Health is based in Crescent City and employs 2.0 FTE psychiatrists. They are fortunate to have access on a part-time basis to a child psychiatrist, which is not common in rural areas. At any one time, there are an estimated 1,100 adults who are actively in treatment (have "open charts" but not necessarily seen monthly) and 500 children. Adult mental health services are standard and include crisis intervention, medication evaluation and treatment, and counseling services. Clients requiring inpatient care are referred to Sempervirens Hospital in Eureka. Many of the children’s services offered by the Department involve collaboration with other organizations in the county, including the schools, probation department and the courts.

The Del Norte Alcohol and Drug Program provides outpatient counseling services in Crescent City. They estimate an average of 110 clients a month. Services include one-on-one counseling, residential counseling, group counseling and intensive perinatal counseling (3 days a week/6 hours a day). The program receives referrals from the courts, Child Protective Services, and the County Mental Health Department. The program has a contract with Tehama County for clients requiring inpatient services. United Indiana Health Services also offers drug and alcohol counseling in Del Norte County and there is one other private counseling practice that has specialized counseling experience.

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