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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOH minutes 082505MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 25, 2005 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 1 August 25, 2005 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 August 25, 2005 at the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS PRESENT: Alan Rimer, Chair; Tim Carey; Sharon Freeland; Chris Harlan; Matt Vizithum; Jim Stefanadis; Sharon Van Horn; Alice White. BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS ABSENT: Jessica Lee, out of town; Moses Carey, Jr. STAFF PRESENT: Rosemary Summers, Health Director; Angela Cooke, Dental Health Services Division Director; Ron Holdway, Environmental Health Services Division Director; Donna King, Health Promotion and Education Division Director; Wayne Sherman, Personal Health Services Division Director; Anne Miles Cassell, Administrative Assistant. GUESTS PRESENT: None I. Welcome and Introductions Alan Rimer called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. II. Approval of August 25, 2005 Agenda The motion to approve the Agenda of August 25, 2005 was approved by consensus. III. Public Comment for Items NOT on Printed Agenda None IV. Action Items on CONSENT Agenda A. Minutes approval of July 28, 2005 meeting. Motion to approve the minutes of the July 28, 2005 meeting was made by Alice White, seconded by Sharon Freeland, and carried without dissent. B. New Fee Approval for Personal Health Glycated hemoglobin has become the preferred standard for assessing glycemic control in diabetics. The glycated hemoglobin test has been shown to predict the risk for the development of many of the chronic complications in diabetes. The Health Department recently acquired two analyzers that test for this and hope to begin using them in September on prenatal clients and primary care clients. The recommended fee is $19.00 for the test. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 25, 2005 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 2 August 25, 2005 Fee Approval for Personal Health was approved by consensus. V. Reports and Discussion with Possible Action A. Strategic Planning The Health Department has been working on elements of a strategic plan to cover the period 2005-2010. Based on input from the Board, staff has worked on developing or revising the internal focus areas portion of the strategic plan. The revised drafts were distributed for Board review along with a revised Table of Contents. Workforce Development area of the plan was extensively re-worked. Rosemary Summers invited comments and suggestions from the Board on the internal focus areas. The goal of the department is to have a well-developed audit system in place for every program. Alan Rimer suggested the addition of Board member who has experience in a particular field be included in the Quality Assurance and Risk Management oversight or audit committee because there is a great amount of expertise on the Board. Alan Rimer made the point and Board members agreed that Technology Development and Support was an extremely important issue that has been ignored for too long, The importance of being able to quickly access patient records and medical data from a common database and improved communication technology during an outbreak was stressed, along with the increased productivity benefits this would provide. Sharon Van Horn suggested the use of the recent UNC meningitis outbreaks or a possible avian flu outbreak to illustrate the need for these improvements. Overall capacity: Wayne Sherman noted that the 2004 utilization data was forthcoming and was not included as part of the Workforce Development study. Based on the available information the department’s staffing needs are not keeping pace with the growth of the county. We do not have capacity for anything other than the basics. Alan Rimer suggested the use of a table or graph to give a visual on the staff ratio to the growth number in the county. Training and Development: The question was raised of whether there is a source within the public health field for computer based training via the web that could be done at a pace convenient to workforce schedules. The department does have access to UNC School of Public Health and some of the homeland security training required with a national incident management system is online. Some of the ones the department would like to see developed on-line are county required training, especially for new employees. Cultural Competency: Wayne Sherman reported that the goal of having a workforce that was capable and competent of serving individuals in a multicultural and changing community was close to being accomplished. Department is leading of the county in accomplishing this goal. Facilities and Space: Alan Rimer commented that it would be useful to make the point if there was a way to relate what our existing space needs are and relate that to the number of patients MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 25, 2005 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 3 August 25, 2005 we see and the number of staff and space that have to support those patients and then look at the projected growth of what the patient load is going to be graphically. The point was made that the number of underserved population is growing in the county and the department has limited space to serve these needs. One way to do this is extended hours, which would mean increased staffing. It is anticipated that the Board will discuss the complete draft of the plan at the September meeting. The goal would be to forward a complete copy to the Board of Commissioners for a possible joint meeting this winter. This would allow the staff to utilize