Community Health Advisory Board

The Island County Community Health Advisory Board (CHAB) is the longest standing board of its kind in Washington state. Members are appointed and act in an advisory capacity to Island County's Board of Health. They make recommendations to the board in matters concerning public health as authorized in the Engrossed Second House Bill 1152 (RCW 70.46.140).  

Regular Monthly CHAB Meetings

  • Meetings are at 11 AM on the first Friday of the every month.
  • Meetings are held in person in the Commissioners' Hearing Room, B-102, Coupeville Anne Building located at the corner of 6th and Main Street.
    • Join the meeting via Zoom.
    • Meeting ID: 945 2101 9995 / Passcode: 087548
    • By phone (audio only): 253-215-8782 / Meeting ID: 945 2101 9995

Agendas & Minutes

  1. Background
  2. Membership Details
  3. become a chab member

The Island County Board of Health (BOH) selected its first 21-member Community Health Advisory Board (CHAB) on March 8, 1993. CHAB was established to provide a community forum to assess the community's health concerns and needs, prioritize and recommend policy to address those concerns, and to assure that such policies attend to the community's needs. CHAB was further charged to address concerns in any area affecting health -- be it personal health, environmental health, poverty, homelessness, joblessness, abuse, or any other concern impacting community well-being - and to advise the local Board of Health of measures requiring BOH or other community action.

  1. Erin Lavery-Mullins, Chair

    Camano Island

  1. Michele Aguilar Kahrs, Co-Chair

    Freeland

  1. Deborah Seymour-Ferguson

    Camano Island

  1. Melissa Frasch-Brown

    Oak Harbor

  1. Charlotte McRill

    Oak Harbor

  1. Bob Uhrich

    Camano Island

  1. Heidi Beck

    Oak Harbor

  1. Alma Johnser

    Oak Harbor

  1. Nicole Rice

    Oak Harbor

  1. Fe Mischo

    Freeland

  1. Michele Cato

    Clinton

  1. Marian Myszkowski

    Langley

Equity Lies At The Center of Our Work

Advancing equity in the health department, across government, and/or with community partners requires mobilizing communities and government to advocate for action. Health equity asks people to recognize that entire groups of people cannot enjoy opportunities that others have come to expect because of the conditions created by current and historical decision-making. Moving toward a society committed to health equity means ensuring that everyone, regardless of race, neighborhood, or financial status, has fair and equal access to be as healthy as possible.

Our work is directed by RCW 70.46.140. and WAC 246-90-005 which states, the CHAB shall "...use a health equity framework to conduct, assess, and identify the community health needs of the jurisdiction, and review and recommend public health policies and priorities for the local health jurisdiction and advisory board to address community health needs."

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“[Health equity] requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care …health equity means reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in health and its determinants that adversely affect excluded or marginalized groups.”  

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation