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JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH
MINUTES
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Boa,,1 Members:
Phil Johnson- County Commissioner Distrid #1
Da,id SulU-van - County CommiJJioner DiJtrict #2
John /iustin, Vice Chairman - Count)' Commissioner District
#3
Jill Buhler- Hospital Commimoner District #2
GeoffMaJci - Port TownJend City Council
Sheila Westerman - Citizen at Large (City)
Robetta Frimll, Chair- Citizen at Large (County)
Staff Members:
Thomas Locke, MD, Health OJ/icer
Jean Baldwin, Public Health Services Director
Julia Danskin, IVursing Programs Direttor
Mike McNickle, Environmental Health & Natural
Resources Director
Meeting was called to order at 2:30 pm on January 18, 2007 by Chair Sullivan in the
conference room of Jefferson County Public Health. All Board members were present
with the exception of Members Phil Johnson and Roberta Frissel. A quorum was
present.
ELECTION OF BOARD CHAIR & VICE CHAIR
Chair Sullivan called for nominations to elect the new Board of Health Chair. Board
Member Westerman nominated Roberta Frissell. Board Member Buhler seconded
the motion. The vote passed unanimously. Chair Sullivan called for nominations to
elect a new Board Vice Chair. Board Member Buhler nominated John Austin.
Board Member Westerman seconded the motion. The vote passed unanimously.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
The agenda was amended to include two items under Old Business and
Informational Items; signing the Re-executed Ordinance 09-1020-05 due to a
scrivener's error in the original document and presentations from Environmental
Health staff on new additions to the Department's website.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Board Member Buhler moved to approve the minutes of December 14, 2006, as
written. Board Member Westerman seconded the motion, which carried by a
majority vote.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
None
OLD BUSINESS
Seasonal Influenza Update
Dr. Locke briefed the Board on widespread influenza outbreak activity on the East Coast
that is starting to affect Midwestern States. He reported that Washington State is seeing
sporadic cases of influenza but no increased level of school absenteeism or other major
markers for the start of flu season. The influenza strains that we are seeing nationally
appear to be covered by this year's vaccine formulation. He predicted that widespread
influenza activity would likely be seen in Washington State in February or as late as
March.
A question was raised about vaccination of children. Dr. Locke responded that while the
vaccine is most effective in children it has traditionally been targeted at children at
highest risk for influenza complications. This year there is a surplus of vaccine and
greater use in healthy children up to age 5 is being encouraged. Ifthe U.S. were able to
make enough vaccine to immunize all school children and vaccination was mandated for
school entry (as with several other vaccines) it is thought that seasonal outbreaks of
influenza could be largely eliminated. Dr. Locke informed the Board that, on average,
36,000 people a year in the die from influenza in the U.S. People are still being
encouraged to get their influenza immunization.
Member Austin stated that he would like to see advertisement around influenza and the
availability of the vaccine.
Solid Waste Rel!ulations Ordinance 09-1020-05
At the June 15,2006 BOH meeting there was discussion on the language discrepancies
between the Uniform Development Code (UDC) and the Solid Waste Regulations. A
motion was made and seconded, at that meeting, to amend the language and assure
consistency between the UDC and Solid Waste Ordinance regarding a "no tolerance"
policy towards abandoned vehicles in environmentally sensitive areas and limiting the
number of junk or abandoned cars to 2 on any single property. Due to a scrivener's error
in the amended language correction, County legal counsel has recommended that the
Board resign the document. The Board Members were presented with the re-executed
Solid Waste Regulations for signature and all original voting members signed it.
Environmental Health Records Accessible on the Web
Angela Pieratt, Environmental Health Specialist, was introduced to the Board. Angela
gave an overview presentation of the On-site records that have been scanned, formatted
and downloaded onto the county website. 2001 records are now available for viewing.
She noted that many Environmental Health records are requested by the public and
having this information accessible on the web will be a significant benefit.
Sarah Murphy, Environmental Health Specialist, Food Safety Coordinator, demonstrated
the Food Safety Restaurant inspection results now accessible on the Jefferson County
website. She walked the Board through the food safety inspection violations report and
the point scoring system used. A complete food establishment list is published on the
website.
BOH Action Hil!hlil!hts
A list of past year Action Items, from BOH meetings, was presented to the Board for
review. This list could be used as a tracking tool for policy actions. There was discussion
by the Board including ways to use, improve and expand on the list. In conclusion the
board agreed it would be a beneficial tool to summarize yearly activities.
Member Masci made a motion to endorse the staff recommendation to create the
Action Item addition to the Public Health web site. Member Westerman seconded
the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.
NEW BUSINESS
2007 Lel!islative Briefiul!, WSAC Budl!et
Jean Baldwin briefed the Board on the WSAC Priorities. She referred to the 2007
Legislative and Budget Priorities, which supports the increase in public health funding
and supports additional, dedicated and stable funding for local public health services as
recommended by the Joint Select Committee on Public Health Financing.
Dr. Locke commented that additional public health funding for emergency preparedness
in recent years, without a corresponding increase in local health infrastructure, has had
the unintended consequences of shifting staff resources from communicable disease
control and other core public health services. He stated that although we are better
prepared for pandemic influenza and other public health emergencies, this increased
preparedness has come at the cost of more cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and
tuberculosis. Local health officials are strongly advocating for an increased state
investment in a wide range of public health services, not just emergency preparedness.
