Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutM011917• JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES • Thursday, January 19, 2017 Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend WA 98368 Board Members Kate Dean, County Commissioner District #1 David Sullivan, County Commissioner, District #2 Kathleen Kler, County Commissioner, District #3 Catharine Robinson, Chair, Port Townsend City Council Sheila Westerman, Citizen at large Jill Buhler, Hospital Commissioner, District #2 John Austin, Vice -Chair, Citizen at large Staff Members Thomas Locke, Health Officer Vicki Kirkpatrick, Public Health Dir Tammey Newton, Community Health Dir Veronica Shaw, Public Health Deputy Dir Michael Dawson, WQ Manager Jenny Matter, Clerk of the Board Chair David Sullivan called the January 19, 2017 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health to order at 2:31 p.m. A quorum was present. Members Present: John Austin, David Sullivan, Jill Buhler, Sheila Westerman, Catharine Robinson, Kate Dean Members Excused: Kathleen Kler • Staff Present: Michael Dawson, Tom Locke, Vicki Kirkpatrick, Tammey Newton, Jenny Matter APPROVAL OF AGENDA • Chair Sullivan called for review and approval of the agenda for the 01/19/2017 meeting. John Austin moved to add Old Business and Informational Items, Item 3: Information on Senate and House bills regarding the age of individuals to purchase tobacco. Jill Buhler moved to add New Business, Item 3: Jefferson Healthcare response to influenza season. John Austin motioned to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded by Sheila Westerman. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Chair Sullivan called for nominations of officers for 2017. Jill Buhler nominated Catharine Robinson for position of Chair. The nomination was . seconded by John Austin. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. C7 • Sheila Westerman nominated John Austin for the position of Vice -Chair. Jill Buhler seconded the nomination. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. • APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Robinson called for approval of the minutes of the December 15, 2016 meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health. Jill Buhler motioned to approve the minutes; the motion was seconded by John Austin. No further discussion. The motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENTS Kate Dean introduced Rhinnah Becker, an intern working with Public Affairs who is shadowing her this month. OLD BUSINESS AND INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 1. Mumps Outbreak in Washington State Dr. Tom Locke, Health Officer, informed the Board of the mumps outbreak in the counties of • Snohomish, King, Pierce, and Spokane during the latter part of 2016. Although the outbreak was fairly contained and is now dying out, it is increasing country wide. Dr. Locke said this can be attributed to the vaccine not being 100% effective and a significant number of children (5%-15% of the population) not getting the MMR vaccine. There have been no confirmed cases in Clallam • or Kitsap counties. Dr. Locke reviewed transmission of and complications from the mumps (brain swelling, male sterility, deafness). Sheila Westerman asked if there were statistics connecting the number of mumps cases to the vaccination rate per county that could be used to educate and encourage parents to vaccinate their children. Dr. Locke said most of the children who were infected had been vaccinated, which happens when the vaccine is only 88-89% effective. 2. Three County Coordinated Opioid Response Project Update 01/12/2017 Dr. Locke announced that the Opioid Response Summit for the three county area will be held on Monday, January 301h in Kingston. There are still spaces available for those who would like to attend. Dr. Locke gave an overview of the plan to address the opioid crisis and said the three counties are well positioned to receive funding to implement the plan. There is broad based participation and support from varied healthcare, law enforcement and social service agencies to decrease opioid prescribing, increase access to treatment for opioid use disorder and increase access to naloxone. Dr. Locke said the highest rates of opioid overdoses in Washington State are in areas in Clallam is and King Counties, and Bremerton is not far behind. Although the coordinated plan is resource 0 0 • intensive, they have an opportunity to make significant enhancements to the system in a matter of months rather than years and it can be used as a model for the state. Jill Buhler added that the State Hospital Association is taking the opioid epidemic very seriously • and advocating for a pharmaceutical data base to coordinate prescriptions state-wide. Sheila Westerman informed the Board about a lawsuit to be filed by the City of Everett for false claims by the makers of oxycodone. Dr. Locke provided a brief synopsis of the events leading up to the lawsuit, including the trafficking of opioids, the response required by the city of Everett, and the fact that the maker of Oxycontin (Purdue Pharmaceuticals) had published deliberately fraudulent research. There was a short discussion on the effectiveness of opioids for acute and chronic pain and the tendency to over -prescribe. Vicki Kirkpatrick reported that the Naloxone kits have been distributed to the Sheriff and they are currently in the process of training their staff and distributing them. Naloxone has also been distributed by the needle exchange program. 3. Information on Senate and House Bills Regarding the Age of Individuals to Purchase Tobacco John Austin reported that he recently went to Olympia and met with Steve Tharinger, Mike Chapman and the State Board of Health and gave them a copy of the Board's resolution to raise • the legal sales age for tobacco and vapor products. He said both the House and Senate have similar bills (Senate #5025, House #1054) that can be viewed online. An updated Health Impact Review will be presented to the Legislature on Friday. Unfortunately, information on the long term financial impact is limited. • NEW BUSINESS 1. Medicaid Transformation Grant Approved for Washington State: Toolkit Open for Public Comment Dr. Locke spoke about the Medicaid Transformation Grant recently awarded to Washington State. The award is for $1.1 billion over a five year period. The grant is from appropriated money and has a significant amount of bipartisan support. Although possible for it to be cut short due to the new administration, there should be funding over the next couple of years. Dr. Locke reviewed the toolkit and the categories for funding. Shelia Westerman asked for clarification on the terminology in the toolkit and expressed her concern about using materials with concepts that are difficult to grasp to educate the public. Dr. Locke and Vicki Kirkpatrick provided further information on the purpose of the grant as it relates to integrating different funding streams and aspects of health care that have typically worked in an uncoordinated fashion. John Austin asked for clarification about the roles and responsibilities for the Accountable • Communities of Health (ACHs) and the Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). Dr. Locke 3 0 • explained the system for project approval and the role of the Healthcare Authority (HCA), along with the goals of the grant. 