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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOH minutes 022207MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 1 February 22, 2007 ORANGE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT MISSION STATEMENT: To enhance the quality of life, promote the health, and preserve the environment for all people in the Orange County community. THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MET ON February 22, 2007 at the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS PRESENT: Matt Vizithum, Chair; Jessica Lee; DeWana Anderson; Tim Carey; Sharon Freeland; Sharon Van Horn; Anissa Vines; Ernie Dodson; BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS ABSENT: Chris Harlan, Vice-Chair, Jim Stefanadis; Moses Carey, Jr.; STAFF PRESENT: Rosemary Summers, Health Director; Wayne Sherman, Personal Health Services Division Director; Tom Konsler, Acting Environmental Health Services Division Director; Donna King, Health Promotion and Education Services Division Director; Anne Miles Cassell, Administrative Assistant; GUESTS PRESENT: Lorraine Salois-Deane, Association of North Carolina Boards of Health I. Orientation for Board: Core Functions and Essential Services Rosemary Summers presented a Power Point program, “The Core Functions of Public Health”, assessment, policy development, and assurance and the Board of Health’s role. II. Welcome and Introductions Matt Vizithum called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. and introduced the guest present. II. Approval of February 22, 2007 Agenda The motion to approve the Agenda of February 22, 2007 was made by Jessica Lee, seconded by Sharon Freeland, and carried without dissent. III. Public Comment for Items NOT on Printed Agenda None IV. Action Items on CONSENT Agenda A. Minutes approval of January 25, 2007 meeting. Motion to approve the minutes of January 25, 2007 was made by Ernie Dodson, seconded by Anissa Vines, and carried without dissent. V. Reports and Discussion with Possible Action MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 2 February 22, 2007 A. Annual Report of Activities for FY 05-06 Staff prepared a Financial Overview for FY 05-06 for distribution to the Board. The report was not all-inclusive, however, it captured most of the mandated activities. Staff plans to widely distribute this activity report in a condensed format to the public. The department spent 95.46% of the budgeted amount and earned over 100% of the revenue projected. Some highlights were: Quality Assurance and Preparedness: Carla Julian reported that the Volunteer Program has been active and there are now 194 volunteers active in the Reserve Corps and one of the CERT teams is currently writing their own Standard Operating Procedures. Anissa Vines inquired about the diversity of the volunteers and efforts to recruit minority volunteers in order to reach minority populations. Dental Health: Angela Cooke reported that planning for the Mouthguard Project began and has since become a very successful program. She also reported that other patient medical problems were recognized during routine patient visits and referred back to their physician for treatment. Orange County consistently has the highest dental screening rates across the state. Jessica Lee reported that the BOP (Baby Oral Health Program) was very successful in other health departments. Environmental Health: Tom Konsler reported that the Mill Creek Survey led to a development of procedures to address issues like Mill Creek. There were 13 outbreaks during FY05-06 and the environmental health staff was involved a significant number of these. Outreach continues in the onsite program as well as other environmental health programs. Dr. Carey asked about educational outreach to the public and institutional facilities to disseminate information in an effort to reduce the number of Norovirus type outbreaks the Orange County has experienced. Health Promotion and Education Services: Donna King reported that employee wellness screenings began in FY 05-06. Health educators spent over 1200 hours actively participating and providing consultation to local boards, task forces and coalitions with specific focuses on the health of Orange County residents. Over 600 individuals received nutrition education either during Wellness Screenings or in Senior Centers. Personal Health Services: Wayne Sherman reported that primary care services were offered in Hillsborough during FY 05-06.for the first time and expansion of services to Chapel Hill was planned. Personal Health Services dispensed 3,493 influenza vaccines and 134 people received meningococcal vaccine. 5,180 patients received preventive clinical care and 10,667 clinic visits were made for preventive services. B. Personnel Requests for FY 07-08 The budget office begins the budget process each year in January or February by requesting projected revenues for the next fiscal year, possible personnel requests, and capital request MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 3 February 22, 2007 items. The positions being requested by the Health Department include: • Environmental health specialist for food and lodging program (a repeat request from last year) to do more preventive training and work with lower scoring restaurants. • Environmental health specialist for the well program is a direct result of the new well rules going into effect in January 2008 that requires increased onsite visits. • Air and water environmental health technician would be an increase to a full time permanent position. Previously the position was part-time through temporary funds. • Nurse practitioner for primary care program is due to an expansion of the program. • Clinical nurse is due to an expansion of the primary care program to SHSC. • Nursing assistant is due to an expansion of the primary care program to SHSC. • Half-time lab technician for the clinical program to SHSC. • Medical office assistant to provide additional clinical support • Senior Public Health Educator in charge of administering the volunteer program is currently a grant funded position and would move to being a county supported position. Motion to endorse position requests as presented for inclusion in the final FY07-08 budget request was made by Tim Carey, seconded by Jessica Lee, and carried without dissent. C. Capital Requests for FY 07-08 There are three aspects of the capital request process, first are “true” capital items that are acquisitions that have a value greater than $2500. Also included in this category are alterations, repairs, or renovations to current facilities and vehicles. The second category is capital operating, those equipment items that are less than $2500 but have an extended life for operations. Examples in this category include furniture, durable medical and dental equipment, and durable tools. The third related category is information technology that includes desktops, laptops, field technology, computer software, and communication devices such as radios. Matt Vizithum asked if the County would be receptive to the department using part of the money that is turned back to the County at the end of the Fiscal Year to purchase some of these items. Items that are less than $2500 will be submitted in the capital operating budget as part of the overall budget request in March. Other items such as vehicles, information technology, and facility requests will be submitted at the end of February. A breakdown list of capital requests by division was provided to