Systemwide funding and cooperation leads to meaningful results. Here are some stories about how FPHS partners are delivering for the people of Washington!
Having a Community Health Assessment (CHA) allowed the department to evaluate health equity, identify critical service gaps, and understand the nuanced barriers that impact rural well-being—from healthcare access and behavioral health to food security, transportation, and childcare. These insights have served as the foundation for every subsequent decision, program, and partnership GCPH has launched.
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In 2024, the Washington State Public Health Lab provided significant testing support for a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza event. Many of the staff supporting this outbreak response were funded by FPHS funds. Without the FPHS funding our response would have been less robust. We would have needed to limit throughput and likely reduce operating hours.
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People who move to eastern Washington are often unaware of the unique set of environmental hazards, extreme weather events, and potential disasters that may occur in the region. Some newcomers to the area primarily speak and read languages other than English. To serve the whole community’s emergency preparedness needs, public health agencies provide accessible information that helps residents prepare for local threats and hazards. Importantly, FPHS funds supported (or in coordination with local nonprofit organizations, SRHD leveraged FPHS funds to support) the translation and targeted dissemination of plain-language public health emergency preparedness materials covering extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and general household preparedness topics to disproportionately impacted communities in Spokane County.
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Through the Language Access Collaborative led by Public Health-Seattle King County, our agency now has access to translation and interpretation services in over 50 languages. With nearly 40% of Grant County residents speaking a language other than English at home, this service has become essential.
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Supported by FPHS funds, we partnered with Tufts Medical Center to provide training to twenty Spokane County organizations to become Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences (HOPE) facilitators. Through the training, the community-based and government city agencies can craft policies and ordinances that promote a healthier and positive environment, reducing adverse childhood trauma and experiences. The training has already led to more community engagement and family-centered events to bring a healthy community together.
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When the Lineage Logistics cold storage facility in Finley, Washington, caught fire on April 21, 2024, it ignited more than just flames. Over the next eight weeks, the 525,000 squarefoot warehouse smoldered, blanketing the surrounding rural community in heavy smoke and uncertainty. For residents, questions piled up quickly: Was the air safe to breathe? What was in the water? Who was going to help? At the center of those answers was the Communications team at Benton-Franklin Health District (BFHD). As firefighters battled the blaze, the BFHD Communications team stepped in to battle misinformation, build trust, and ensure the community had access to accurate, timely, and life-protecting information.
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With consistent support from FPHS funding, Mason Matters is evolving into more than just a convening space; it has become an engine of local empowerment and innovation. The forum launched working groups to tackle specific issues, such as rural access to care and workforce development, and hosted public listening sessions to ground its efforts in lived experiences.
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From July 2024 to June 2025, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) used FPHS funding to collect the most robust information the Washington public health system has on inequities in adult chronic health, preventive care, and associated behavioral, demographic, and clinical factors. FPHS funding ultimately changed the foundational operations and priorities of Washington’s BRFSS, focusing on understanding health inequities in our state and identifying opportunities to address them.
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The wraparound support of FPHS funding for communications and community engagement help the Board improve its efforts to reach those impacted by Board decisions and recommendations. This year, FPHS funding enabled the Board to produce video notices in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language for newborn screening TAC meetings and the hearing screening and school environmental health and safety rulemaking projects.
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FPHS funding made possible the launch of the local Chelan-Douglas Medical Reserve Corps (CDMRC) — a network of trained volunteers, both medical and nonmedical, background checked, trained and standing by to assist when our community needs them most. The CDMRC enhances our emergency surge capacity, strengthens community trust, and ensures we can respond swiftly and effectively in any public health emergency.
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Each state fiscal year, the FPHS System produces a report to show where funds are being allocated and spent, and to track progress towards fully funding and delivering Foundational Public Health Services across the state. These reports are typically released in December, for the preceding fiscal year, which runs from July 1st to June 30th.
