Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-22-08 BOH BOARD OF HEALTH PROCEEDINGS July 22, 2008 Attendance: Board Members: Lynda Ring-Erickson; Ross Gallagher; Tim Sheldon (arrived at 3:46 p.m.) Ex-Officio Board Members Present: Scott Hilburn, Hospital District #1; Peggy VanBuskirk, Hospital District #2; Frank Philips, Fire Commissioner; Tim LeClair, Skokomish Tribe, Absent 1. Commissioner Ross Gallagher called the meeting to order at 3:32 p.m. 2. Cmmr. Ring Erickson/Gallagher moved and seconded to adopt the agenda as published. Motion carried unanimously. RE-aye; G-aye; S-absent. 3. Correspondence 3.1 The Mason County Democratic Central Committee encouraged the Mason County Commissioners to explore the establishment of a Health District. There was discussion that legal responsibilities of the Board of Health reside with the elected county commissioners and they would like to keep it that way. Board Member Ring Erickson stated in the last 3.5 years they have broadened the base when it comes to making decisions about spending tax dollars. They need to take the responsibility at the County of how to spend people’s tax dollars. She felt it is working pretty well. She has worked in areas where there have been Health Districts and she did not see them as having a particular benefit or advantage over how they are doing business. Vicki Kirkpatrick, Public Health Services Director, stated she worked with the statewide Health District. She believed there can be excellent services and programs under either government structure. She did not believe there is one advantage over the other. It has more to do with the commitment of the community and the elected officials for the provision of public health services. It is less the governance structure and more the commitment to services. Statutorily the financial responsibility is on the county. Cmmr. Ring Erickson/Gallagher moved and seconded to ask the Public Health Director to draft a response reflecting the discussion about the current board and the ongoing responsibility committed to the tax dollar base. Motion carried unanimously. G-aye; RE- aye; S-aye. 4. Cmmr. Ring Erickson/Gallagher moved and seconded to approve the regular meeting minutes of June 24, 2008 as drafted. Motion carried unanimously. RE-aye; G-aye; S-absent. 5. Administrative Issues 5.1 Health Officer’s Report – Dr. Yu reported on an environmental fungus that infects animals and humans. She noted there was an outbreak starting in 2004 in Vancouver Island. The question is if it has spread to the South Sound. It is a fungus that sticks to trees. They are aware of the fungus, but not concerned about it at this time. 5.2 Director’s Report – Vicki Kirkpatrick noted the Health Department Strategic Planning Training is scheduled for Thursday, August 7, 2008. The purpose of the training is so all the health department staff will be grounded in the strategic planning process and purpose. Following the training, all staff will be involved in the actual Strategic Planning Development Day. The outcome will be the development of a proposed strategic plan for the Health Department together with the first year 2009 Work Plan. The process will also include the opportunity for community review and input and once all of that is complete it will be forwarded to the Board of Health for acceptance. BOARD OF HEALTH PROCEEDINGS July 22, 2008 - PAGE 2 Board Member Ring Erickson thanked the Public Health Director for aligning the work of the policy makers with the work of the staff and budget. It was noted the Public Health Services will have a booth at the fair this year. They will be providing health related information and education. Additionally, they will have staff from Waste Management Recycling. The September Board of Health Meeting is a joint meeting with Thurston County. One of the suggested topics was an update on the Human Services portion which they contract with Thurston County: Mental Health, Chemical Dependency and Development Disabilities. They are currently updating the Public Health data for Mason County through a contract with Mason Matters and Thurston County. 6. Community & Family Health 6.1 Community Healthcare Task Force Update – Kim Klint, Mason Matters, explained that the county is required to complete a Homeless Plan. The plan includes a lot of elements around health issues. Funding is coming out of the Homeless Plan through a recommendation to fund a Health Access Task Force. She shared that Mason County does not have a lot of homeless population. There are a lot of people who are at risk of being homeless, in particular, families who are low income and uninsured. They will have a federal qualified health clinic coming into the community. They do not have a traditional partner that a lot of communities have had in developing the health elements in the homeless plan. They have been pulling together a community initiative to try and address the homeless issue. The group when it started said there is such a small population of homeless and at risk that they are not doing something for a very small sub population without the context of the larger population. They have tried to pick a project and a focus that is a broad community initiative around improving the health status of Mason County. It takes a lot of