HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth Board - Minutes - 6/17/2013
BAYFIELD COUNTY
BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING
Monday, June 17, 2013 – 4:00 pm
Present: John Bennett, Beth Meyers, Winefred Punjak, Elaine Kopp, Wayne Williams, Harold Maki, Deb
Dryer
Absent: Ken Jardine
Staff: Terri Kramolis, Cathy Moore
Others: None
1. Call the Meeting to Order: The meeting was called to order at 4:02 pm by Chairperson Meyers.
2. Approval of April 15, 2013 Meeting Minutes: A motion to approve the minutes of the April 15,
2013 meeting as presented was made by Dryer; motion seconded by Kopp. Motion carried.
3. Adoption of Agenda: A motion to adopt the agenda was made by Maki; motion seconded by Dryer.
Motion carried.
4. Environmental Health:
a. Inspections Report
The Board reviewed the inspection report which shows the number of inspections, pre-
inspections, re-inspections and other activities done by the environmental health staff. The
department is moving to a new electronic data system for the environmental health staff. They
are taking laptops and printers and inputting data in the field. The report we can get from that
system is not as detailed as the current report. The Board was okay with the report not being as
detailed but would still like to continue to get a report.
5. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Prenatal Care Coordination (PNCC) Services with
Iron County:
We have just signed an MOU with Iron County Health Department to provide PNCC services to Iron
County residents. Their Director and Board have no problem with us providing this service. Iron
County does not have a PNCC program. Our WIC Program sees clients in Iron County. Some of
these clients would qualify for the program. If our public health nurse follows these women we can
bill medical assistance and generate revenue. Also, this program has been shown to improve birth
outcomes. This will be done on days when there is a WIC clinic in Iron County. If a client needs to
be seen in between clinic days our public health nurse that lives in that area can see the client in
Hurley on her way here. This new project will be part of a quality improvement project and shared
services planning grant.
6. Lake Superior Beach Testing:
Our lab is doing well. We are doing beach sampling, and sampling public and private wells. We are
getting many more private wells and municipalities using our lab. We were able to get an Area
Health Education Center (AHEC) student who is fully funded through that program. UW-Oshkosh
sent us their beach testing equipment. We did receive a very small pot of funding to do beach testing
for Thompson’s West End Beach. Testing began Wednesday, June 5, 2013. . All other Lake
Superior beaches in Bayfield County will be sampled weekly from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We
will be using a combination of bacterial sampling and United States Geological Survey (USGS)
predictive modeling to monitor the beach this summer. We will be comparing the results. If there is
no funding for the program next year we may be just using the predictive model
7. UW-Oshkosh Intern:
Shannon Johnson, an environmental health student with UW-Oshkosh, will be working in our
bacterial water lab as an analyst and sampling our Lake Superior beaches this summer. Shannon is
funded by AHEC and UW-Oshkosh. Shannon was introduced to the board.
8. TB MOU with Ashland County Health Department:
The health department has always supplied TB skin testing as part of health screening for individuals
and businesses in our county. The program has become cost-prohibitive but we would like to
continue this service to residents. The price of solution has increased significantly. It only comes in
multi-dose vials and expires 30 days after opening. We do not give that many so the majority of the
vial is wasted. We have an MOU and protocols in place with Ashland County Health Department to
purchase solution from them on a dose by dose basis as we need it. There was discussion on whether
the fee for the test would need to be increased. We have a contract with the State Department of
Health to be a TB dispensary. North Lakes as a medical partner for blood testing, x-rays, etc. Any
work we do under this contract is reimbursed by the state.
9. New WIC Director:
Jennifer Jako has resigned and her last day was June 7, 2013. Interviews were held June 7th and 10th.
We made an offer to one candidate and that person declined. We need to decide if we re-interview or
re-advertise.
10. Alcohol and Other Addiction (AODA) Task Force Activities:
Within Bayfield County we have alcohol and drug prevention taskforce called Have You Had
Enough. The Regional Trauma Advisory Council was doing a mock accident drill for Bayfield
School students and wanted to tie in some of our prevention messages. They needed funding to take
this message to other students in the county. We wrote for and received grant funding from the WI
Medical Society. The funding is to video, photograph and tow the vehicle to the other schools. One
of our local law enforcement was on-site to do a presentation, show pictures and talk about the
hazards of drinking and driving. There have been articles in the Daily Press. One board member
suggested the display be set up at the county fair.