the strategic plan for budget preparation beginning in December. B. Food, Lodging, Institutional Inspection Program Review Report The state office periodically conducts program reviews to assess the quality of service provision and compliance with rules although there has been no review for the Food and Lodging Program in over 20 years. It is recommended that a review be done every 5 years. The Environmental Health Director requested a program review of the Food, Lodging and Institutional Inspection Program in 2004-2005. The Regional Environmental Health Specialist conducted the program review from January through April of 2005. The report was distributed detailing the findings of the program review. Several recommendations were made by the Regional Specialist as a result of the review to strengthen the program, most of which can be accomplished quickly and easily. The major recommendation made is that the program needs an adequate number of staff to carry out an effective program. The recommendation in the report is for two additional staff positions. The point was made that three additional staff positions would be ideal, one supervisor and two environmental health specialists, to do some of the prevention that we need to be doing. During an epi investigation, environmental health specialists, especially in the food and lodging area, have been key in all of our investigations because they have the interviewing and questionnaire construction skills that are core to our epi team. C. Health Department Buildings as Non-Smoking Campuses The legislature passed a law that allows local governments to establish policies that prohibit smoking within 50 linear feet of the local health department. Current county policy establishes smoke-free environments within county buildings, however allows smoking outside the buildings. This would allow the county to establish policies that restrict smoking within 500 linear feet of the buildings where the health department is located. That would, at this point in time, include the Whitted Building, the Southern Human Services Center and the Carr Building. All three of these buildings have other county departments located in them as well. The county is governed by an Ordinance passed in 1993 by the BOCC and subsequently “Smoking Control Rules” were established and passed by the Orange County Board of Health in 1993 and amended in 1999. The staff of the Health Department has approached management staff many times with MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 25, 2005 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 4 August 25, 2005 complaints about patients, clients and staff walking through smoke to get to the entrances to the buildings. Staff is concerned about the effects of secondhand smoke not only on the public but also the staff that works in the buildings. The Health Director consulted with the County Attorney, who advised that the best approach would to be to amend the county ordinance rather than the Board of Health rules. This is in light of the recent court decisions regarding Board of Health rules in the smoking areas. Motion was made by Alan Rimer that the Board send a letter to the Commissioners requesting an ordinance revision, seconded by Alice White, and carried without dissent. D. Board Education Plan Board members discussed options and determined an educational plan for FY 05-06. One of the DHHS agreement addenda specifies that each Board of Health should receive regular education to enhance their decision-making in discharging their duties. Last year was the first year a full year’s agenda of educational topics was planned. Because of the press of business and the development of the strategic plan, the schedule was too ambitious. The following schedule of topics was agreed upon by consensus as a starting point for discussion and possible modification: October Public Health Funding Streams January Septic and Well Approvals: From Application to Construction February The Collaboration of School Health and Public Health April Services to Residents in the Home June The Whole Story on Food, Lodging, and Institutional Inspections E. Informational Items a. Legislation A brief summary of outstanding legislative issues of Board interest remains unchanged due to the delay in passage of the state budget. Several of these bills will be affected by the outcome of the final budget. b. Budget The Manager was directed to find another $500,000 to cut from the overall county budget that has as yet not been identified. Budget staff has met with Department Heads to identify where funds may be cut. The Health Department identified approximately $30,000 in savings through a delay in hiring the Chronic Disease Nurse. This will impact the services that had been planned for the year, especially flu clinics, Fit Feet Clinics for the elderly, and services to senior centers. c. Veterinarian Recruitment MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH August 25, 2005 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 5 August 25, 2005 Over 80 recruitment letters were sent to all veterinarians in Orange County and surrounding areas to fill the Board vacancy for the veterinarian position. F. Tracking Form Review The Board requested two additional items be added to a future agenda that were of concern: 1) Sudafed behind the counter legislation 2) Impact of meth labs on public health. VI. Adjournment Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Alice White, seconded by Matt Vizithum, and carried without dissent. The next Board of Health meeting will be held on September 22, 2005 at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina at 7:00 PM. Respectfully submitted, Rosemary L. Summers, MPH, DrPH Health Director Secretary to the Board