The Riley County Health Department Advisory Council
Meeting Report for May 28, 2014 submitted by Sue Cohen

    The meeting began with Administrator Brenda Nickel discussing upcoming county wide assessment plans which were to commence the next week. Information from this endeavor will be forthcoming in the months to come.

    The main issue of the meeting was to continue with the investigation of the specific health issue of binge drinking.  Although in yearly health rankings in the state Riley County has usually ranked very highly generally, binge drinking showed up to be a major health problem for the County.  Because binge drinking can lead to horrific outcomes as well as large costs to the County, the Council has decided to focus on that problem by assessing, in particular, Fake Patty ‘s Day’s impact. 

Following are the planned presentations to the Council at monthly meetings.

May: Riley County EMS and Mercy Regional Hospital

June: Business impact of Fake Patty’s Day (Chamber of Commerce),
RCPD/FD input.

July: City of Manhattan tax revenue report, area hospital report.

August: Riley County Treasurer, Aggieville business owner’s perspective.

September: City of Manhattan volunteer clean up. Student input/KSU input.

October: Health Impact Assessment summary

Today, Larry Couchman, Director of the EMS in Riley County contrasted  Fake Patty’s Day’s impact with the Country Stampede, both of whom have large alcohol components.                                    

The Stampede, in its 20th year, lasts five days whereas Fake Patty’s day, in its 6th year lasts about 33 hours.  The major problem, as Mr. Couchman sees it is that the Stampede has an “owner” who is well aware of the problem with alcohol and is doing much to control it.   There are  other activities besides drinking at the Stampede but thus far that has not been the situation with St. Patty’s Day.  The fact that the Stampede is not in town is also helpful.  But his major issue is that there is no “owner” of St. Patty’s Day and thus it is most difficult to control.

This year the numbers were slightly down possibly due to the weather and the fact that there was a game that afternoon to take potential drinkers away or give them a later start.

Mr. Couchman noted that the Ambulance Service has 12-13 calls a day normally. In 2013 in the 33 hour period of St. Patty’s day there were 46 calls. Serious injuries have occurred, one requiring ICU attention and one requiring surgery.  This year a participant fell through the plate glass window of the “Creamery” which required Emergency Room care.

St. Patty’s day also spreads into the surrounding neighborhoods. 
There are problems for people living nearby with broken windows, fights, puking in the streets, and people lying unconscious in the yards or even in the streets.

In contrast the Country Stampede is worked on throughout the year and the organization and accountability is much stronger. But there are many more people (up to 40000 people in one day).
So this is not to say it isn’t a problem.

Stacy Crane from the Alcohol Beverage Control spoke about the issues with alcohol risk prevention. She has worked with the department for 9 years.  Their major activity is to enforce the
law.  They particularly try to prevent underage drinking.  They monitor liquor stores and sometimes even follow customers to try to make sure the alcohol is not being bought for underage children.  They issue citations and prosecute.   Because they did not get a grant this year to pay for the overtime and extra salary costs of having ABC people at St Patty’s day, the Department decided they could not fund having personnel at the 2014 St. Patty’s day.

Other business:  Debbie Nuss reported on the ongoing Community Assessment noting strong response and that focus groups were planned for this summer.

Brenda Nickel, Administrator noted that, although the County Commissioners were favorable to a Quality Improvement Plan that she wanted to implement in the Health Department,  they did not
feel they could budget for it at this time.  It may be something the Advisory Council might want to look at as to supporting it at a later date.

The Konza Clinic will open mid June.  There were suggestions for having a ceremony to launch its opening.

Karen McCulloh had a number of suggestions for “getting the Health Department in the people's view” such as sponsoring special “health promoting “ movies such as “Double Size Me” at the Public Library.