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
