Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Riley County Health Department Advisory Council 8/27/2014



August 27, 2014   4PM   Health Department

                The Chairman, Virginia Barnard, was absent.  Dr. Paul Hesse,
chaired the meeting.  The Council planned  to continue their investigation
of Binge Drinking with a focus on Fake Patty’s Day with the appearance of two
businesses related to Binge Drinking, Randy Martin, an  Aggieville Business Owner,
and Dennis Cook, a Budweiser Distributor.  However, Dr. Hesse stated that each
indicated they were “uncomfortable” appearing in person but that he did have the
opportunity to visit Randy by phone. Dr. Hesse tried to inform them they would not be ”interrogated” and that Council is just trying to get a firm and balanced understanding of the issue.  He talked with Randy Martin  and Diane Meredith who owns quite a few businesses in Aggieville. They stated that Fake Pattie’s Day greatly increases their businesses on that day. They want to see the day continued.  They don’t all sell alcohol. They sell T shirts and doughnuts. Randy wondered if the day was being used by Fire and Police to ask for increases in their budgets. However they feel well supported by the presence of the Police and Fire people. Diane is on the newly formed Aggieville Board.  She said she would like to see its become more of a “Festival” and not a drinking event but instead having a lot more food, activities, games, live music,   They both said that the drinking like at St. Pattie’s day goes on every Friday and Saturday when school is in session.  She is trying to meet this in a “reality” way feeling that  this is going to happen anyway in a “college town” and to think about what can be done to minimize the damage. Karen McCulloh disputed the suggestion that the police and fire would try to increase their budget because of St. Patties day.  She said that it is simply not true.  Another related issue is if there is any revenue to the county from that day.  So far, it seems that it mostly goes to the city i.e. citations and fines.  But the City Manager is trying to work up information on that issue.The council would like to know what is the citation level of revenue from that event.  Dr. Hesse stated that on a Health Survey at Ft. Riley the question was asked “What is the biggest threat to health?  The most common answer was “alcohol’.  When asked what can be done about it the answer was “more severe punishment”.  K-State is on the agenda to discuss binge drinking and possibly the relation to rape and assault. Dr. Hesse will try again for business owner’s input.

Administrative report.  Brenda Nickel introduced two interns from Washburn School
of Nursing  and also a Social Worker intern from K-State.

1.  The 2015 Budget has been approved minus the $2900 meant for Strategic Planning so that the ad valorum portion of the budget will be a little over 1.2 million dollars from the county.  The grant for Raising Riley has also been written and the Department  will be notified in the middle of October if they have  received it.  This is an “Early Childhood”  program.  The grant this year is requiring demonstration of more effort to reach at risk children which required some rewriting of the grant. The grant is for just under $800,000

2. The next item is related to the March of Dimes program which is to work with prenatal “moms” with an evidenced based curriculum called “Becoming a Mom”.  The Department has been awarded $15000 toward this program. It has two parts.  The
curriculum itself and to assure that moms have prenatal medical appointments. Incentives will be included such as door prizes and a quite significant gift at the end such as a Stroller or a monitor. Mercy Regional is providing a scholarship to pay for Ob/Gyn visits for uninsured who will be required to attend.  Nurses with the Obstetricians will be encouraging participation when the woman first seeks prenatal care.
  
3. The Kansas Health Institute is interested in learning more about local health issues. So the Department will be doing what is called   “Public Health Exchange”. exchanging staff so each can learn what the other does. Katy Oestman will be the staff member who will  spend time at the Institute.  She has a background in granting and contract development as well as working with policy makers in the state on health issues.  This is sponsored by the Kansas Health Foundation and all expenses to the Health Department will be reimbursed. Wyandotte County has just completed the program and Riley
is the second Health Department to participate. The person from KHI will be working with us on Quality Assurance focussing on operating hours. She will be analyzing data
which will be very helpful.

4. The Department had the Family Planning site visit.  The is required by the Title 10 state grant which comes with a lot of strings attached.  Thirty days after the visit they give a report as to compliance and then the Department has 60 days to come up with plans to remedy anything that is not in compliance.

5. First Flu vaccines are not scheduled to arrive until mid September so the first clinics will be held September 30th to be sure the vaccines have arrived. There are 12 clinics planned at business and offices such as Farm Bureau, IDEA, and the city and county offices.  There will be others as they respond to the Department’s calls. Flu vaccines will also be available at the Department starting September 30th. The Department is  also working with some of the vaccine purveyors to provide at least 100 free shots for those who do not have insurance.  The Department is planning an Oct-Flu ber Fest which will be held at the Blue Earth Plaza near the Discovery Center from 3 to 7 PM.  There will be child friendly activities hoping to have more children there. There will be flyers for it soon. Karen McCulloh asked about Pertussis.  There has been one case so far in Riley County and information  has been sent out to all the schools about how to report and  give care from the CDC . The Department is discussing planning a DPT clinic (Diptheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) meeting weekly as an ”epidemiology team”. Potawatomie County has had over 80 cases. So far Riley County has had only one confirmed. Riley has a much higher rate of vaccinations called “herd immunity” which helps. The Department has purposely maintained low volume on the issue so as to not create unnecessary fear but have been stepping up vaccinations and have seen an increase in clients wanting them. The Department will put together a press release concerning  vaccines. Further education on the issue is in the works.

6.  On October 23rd the staff will be briefed on the “Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse”.  The most recent  reporting material has been ordered and will be presented for the mandated training for the staff.  

7. Ft. Riley presented  material on the program “ Safe Harbor” , a pre-natal and postnatal depression prevention program” . WIC clerk at Ft. Riley, Lisa Maudrew, will be managing this. It is a support group teaming up with Ft. Riley’s Behavioral Health  Program. Lisa has a degree in criminal justice and has managed many support groups and is a good fit for this program.

8. The Department has been contacted by the Kansas Health Information Network to 
be a member. It is set up to receive  and provide data (client records) which is very helpful. The Kansas Health Foundation will fund this,  This helps provide continuity of care as health records will be available as needed. The Department is in the beginnings of discussing this. It could be a good way to strengthen the services of the Department.

The Council requested a discussion of the FEMA training that Brenda and Jason attended.  Emergency management and the importance of communication was paramount. Brenda considered it a very worthwhile week of training with people from all parts of emergency systems. The Department is the first line of communication for public health.  Brenda and Jason decided that they need to develop at the Health Department a “Communication Team” that is ready to manage information needed during an emergency so that basic plans are in place and ready to use.  Riley County does not have a designated Public Information Officer. Brenda feels the Department has some work to do to be ready in an emergency. 

Preparation for an NBAF emergency was suggested as a definite need to be considered.  An FBI Bio-security workshop will be held on September 11th which Brenda and Jason will attend. There was also recently an exercise to plan for dealing with a crash at the airport .  Jason acted an evaluator but it was primarily for the police and emergency services and didn’t get into Public Health issues such as managing bodies etc.  Karen McCulloh suggested a report of this might be helpful for the Council. The Department has also conducted a “Lockdown” drill as if there was a shooter incident.  K-State held a ”Zoo-notic”  workshop attended by the Department dealing with animal health and people.  Brenda feels there is a lot of education needed to decrease public anxiety.  

Brenda suggested the members of the council take a look at  the Trailer in the parking lot.  It has been worked on and will be used at the Oct-Flu-ber Fest and is ready for other uses or emergencies.

Submitted by Sue Cohen


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