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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01 January COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING VITAL STATISTICS ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HEALTH EDUCATION JEFFERSON COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT 602 SHERIDAN PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. 98368 (206) 385.0722 HEALTH BOARD MINUTES JANUARY 21, 1993 BOARD MEMBERS: STAFF MEMBERS: Robert Hinton, Acting Chairman Richard Wojt, Member Glen Huntingford, Member Larry Fay, Director of Environmental Health David Specter, Administrator Jean Baldwin, Director of Nursing Services J. Peter Geerlofs, M.D., Health Officer CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND REPRESENTATIVE: Norma Owsley ORGANIZATION: The first order of business was to elect a new Chairman. The two members present decided that Robert Hinton would temporarily serve as Chairman until such time that all three members are present and a new election is held. The meeting was called to order by Acting Chairman Robert Hinton. The following Board and Staff members were present: Commissioner Richard E. Wojt, Larry Fay, David Specter, Jean Baldwin and Harriet Brunner. Commissioner Glen Huntingford was not present due to an excused absence. ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT 1992 YEAR END FINANCIAL REPORT: David Specter reported that 99.6% of the budget was expended as of December 31, 1992. Expenses were under budget by $4,287. Responsible factors include utilizing county vehicles to reduce travel expenses and postponing the purchase of computer equipment. The two individual line items over budget are clinical supplies and equipment. Equipment was over budget as a result of purchasing HEALTH BOARD MEETING MINUTES - JANUARY 21, 1993 Page 2 equipment for the SAFE program. The overage in clinical supplies was largely due to traveler's vaccines and Hepatitis B vaccmes. Jerome Parnes, ARNP asked if he could get a copy of the figures spent on the SAFE program and if the County is reimbursed through law enforcement? David Specter stated those figures can be provided. The program is paid for by reimbursements from the Crime/Victims program. The equipment for the program was purchased with donations. David Specter reported that 95.7% of budgeted revenues were collected as of December 31, 1992. Grants were over the projections partially due to the elimination of a half-time position in the solid waste enforcement grant. Fees however, were below projections. Nursing reimbursements are down due to medicaid funds for the WIC program that were anticipated but not received. Environmental Health fee projections are under budget due to fee increases that were projected to be in effect earlier than they were, and the volume of permit~ was not as high as expected. Inter-fund charges reflect the discontinuation of two programs: the household hazardous waste program and water quality. The actual budget was $1,035.904, with Revenue funding 60.9% and current expense funding 39.1%. Current expense funded an additional $24,333 to cover the 2.5% variance. David Specter asked the Board how they would like to receive the Health Department's monthly financial information and how detailed the information should be? Acting Chairman Hinton stated that the monthly financial reports can be sent to the Commissioners' office. The members will read the information prior to the meetings and any questions they may have can be asked at the meetings. DIRECTOR OF NURSING'S REPORT WOMEN'S STD PROGRAM UPDATE: Jean Baldwin explained that in the past she has provided the Board with changes in programs and information regarding issues she feels the public might ask the Board about. The Womens STD program is being staffed internally by reassigning staff duties. A nurse practicioner will be attending a week long training session at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and another person is being trained to back- up this position. Their goal is to open the clinic by mid-February. Prior to opening, a press release will be sent to the Leader, Peninsula Daily News and Bremerton Sun news papers. They have budgeted 3 cases per week and the clinic is limited to Jefferson County since it is not known how great a need there is. They have also been working with the medical communities to set up referral systems. A manual is being developed on internal procedures. WEST END UPDATE: The Health Department contracted with Clallam County to provide nursing services to the West End. After advertising the position for several months Clallam County had no response, so the Health Department had to provide the services with an internal staff member. Frequency of visits were every six weeks, however, with the school contract and hepatitis B contract with the Clearwater Corrections facility, more visits have been necessary. She added that WIC and other State programs are focusing on the HEALTH BOARD MEETING MINUTES - JANUARY 21, 1993 Page 3 various indian reservations that are medically under served. There is a possibility of contracting with Grays Harbor, Clallam, and Pacific Counties to provide nursing services. Discussion then turned to public health versus public medicine. HEALTH DEPARTMENT GOALS HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES CONSOLIDATION: David Specter reported they have been working on the physical consolidation of the Health and Human Services departments. Design plans for additional space have been submitted to the City for approval. The plans will also have to be approved by the State substance abuse agencies. APEX UPDATE: This is a process that all the Health Department~ in the State are following in order to develop a community health plan. In February and March they will be working on the first step which is to collect and analyze health data and summarize community health problems. The next step will be to form a Community Health Committee. This committee will provide feedback on the collected data in order to develop a final list of priorities to be used in