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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth Board - Minutes - 12/12/2023Bayfield 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 December 12, 2023 – 5:00 PM Present: Jeremy Oswald, Madelaine Rekemeyer (5:02 pm.), Jeffrey Silbert, Terri Kramolis, Fred Strand, Mary Dougherty, Dr. Deborah Dryer (online at 5:07 pm), Kathleen Carlson, Dr. Kathryn Stolp (online at 5:10 pm) Staff: Sara Wartman, Amy Jarecki, Michelle Crowell, Gus Guenther, Nathan Hauber (5:14 pm) 1.Call the Meeting to Order : The meeting was called to order at 5:26 p.m. by Chairman Oswald. 2.Approval of October 11 , 2023, Board of Health Meeting Minutes : A motion to approve the October 11, 2023 meeting minutes was made by Kramolis; motion seconded by Carlson. Motion carried. 3.Public Comment : No Public Comment. 4.Review and Possible Action Regarding Fourth Quarter-YTD-Budget: Resolution for Public Health Infrastructure Grant Funding: This grant is for public health staffing, infrastructure training, recruitment, retention and other types of staffing needs. The department will be using the grant not only for training new and existing staff, but also for community needs assessments. Since this grant ends in 2025, the funds will be spread out over the next few years. Coy has shared that there is already new staff coming on board and that they will need quite a bit of training. A motion to recommend this resolution be presented before the full County Board for approval was made by Kramolis; motion seconded by Dougherty. Motion carried. 5.Update on Health Department Staffing: The Health Department is experiencing several changes: Due to not receiving any qualified applicants for the Environmental Health Sanitarian position, vacated by Coy, the department received permission from the state to hire a non-registered employee who would be eligible to take the test for Registered Sanitarian. There would need to be a sanitary supervisor overseeing this new position. Coy brought this to the attention of Mark Abeles- Allison, Bayfield County Administrator. The existing Registered Sanitarian on staff would become the lead Sanitarian. This way, the department could hire a lower level Environmental Health staff member. Abeles-Allison approved as well as the Personnel Committee. Coy has since re-posted the open position and to 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 date has seven (7) applicants, with three (3) to four (4) interviews scheduled within the week. The department has been using one of the part time public health nurses for the reproductive health program. This nurse has had her hours temporarily extended to full time until the end of 2023 to assist with COVID testing. There are two (2) temporary positions that will end as of December 31, 2023. One is Gus Guenther who has been working as the department lab technician under the ELC (Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity) for Prevention and Control of Emerging and Infectious Diseases Grant. Alessandra Tibaldo has been working as an assistant for the COVID testing grant. Tibaldo will be returning to work with the Health department in 2024 through the AmeriCorps program. 6.Update on Health Department Programs and Services : Update and discussion EH fees schedule : Coy has been working with Abeles- Allison on making sure the fees charged cover the extra part time person that will be a shared position with the Zoning department. The fee to operate a Tourist Rooming House was bumped up from $155.00 (one hundred fifty-five dollars) to $300.00 (three hundred dollars). Coy believes that this fee could be brought down as that is a hefty bump in fees. Review of respiratory illness reporting: The department is seeing a rapid increase in COVID; still seeing cases of influenza. The cases of strep have tapered off a bit, but that may be due to the department not testing in the schools as much. The department is noticing that the public really doesn’t want to get tested as they don’t want to know if they have COVID or not. Most people don’t want to isolate for the five (5) days if testing positive or wear a mask if they’ve been exposed or showing symptoms. People are also showing up at work still sick. The department assisted with two (2) outbreak testings within the last two (2) weeks. One was for the Bayfield County Jail and the other was a local business that had requested the testing service. The nurses have tested at the local schools and the nursing home. There is information on the testing services on social media, such as Facebook. Review of Opioid settlement programming: Holly Weber, Public Health Nurse, is working with the local schools to find out what level of service they would like to have. The Health department is also meeting with the Human Services Director and the County Administrator to discuss how to utilize the funds. Public Health Staff and volunteer appreciation December 14, 2023 from 2-4 pm in the EOC: The Public Health appreciation day was on December 1, 2023 but many staff members were out sick with flu and Covid so it was postponed until December 14, 2023. This is a chance to show appreciation to the volunteers who assisted with the Covid vaccination clinics and/or contract tracing. 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 7.Discussion and Possible Action regarding 2023 Board of Health Schedule: Coy verified with Board of Health members the time and date of the meeting is still working for everyone. Chairperson Oswald mentioned that there will be board elections this year and there may be new members at that time. 8.Committee Input : Next meeting date was incorrect on the original agenda and has been corrected to reflect the correct date. The new shared Zoning/Health Department Environmental Health position was discussed with Coy. Board members discussed the fee being considered and how it will affect tourist rooming home owners in the county. Board members decided to keep this item as a discussion item for the next meeting. 9.Next Meeting Date : Next scheduled Health Board meeting for Tuesday, February 13, 2024, 5:00 pm, in-person in the EOC Room of the Annex Building and/or remotely via Teams or phone-in option. 10.Adjourn : The meeting adjourned at 6:09 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Amy Jarecki Amy Jarecki, Office Manager