Grant County Commission held work session 121223 part 2

[Editor's Note: The Grant County Commission held a work session on Dec. 12, 2023. This part 2 continues with presentations.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The second presentation of the Dec. 12, 2023 work session came from Dr. Teresa Arizaga, Hidalgo Medical Services chief mental health officer. She added data from the Tu Casa, HMS mental health clinic. She said the previous month, they had seen 321 unique patients with 433 completed patient visits. The MAT (medication-assisted treatment) visits, she said were showing a bit lower in the data.

"We are still working with the IT Department to fully capture all the data of all the visits, because they are not all being capture," she continued. "We right now now have seven MAT prescribers, but the timing is not always with what our patients need. So we're using one of our same-day providers at Tranquil Skies, who also prescribes suboxone and others we use with the MAT program. Those encounters are not being adequately captured."

She noted that the Tu Casa program has graduates every month. The director does a great job of celebrating successes. "We're starting a new group for fathers, and for single parents."

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Cobre teachers attend Ron Clark Academy

By Lynn Janes

The Cobre Consolidated School Board held a regular meeting on December 11, 2023. Board members in attendance included, , Gabriella Begay, Gilbert Guadiana, , David Terrazas and Elizabeth Dean (online). Acting superintendent Michael Koury also attended. Serena Murillo did not attend.

Dottie Pfeifer with Kiwanis presented the students of the month awards for November and December.

Angelita Aveles from Snell Middle School takes responsibility for her learning. She has been a conscientious and exceptional student.

Kamera Ortiz from Snell Middle School always asks questions and is engaging. She has been a great role model to the other students and always willing to help.

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Center for Health Innovation community conversation 120723

Photos and article by Lynn Janes

On December 7, 2023, the Center for Health Innovation and Public Health Institute (CHI-PHI) held a community conversation about mental health in Grant County. Dr. Stacy Cox, CEO CHI-PHI, opened the meeting and explained what the organization has been doing in Grant County.

The organization has been conducting a survey on what the community of Grant County needs, the resources they have available and what could be done better. At the time of this meeting, they had 774 responses to the survey that could be done online, 36 key informant interviews and various focus groups. The cumulative information received with those, and this meeting will be shared in January 2024.

They have been compiling information with the help of the community to identify relationships, connections and working together to problem solve the counties issues. This has included what has been working and what is not.

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Aldo Leopold School internship showcase and YCC 120623

Photos and article by Lynn Janes

On December 6, 2023, Aldo Leopold Charter School held the end of the semester showcase for the internships that some of the students participated in and the YCC (Youth Conservation Corp) groups. The event took place at the school location on the WNMU campus in Ritch Hall located at 410 W. 10th Street.

Aldo Leopold started with the premise that many students learn best by doing and having direct experience. The school developed out of the community wanting to provide a choice to the area's students. The mission statement of the school: the human and natural environments serve as a text and lab for learning through direct experience, inquiry, and stewardship.

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Community conversation on mental health

townhallPhoto and article by Lynn Janes

On December 5, 2023, Silver City Mayor pro tem Guadalupe Cano and Grant County Commission Chair Chris Ponce hosted a town hall at the Grant County Veterans and Business Conference Center to do a follow up on the presentation done by Farmington the month before outlining what they had done do address the homeless, substance abuse and mental health problem in their community. See previous article, https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/81340-farmington-shares-their-community-solutions.

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Bear Canyon Dam improvements

Photos and article by Lynn Janes (see PDF plans at the bottom of this article)

On November 28, 2023, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish held a public meeting to address the upcoming improvements to be made to the Bear Canyon Dam and reservoir that will be starting fall of 2024 and going into the winter of 2025. The Grant County Extension office hosted the meeting.

The dam has been deemed by the state engineer, dam safety bureau to not have an adequate spillway capacity in the event of a catastrophic flood. The spillway has been identified as a historical structure and will not be changed, just improved. An additional spillway will be made to accommodate any overflow. The dam will remain the same and had originally been constructed with rock. The improvements being made will include using concrete for the dam.

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Grant County Commission held work session 121223 part 1

[Editor's Note: The Grant County Commission held a work session on Dec. 12, 2023. This part 1 begins with presentations.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

The first presentation at the Grant County Commission work session on Dec. 12, 2023, came from Hidalgo Medical Services Chief Executive Officer Dr. Dan Otero. He said HMS had sent a document to the commissioners hoping to show some data. "I hope you had a chance to review it prior to today's presentation."

He said he also had Susie Trujillo and Dr. Teresa Arizona in attendance on the behavioral health side of the updates.

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Brittany Alert – Luna County – Cruzito Zamora

cruzito zmora DEMING – The following information is for distributing a BRITTANY ALERT from the Luna County Sheriff's Office (LCSO). For details contact LCSO at (575) 546-0354.

LCSO is asking the public for assistance in locating Cruzito Zamora, 18. He is 5'8" tall and weighs 330 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. He was last seen on December 25 at around 6:00 a.m. in Deming. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a blue shirt, brown work boots, and a black and brown jacket. His method of travel and destination is not known.

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