Member Westerman suggested that further research be done on the status of public health
and greater attention be given to Washington's low level of public health funding relative
to other states.
Member Masci suggested that lobbying be done for B&O tax, earmarking it for public
health.
In conclusion, Dr. Locke reiterated that this is the time to weigh-in with our legislators.
The Legislative session has just started and remains in session for the next 4 months with
Bills just now starting to be introduced.
Governor's Budl!et
Jean spoke briefly about the Governor's Budget, which has an emphasis on children and
insurance for children and the cleanup of Puget Sound.
Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Cost and Access Report
Dr. Locke offered a thumbnail sketch of the governor's Blue Ribbon Commission, which
was convened in June and assigned the task of coming up with a series of
recommendations for ways to reform the health care system. He summarized that this
report establishes the goal of universal access within the next five years and seeks to
achieve this through an expansion of the current health insurance system. Universal
health insurance for children is given a high priority. An increased investment in public
health services as well as health promotion/disease prevention was included in the
Commission's recommendations.
Workshop; Policy Discussion on Performance Measures
Mike McNickle referred to the 2007 JCPH-EH Performance Measures and introduced the
Statewide Environmental Health Indicators in conjunction with the Public Health
Improvement Plan Indicators Committee. Environmental Health Directors took the
indicators currently used and decided on 3 that have been shown to make an
improvement in public health. Mike brought this to the board for recommendation and
asked board ifthey wanted to replace the existing indicators with the 3 indicators
approved by the state.
Member Masci moved that the BOH set the 3 proposed solid indicators as presented
by the Director of Environmental Health. Member Buhler seconded the motion.
Vice Chair Austin opened the floor for discussion. Discussion ensued regarding HB44l 0
funding as it relates to performance indicators. Mike pointed out that EH was 6th on the
list of priorities and the proposed 3 measurable outcomes were tied to that revenue.
Member Westerman stated that she did not want to drop the existing performance
indicators in favor of the 3 statewide indicators. After some discussion it was decided not
to post performance measures on the web.
Member Masci amended the motion to approve the 3 indicators 'in addition' to the
existing indicators being used. Member Buhler seconded the motion, which carried
by unanimous vote.
Nurse Family Partnership Update and New Division of Early Learninl!
Quen Zorrah, Public Health Nurse, Infant Mental Health Specialist, gave a presentation
on prevention for families. Quen attended both the Governor's Roll-out Education
Summit in the fall of2006 and Governor Gregoire's Early Learning Summit. She touched
on highlights of these conferences. The emphasis was on creating a seamless continuum
of services for children with shared responsibility and accountability. The ultimate goal
is to build a system for early education, not just another collection of programs.
Services start pre-birth and continue through college. School assessment records show
that half of all Washington children entering kindergarten are not ready to learn. Science
has proven that prenatal environment affects a baby's ability to learn. Depression,
cigarette smoking, drug abuse, stress, violence, and other factors have an impact on
whether that baby will have more or less capacity to learn. Depression screening done at
the health department shows 30-40% of all pregnant or new birth mothers are screening
positive for depression that can result in their babies born with depression, therefore not
fully ready to learn. The most rapid pace of brain development happens within the first
three years. A high quality environment increases language and cognitive development as
well as impulse control and improving social skills.
Creating a public-private partnership, crossing all the boundaries of health, education,
childcare, and family support to create a seamless continuum of services with blended
funding sources was also discussed. Strategic planning for this system needs to be driven
by data. Funding needs to be generated to create and support infrastructure. It cannot be
anyone agency. Quen also spoke about 'Thrive by Five', a new public-private
partnership which has decided to fund 2 communities to see if a community could unite
in a vision and provide a seamless continuum of services for children from the prenatal
period to school age. Yakima and White Center communities were chosen because they
had already created a vision for their community. Each community was awarded $9
million. 'Thrive by Five' statewide, has pledged $100,000 over the next 10 years to
communities who are able to unite in a shared vision. The have pledged to provide the
infrastructure and the leadership to each community willing to come together and work in
a collaborative fashion. Quen says that we still face many challenges. JCPH is seen in a
leadership role in young children's issues, more than any other agency, we cross all the
program boundaries in young children's issues and is committed to bridging program
boundaries. This is a great opportunity to think about what we want for our families.
There will need to be enough people in the community who share this vision to take the
next step-- finding the funding to build the needed infrastructure. This will require a
partnership among all involved agencies.
Member Westerman suggested that staff members contact community groups from this
program to determine what the group did to get started.
Jean and Quen will research ways to proceed with community development.
This information was well received by the Board and more discussion will follow in the
BOH this year.
Activity Update
Member Masci made a request to the County, through the health department, to support
the City's proposed compliance officer. He feels that the city would be better served by
combining compliance services through an Interlocal Agreement. Member Masci
requested the support of the Board of Health.
Member Westerman stated that this proposal should come from BOCC.
Jean said that she and Mike McNickle would be willing to go to a meeting with the City
Council and have a discussion on solid waste issues.
Al!enda Planninl!
On-site sewage maintenance privatization
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 pm.
Next Board of Health meeting is February 15,2007.
JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH