Advisory Board Minutes
January 2010
Members present: Neil Crews, Rev. Liz Deveney, Kay Ehlert, Sharon Heathman, Denise Kaullen, Mike Kramer, Martha McReynolds (also LCHD staff member), Doug Turnbough, Dr. Richard Humble, Terry Schlotman. LCHD Staff present: Nola Martz.
The meeting was opened with a welcome to the new members present and introductions. Letters thanking existing members and inviting new members were sent at the end of December. Nola reviewed the current list of members and the communities they represented for the benefit of all present. Only one existing member had indicated that she would probably not be able to continue on the advisory board. The total number of members presently is 24 (up from 21). Others would be welcome and may join the meetings at any time during the year.
Nola reviewed the role of advisory board members.
There are no positions on the Board of Trustees to be on the ballot April 6th.
Program Reports:
The annual report for 2009 was presented to the members.
Wear Red and Heart to Heart events—LCHD will be sponsoring a “Wear Red” day February 5th in recognition of Women’s Heart Health. Co-workers, Church groups, families, any anyone may take photographs of everyone wearing red and submit them to the Health Department where we will create a “wall of red”. Following the month of February and prior to the annual Heart to Heart event there will be an unveiling of the wall with a reception in the lobby of the Health Department (March 4th). The Heart to Heart event is March 18th. This year it is in the community of Higginsville, at the 1st Baptist Church from 4:30 to 8:30. Screenings will again be offered, refreshments and guest speakers will present information about heart health. Carolyn Boland, RN at LCHD, received notice late today that she was awarded a $10,000 grant to help support heart health activities including this event.
H1N1 update--LCHD has given roughly 2,700 H1N1 immunizations since the vaccine became available. We continue to distribute vaccine to participating physicians and pharmacies as well as LCHD staff are still conducting outreach clinics. The vaccine is also available on a walk in basis during regular immunization clinic days (Mondays 1-4 p.m., Wednesdays 8:30-4:00, and the last Tuesday of the month late clinic till 6 p.m.)
The emergency preparedness exercise that was held last April and presented at the National Conference for City and County Health Officials in July has been submitted for a model practice. We should know if it is accepted in February or March. A Model Practice Award is a way for our national public health association to recognize local health departments for projects that they feel should be shared with other local public health agencies as a ‘best practice'.
Other Reports:
There are some minor modifications being suggested to the physical space inside the Health Department. Two staff offices are being relocated and we are in the process of having an architect draw up plans to enclose some of the large lobby space into a conference room. Once plans have been drawn and specifications developed, we will bid the project. This will help us accommodate our own need for meeting space as well as requests from other community service agencies for meeting space.
LCHD is active as a site for a variety of students who need a place for their clinical practicum. We host high school students in Health Occupations on request, as well as the LPN’s from Lex-La-Ray. We also often have adults nursing students from such programs as UCM, Graceland University, and Research Hospital who are doing RN to BSN or MSN degree completions. This year we have already hosted a Health Occupations student during first semester, LPN’s have started their clinicals (we will have a student per week from that program until July), and we have a local RN who is finishing her Bachelor’s Degree at UCM who needs 45 hours with us.
2010 Meeting schedule & times—The Advisory Board meets on the third Thursday of the month on a quarterly basis in the months of January, April, July, and October. Currently the meeting time is 6:30 p.m. There were no objections to keeping this schedule, so the next meeting will be Thursday April 15th at 6:30 p.m. at the Health Department.
There was no further business to discuss with the Advisory Board. Nola opened the floor for announcements from members regarding upcoming community activities.
Rev. Liz announced that Trinity Church in Lexington will again be hosting the March 24th Hospice Foundation Telecast. Flyers will be coming out soon.
Terry Schlotman mentioned the upcoming Parenting Fair that will be on March 20th. Brighter Futures is one of the main groups sponsoring the project, and several agencies on the Health Care Coalition assist with this activity as well.
Nola reminded members that Wear Red day is Feb 5th. The unveiling of the wall of Red will be March 4th, and the Heart to Heart event in Higginsville is March 18th.
Meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.