HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth Board - Minutes - 2/23/2022Bayfield County Health Department
117 East Sixth Street - P.O. Box 403 - Washburn, WI 54891 Phone: 715/373-6109
Fax: 715/373-6307
Sara Wartman, BSN, RN, CLS
Director / Health Officer
BAYFIELD COUNTY
BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING
Tuesday, February 23, 2022 – 5:00 PM
Present: Jeremy Oswald, Tom Snilsberg, David Zepczyk, Mary Dougherty, Ellen Braddock
Absent: Fred Strand, Elaine Kopp, Deb Dryer, Terri Kramolis
Staff: Amy Jarecki, Sara Wartman
1.Call the Meeting to Order : The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Chairman
Oswald.
2.Approval December 14 , 2021, Meeting Minutes : A motion to approve the
December 14, 2021 meeting minutes was made by Zepczyk; motion seconded by
Snilsberg. Motion carried.
3.Public Comment : None
4.Situational Update and Discussion Regarding COVID-19 Recovery Phase &
COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics : Sara Wartman, Health Director shared information
on the current state of the local Covid-19 situation. Cases were up in January due to the
Omicron variant. The Health Department pulled back on contact tracing during this time
as there were so many new cases right after the first of January. We had hired extra
contact tracers and enlisted the help of the state Department of Health Services to
assist with the calls. The number of new cases has dropped from about 200 (two
hundred) cases a week to about 50 (fifty) a week, which is manageable with the staff we
have currently. Health departments are now not expected to be following up on each
and every Covid case per the state Department of Health, which frees up our regular
staff to work on other public health programs. There seems to be a national shift from a
pandemic to an endemic as mask mandates are being lifted across the country.
Wartman talked about the Covid-19 Vaccination clinics that our department has been
offering. The clinics have not been well attended anymore. Our department has
contracted with a state group who will run the clinics around the county to give our
public health staff a bit of a break. If the demand isn’t there, the question is should the
Health Department keep providing these vaccination clinics for the public.
5.Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Resolution to Amend 2021 Health
Department Budget : Amendment to the Bayfield County Health Department
2021 budget to adjust for increases/decreases in federal and state grant funding.
A motion was made to recommend the resolution to the full County Board by
Snilsberg; motion seconded by Dougherty. Motion carried.
Bayfield County Health Department
117 East Sixth Street - P.O. Box 403 - Washburn, WI 54891 Phone: 715/373-6109
Fax: 715/373-6307
Sara Wartman, BSN, RN, CLS
Director / Health Officer
6.Update on Health Department Programs and
Services : Programming over the past quarter continued
to focus on COVID response and recovery due to prioritization of communicable disease
follow-up and mitigation. Our department is now offering Covid-19 testing a few days a
week for free and there is a program that will allow us to get reimbursed for each test
administered.
7.Update on Health Department Staffing: The Health Department staff has held
stable during the last two (2) years during the pandemic. The Covid nurse that had been
hired last summer has since resigned as has the Reproductive Health nurse that was
hired to run that program. Both positions had been limited term. Wartman doesn’t expect
to be renewing the contracts of the part time contact tracers due to the number of cases
going down. Some of the other local Health Departments have been keeping their
contact tracers on staff to assist in easing the transition into normal public health
programming.
8.Committee Input : None
9.Next Meeting Date :
Tuesday, April 12, 2022, 5:00 pm, in the Bayfield County EOC and remotely via
Teams.
10.Adjourn : The meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Amy Jarecki
Amy Jarecki, Office Manager