creating the plan. Hospital Administrator Vic Dirkson and Debbie Bergthold of Olympic Area Agency on Aging (03A) are both interested in this plan. There was consideration of a joint effort with them however with the hospital bond coming up in May they feel they cannot meet the time frame the Health department is working in. The goal is to have the plan adopted in September and put into place by the end of the year. ONE-STOP PERMIT CENTER: Larry Fay presented an outline of issues that need to be addressed within environmental health during the transition to the one-stop permit center. The main issue is developing policies to facilitate application processing and provide reliable information to the public. He reported the Health department follows State standards, however there are some areas in the State regulations that are not clearly defined. Two of those areas are subdivisions and water systems. Subdivision policies need to be developed for onsite sewage requirements and water supplies. The only subdivision standards that exist for water supplies are the Department of Ecology's "Interim Guidelines for Determining Water Availability". The Department of Ecology's Interim Guidelines were adopted by the County as standards to be used in determining the adequacy and potability of water supplies. These Interim Guidelines do not provide a basis for evaluating other systems such as alternative water s1Jpplies for individual systems, and two-party wells which can be exempt under certain conditions. The Health Department will be working with State Department of Health to expedite the review and approval process of small water sysiems such as Group B systems. Commissioner Wojt asked about existing systems? Larry Fay stated that as long as existing systems will be operated with the original number of service connections there will be no requirements. However if connections were added to the existing system it would need to be brought into compliance with the drinking water standards. He then reviewed the draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Health Department, PUD and the State Department of Health. The Health Department would like to have the policies in place when the one-stop permit center opens. HEALTH BOARD MEETING MINUTES - JANUARY 21, 1993 Page 4 COMPUTER/INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENHANCEMENT AND INTEGRATION: David Specter reported that a new computer system was installed last year that will generate data on client volumes, and track various groups of clients. The State Department of Health is in the process of developing tracking systems for Health Department activities. The State has funds available for another system that must be spent by June. He feels software is needed to integrate the systems. There are plans to integrate the Health Department's computer system with the Courthouse computer system 36. This is needed for generating financial reports, tracking report~ and permits, and general communication. After reporting on support staff cross-training and County health benefits strategy, David Specter asked if the Board had any goals that were not listed. Acting Chairman Hinton stated that a big concern is the budget shortfalls at the end of the year. Each County Department needs to review their budget~ and prioritize their programs early in the year to offset revenue shortages. David Specter stated they could move up the time for completing the community health plan since it is intended to help them with their priorities. The Board discussed a new time for holding the Health Board meetings. It was decided they would be held on a Tuesday afternoon each month. The specific Tuesday will be decided at a later date. The next meeting will be held on February 23, 1992 at 2:00 p.m. MEETING ADJOURNED ~ JEFFERSON COUNTY OF HEALTH ~ '/ "~GE.U~'l,"~ ' T!;~~~~~!f of "'."'ltl!lillllolll1he'montl\Jy meeting for JanualY011 1he,lll.. at 10 a.m. at the Gutte,ttrff Center Health Dep8llment C9nf~ Room, 615 Shedden, PortT~nd, WA98368. Next mont/l the retillar schedule fortllla meetingwillbe returned, which is the third Tu..,day of the month (FebrUIUY 16,l99:t). , 8.G. Brown, Chainnan Jeff,erson County Board of Health - --_ ___0091-~ Affidavit of Publication STATE OF WASHINGTON) SS COUNTY OF JEFFERSON) FRANK W. GARRED, being sworn, says he is the publisher of the Port Townsend Jefferson County Leader, a weekly newspaper which has been established, published in the English language and circulated continuously as a weekly newspaper in the town of Port Townsend in said County and State, and for general circulation in said county for more than six (6) months prior to the date of the fIrst publication of the Noticehereto attached, and Lhat the said PortTownsend Jefferson COWlty Leader was on the 27th day of June 1941 approved as a legal newspaper by the SuperiorCoun of said Jefferson County and that armexed is a true copy of the Notice Change in Health Board Meeting Date as it appeared in the regular and entire issue of said paper itself not in a supplement thereof for a period of two consecutiveweeks,beginningonthe ht-h day of J an ua ry . 19....9.l. and ending on the 13 thlay of ,1 an 1l a ry . 19.93-. and that said newspaper was regularly distributed to its subscrib- ers during all of this period. That the full amount of $ 26. 80 hasbeenpaidinfull.attherateof~~ll: per column inch for each i rtion. '$ 6 . 7 0 IJ ' ) 0<4"f[. tv <. Publisher Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13 th day of January ,19---11.. /Vi L~ Notary Public' d for the State of Washington, ~ residing at Port Hadlock. Please Publish: January 6 & 13, 1993 Bill: Jefferson County Commissioners NOTICE CHANGE IN HEALTH BOARD MEETING DATE The Jefferson County Board of Health will hold the monthly meeting for January on the 21st at 10:00 a.m. at the Castle Hill Center Health Department Conference Room, 615 Sheridan, Port Townsend, WA 98368. Next month the regular schedule for this meeting will be resumed, which is the third Tuesday of the month (February 16, 1993). ~4 .LZ..", ) B.G. Brown, Chairman Jefferson County Board of Health