2. Influenza Season, 2016-17: Widespread Activity throughout Washington State • Dr. Locke informed the Board that complications and deaths from this year's flu are expected to be worse than previous years. The predominant strain of influenza this year is H3N2, known as the Hong Kong flu that originated in 1968. Dr. Locke gave an overview of the four main strains of the flu that are currently in circulation, how they are transmitted, and when to expect the rate of incidence to decline (approximately 2 — 3 weeks). Jill Buhler reported that the first two weeks of January have been the busiest in the history of the hospital. However, because of the dedication and commitment of the hospital staff, they didn't have to cancel any surgeries or divert any patients to other hospitals. Kate Dean expressed her concern about having access to the vaccine and there was a short discussion on vaccine availability, which included why the nasal vaccine was not offered this year (lack of effectiveness). John Austin reported that he had volunteered at the homeless shelter the previous night and there was extensive coughing. He asked about the possibility of offering free vaccines to people who are homeless and where they could sign up for Medicaid. Jill Buhler said the hospital can help people enroll in Medicaid. • 3. National Health Reform Update Dr. Locke updated the Board with information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is unknown how the ACA, which includes the expansion of Medicaid to cover people based solely on income, will be changed in the future. Although there was initial effort to repeal and replace • the ACA, the plan for replacement is unknown. Congress has taken some actions through budget reconciliation to remove subsidies and the mandate to purchase insurance. If the ACA was to be repealed, nearly one million people in Washington State would lose their coverage. It is likely that an alternative exchange plan will be introduced, as the effects of repealing ACA would leave millions uninsured and collapse the individual insurance market. Jill Buhler reported that the hospital was given less funding when ACA came into law because it was assumed that there would be less charity care. She and others will be going to Olympia on Monday to urge the government not to repeal ACA until there is an alternative plan in place. ACTIVITY UPDATE Vicki Kirkpatrick gave an update on the Community Health Improvement Plan. The next meeting will be held on January 26th where the steering committee will present some options for implementing the CHIP. The next joint meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Health and Jefferson Health Care Board of Commissioners is targeted for February. Staffing or support for the CHIP process will be a key issue to decide. Once the two boards meet again and finalize how • to move forward, they plan to take the CHIP back to the original stakeholder group and then out M • to the community through multiple community meetings, town halls and other civic engagement activities to increase awareness and ask for volunteers. Ms. Kirkpatrick also reported that the Jefferson County DCD director invited JCPH to the • planning commission meeting to discuss how the comprehensive plan, along with land use zoning development regulations, relate to human health. Ms. Kirkpatrick reported that the meeting was very supportive and the group was much attuned to the relationship between human health and the decisions that are made in planning for growth. They discussed updating the comprehensive plan by adding human health to the vision statement and human health elements to various chapters of the plan. Ms. Kirkpatrick thanked the DCD director and planning manager for extending the invitation to JCPH. Michael Dawson reported that on January 17th, he attended the Hood Canal Regional PIC meeting, which is the three county pollution identification and correction program. They are winding down with phase two and getting ready to start to phase three. This has been a great collaboration opportunity for the Water Quality group. Mr. Dawson also reported that he attended a meeting at the Quilcene hatchery on January 18th to give a water quality update and status of the temporary sanitation provided during salmon fishing season. The meeting was attended by the federal hatchery, state fish and wildlife, the tribes, and various other groups. The first water impacts were seen this last year where the Quilcene river got heavy use, most likely due to the Skokomish river being closed. They are still trying to figure out how to adapt and what can be done next year to make less of an impact. Vicki Kirkpatrick announced that she will introduce the new Environmental Health director at the next board meeting. 0 PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. AGENDA PLANNING CALENDAR John Austin announced that he will miss the March meeting and Catharine Robinson said she will miss the February meeting. NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING The next Board of Health meeting will be held on February 16, 2017 from 2:30 — 4:30 p.m. at Jefferson County Public Health, 615 Sheridan Street, Port Townsend, WA. n U 5 • • • • • ADJOURNMENT Chair Robinson adjourned the January 19, 2017 Jefferson County Board of Health meeting at 4:16 p.m. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH Kate an, mber Davi ul ivan, ember Cath��r��rarrrri"``ine��w��wRobinson, Chair Jo Austin, ice -Chair T Buhler, Membe -; L.—M6, Sheila Westerman, Member Excused )k Kathleen Kler, Member Respectfully submitted Jenny Matter 2