opportunity and space to do some individual activities for at risk population. The group started in November 2007. They have had a broad representation at the group. Participants have been from education, hospital, public health, service providers, and tribes. The group arrived at the idea under the direction and leadership that has been coming out of Mason County Public Health to be the healthiest county in the nation. Their focus is on diabetes to try and build an initiative. The title of the task force was Health Access Task Force which is assumed to mean access into the health care system. They ask the question, how do they help the citizens of Mason County access their health potential which the access to the health care system is one element. They realized that food and access to food is the most common service provider in this community. For many of the harder to reach populations, it was questioned how they use the food banks as that access point into the health care system, but also of the services provided at the food bank. The Task Force has broken into two sub-groups. One looks at how to identify and prevent people that do not have diabetes from the risk factors associated with diabetes. Knowing that if they do that they are also preventing other risk factors for other chronic illnesses. The same risk factors for diabetes are the same risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and many others. BOARD OF HEALTH PROCEEDINGS July 22, 2008 - PAGE 3 Another subcommittee, is how to get better coordinated care services for individuals who have diabetes and largely looking at people who come together with more complexities in their personal lives. They are looking at the system structure in place. They have a community vision that every school and every food bank will have a community garden. They are talking with the local farmers and how the extra harvest can move into the food bank systems. They are bringing in Master Gardners, Conservation District and other groups to start conversation on how to start to establish more community gardens at the neighborhood level. So much of the work that the community has identified as priorities is work that previous Step grantees have already done. Why do they need to invent from scratch. Public Health has made the services of their staff available to do the research on current best practices out there. Find the items that seem to best match the realities of Mason County. They have one project to pilot test a project for the path that some of the youth are on for healthy eating and exercises. Preliminary data indicate there are high risk factors in youth. They are looking at an alternative program at the Middle School for kids to get on the path for wellness and making healthy decisions. The grant is being written with Shelton School District being the lead, partnered with the community gardens, Public Health Services and Mason General Hospital. Dr. Yu commended the community task force for looking outside of the box. The most population is outside of the incorporated city of Mason County. Eighty percent of the population lives outside of Shelton, but 95% of the services are in Shelton. As transportation costs become tighter it was questioned if people will wait longer until they are in a crises mode before they show up for health services. It was noted the dental clinic is opening this week on Friday. Board Member Ring Erickson suggested they work harder to make sure people in the community know that Mason Transit Service is free. It was suggested that both the Chambers of Commerce have restaurants that might be willing to do some type of outsource for meals prepared with diabetics in mind. Joy Fulling, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, is working with Hospital District #2 and the Kitsap County Health District and the Health Care Coalition in Kitsap County. 7. Environmental Health 7.1 Oakland Bay Clean Water District Update –Debbie Riley, Environmental Health Manager, circulated copies of the Stephanie Kenny’s quarterly report on Oakland Bay Activities for 3/1/08 to 6/30/08. She noted they have had water quality issues at Walker Park area. Water samples have been taken in the area. 7.2 Environmental Health Waivers – Information Only packet for consideration 8. Public Comment – BOARD OF HEALTH PROCEEDINGS July 22, 2008 - PAGE 4 Board Member Ring Erickson suggested that as part of the strategic planning growth the Department may want to look at some of the following areas that caused her concern: Adult poor mental health – percentage of adults 18 or older who report 14 or more days of poor mental health in the past. Mason County is worst than the state of Washington. Childhood unintentional injury; maternal smoking; and adult binge drinking. It was also noted that Dr. Yu and Vicki Kirkpatrick will be meeting with the Journal about writing a regular article by the health officer to the citizens. 9. Adjourn - The meeting adjourned at 4:38 p.m. HEALTH OFFICER _______________________________ Diana T. Yu, MD MSPH Mason County Health Officer BOARD OF HEALTH MASON COUNTY, WASHINGTON _______________________________ Ross Gallagher, Chair _______________________________ Tim Sheldon, Commissioner _______________________________ Lynda Ring Erickson, Commissioner