Board members for their information. Motion to approve the Capital Requests for FY 07-08 was made by Jessica Lee, seconded by Anissa Vines and was carried without dissent. D. Revisions for Board Operating Procedures Rosemary Summers reported that the Board’s current operating procedures require an annual MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 4 February 22, 2007 review of operating procedures for possible revision. The re-drafted operating procedures are considerably more streamlined than the current version and would require fewer changes in the future since it would not require revision based on changes in state law. Many of the legal references have been removed. The new draft is based on template developed by the UNC School of Government to assist local health departments with accreditation requirements. Motion to approve the revisions to the Board Operating Procedures was made by Jessica Lee, seconded by Sharon Freeland. and carried without dissent. E. Draft Social Justice Goal Several years ago the Board of Commissioners expressed interest in developing a social justice goal for the county and charged the Human Rights and Relation Department with exploring the elements of such a goal. Last fall the Board participated in a “pennies for justice” exercise formulated by the Human Rights and Relations Commission to determine what critical issues should be addressed in a social justice goal. Board members were provided a copy of the draft, a culmination of all the community input gained through that exercise plus results of listening sessions and other data provided to the Human Rights and Relation Committee. The draft recommendations were presented for Board feedback to the Human Rights and Relation Committee as they finalize their recommendations to the Board of Commissioners. Board members offered the following suggestions. Discrimination: Dr. Carey suggested a change in language to include the phrase “bilingual as in native language” at the end of the bullet #3 regarding the hiring of fluent Spanish speakers and on bullet #4 Sharon Van Horn suggested “and English adequately” be added regarding hiring of fluent bi-lingual employees. Income and Wealth: Ernie Dodson felt the county should not pursue and implement a livable wage ordinance as it could potentially send future and current employers to other nearby counties where business operating costs would be less. Tim Carey expressed a concern that this issue be addressed because many limited income citizens in the County experience sub- standard living conditions. Healthcare: Dr. Carey strongly felt the first bullet should be rephrased to express the philosophy of “access to health care by every person in the County” because it is an achievable goal in this county. He expressed concern that the County could find itself in the expanded role of insurance company and establishing risk pools, an insurance function, and that this would be better handled at the state level rather than by county government. Anissa Vines and Sharon Van Horn recommended that Board of Health recommendations be provided on facility set-up and location to clarify the “co-locate” term used in the draft. Housing: Ernie Dodson felt this was an unrealistic goal and put too much burden on the County MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 5 February 22, 2007 to meet that goal and that it would be difficult to acquire building lots in the projected range. The total impact of the policy should be looked at. Dr. Carey felt that there was a social justice issue involved and that certain populations were getting pushed further and further out into the rural areas of the County. Sharon Van Horn advised the last bullet be moved to the top of the list. Physically and Mentally Safe Communities: Jessica Lee felt that different cultural contexts for services should be considered. Anissa Vines suggested a bullet be added to address child abuse prevention programs. Environmental Justice: The Board felt that the focus was too narrow and needed to be broadened beyond the Environmental Responsibility Goal that the County Commissioners passed in 2005. F. Public Health Preparedness Update The Health Department has a responsibility to prepare its staff and operation to be able to respond appropriately in the event of an emergency that endangers the public health. The Board received an update on progress toward completing the initial plans and upcoming elements and exercises from Carla Julian. G. Informational Items 1. Water Resources Work Group The final report of the Water Resources Work Group was provided. Work group members agreed that they would be unable to develop a solution in the absence of a directive on how the County government wants to organize itself to address water resources management. The report will be forwarded to the County Manager and Board of Commissioners for clarification of how the County as an organization will address water resources. The work group is willing to meet with the County Manager for any clarification of the report. Otherwise, the group will leave the job description and position’s placement within the County government up to the County Manager. 2. Legislative Items There are several current public health state legislative issues of interest to the Board of Health. They are: House Bill 23/Senate Bill 25: This bill appropriates funds for FY 07-08 and 08-09 to be used for the Statewide Health Promotion program to support the work of one full-time public health professional in each county to work on the public health issues of physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH February 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 6 February 22, 2007 Senate Bill 249: This bill would appropriate funds for FY 07-08 and 08-09 for General Aid to County funds to improve the delivery of the 10 essential public health services in all counties. These funds would be used to supplement and not supplant county funds appropriated as allocated for this purpose. Senate Bill 124/House Bill 259: Prohibition of smoking in public places and places of employment. The House Bill would take effect July 1, 2008, while the Senate Bill would be effective upon signature by the Governor. 3. Possible Grants: Tom Konsler reported that the Clean Water Trust Fund Grant would potentially provide funding for mapping abandonment of old wells and septic inspections that potentially could be a source of contamination of ground water and would promote public education in critical watersheds. Alan Rimer, Tom Konsler, and Rosie Summers decided to delay this grant application work until this summer with a potential submission date of next spring. The grant to study effects of water softeners on septic tank “health” would involve working with the state in a study of the problem with discharge of water softeners into septic systems possibly clogging the filter and causing early failures of the system. H. Tracking Form Review The Tracking Form provided the Board with a picture of upcoming agenda items and projects enabling the Board to plan its agendas. There were no changes or additions to the form. VI. Board Comments/Announcements None VII. Adjournment Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Anissa Vines, seconded by Tim Carey, and carried without dissent. The next Board of Health meeting will be held on March 22, 2007 at the Government Services Center, Hillsborough, North Carolina at 7:00 PM. Respectfully submitted, Rosemary L. Summers, MPH, DrPH Health Director Secretary to the Board