11. Capital Improvement Project Request:
There are problems with the Health Department entrance. The door opens when the wind blows.
One of the solutions is to put up a windbreak and move the sidewalk, and/or change the swing of the
door. In the winter it gets very cold and in the summer, very hot. It still has the old radiant heat
system. The signage is poor. Our sign was put in the wrong place. It is also confusing for people
who come in the annex front door. Another suggestion was to move the reception area to the break
room area. Mark Abeles-Alison, Administrator wanted the board’s input in changing the Health
Department entrance from its current location to the break room area. His suggestion was to put in
French doors that would open into our reception area. The Health Department reception would not
cover emergency management, veterans, licensing, etc. although would point people in the right
direction as we do now. The Administrator feels there would be better customer service with
reception in the break room and sees an advantage to the current reception area being an area for
public meetings. There would be access to the outside without people coming through the whole
building. The board also felt there would be better customer service in the break room location.
There was discussion regarding the signage to the department. After viewing the area, the board did
not like utilizing a space without a window. Their suggestions, in this order, were to get a complete
bid for leaving reception where it is, explore using Terri Bahe’s office (first office as you come
through the glass door into the health department section) with clear signage that this is health
department reception and the third choice would be the old break room.
12. Additional Funding in Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP):
We received additional funding in the amount of $6,000. We purchased Ipads, calibrated
thermometers for the immunization refrigerators and freezers and also the refrigerator and incubator
in the lab, and cameras for the environmental staff. The environmental health staff needs to take
pictures of public wells and uploading them into a DNR program.
13. Regional Trauma Advisory Council (RTAC) Collaboration:
We have been asked by Jan Victorson, Emergency Management Coordinator, to be the fiscal agent
for RTAC. The funding cannot be handled by her office so she asked if we could be the fiscal agent.
The contract person, Dan Diamon, would get a check one time per month. Other than that there
would be about eight checks cut throughout the year. Kopp made a motion to allow the health
department to be the fiscal agent for the RTAC; motion seconded by Williams. There is not a lot of
work involved and this is an entity that does a tremendous amount of good work in our county. We
would like to get five percent for being the fiscal agent. Maki wanted the minutes to reflect that if
anything happens to the funding we have no responsibility to continue the program or contract or hire
anyone to do the program. Motion carried.
14. Child Death Review (CDR) Team:
CDR teams are funded through the State of WI. Kramolis was recently approached by the CDR
coordinator and local coroner Gary Victorson asking to set up a team in Bayfield County. The team
reviews fatalities of children under 19 and then tries to come up with prevention-based activities to
decrease the number of fatalities. The funding comes through the State. The committee would meet
quarterly. There was discussion that since we have so few fatalities that we could meet with Ashland
County, Iron County, etc. The board said that this should be given back to Gary and he can do all the
coordination.
15. Germann Fire:
Because of the length of the meeting it was suggested that everyone review the slide show on their
own and we will look at the PowerPoint at the next meeting.
16. Discussion and Possible Action on a Resolution Amending the 2013 Budget to Account for
Increased Funding for PHEP Grant:
The Health Department has received an additional $6,445 for additional preparedness equipment. A
motion to approve the resolution and forward it to the County Board for adoption was made by
Dryer; motion seconded by Bennett. Motion carried.
17. Next Meeting Date: The next meeting is set for Monday, August 19, 2013 at 4:00 pm.
18. Other Issues: Email Cathy or Terri K if you want something on the agenda. Terri Bahe is doing a
new program called Living Well. It is funded through a grant in the Human Services Department on
Aging. Classes are run dealing with chronic conditions, i.e. arthritis, diabetes and teach people how
to self-manage. There was question about the funding. If we no longer have funding we will no
longer do the program. We have had to let programs go in the past because of lack of funding. In
order to do a lot of the programs we do we need to get grant funding.
19. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 5:44 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Cathy Moore
Office Manger