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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 May COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL PUBLIC HEALTH NURSING VITAL STATISTICS ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HEALTH EDUCATION JEFFERSON COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT B02 SHERIDAN PORT TOWNSEND, WASH. 9836B (206) 385,0722 HEALTH BOARD Minutes: May 17, 1988 BOARD MEMBERS: STAFF MEMBERS: B.G. Brown, Chairman Larry W. Dennison, Member George C. Brown, Member Rick Miklich, Director Environmental Health Mary Catlin, Administrator and Director of Nursing J. Peter Geerlofs, M.D. Health Officer CITY OF PORT TOWNSEND REPRESENTATIVE: Karen chang ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** Chairman B. G. Brown called the meeting to order at the appointed time. Commissioner Larry W. Dennison and Commissioner George C. Brown were both present, as well as Mary Catlin, Administrator, Rick Miklich, Director of Environmental Health, and Dr. Peter Geerlofs, Health officer. City Representative Karen Chang was not present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: meeting were approved by motion Commissioner George Brown. The The Minutes of the April 19, 1988 of Commissioner Dennison, seconded motion passed by a unanimous vote. by ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: Transition Plans: Mary Catlin reported that she will be submitting her letter of resignation in October. She then submitted a list of suggestions to aid in making the transition to a new person as easy as possible. she urged the Board to make a decision by June 21 regarding the type of position to advertise for to fill this vacancy. Health Board Minutes: May 17, 1988 Page: 2 Three scenarios were presented with pros and cons of each: 1) combining the Administrator and the Director of Nursing positions as they are currently. 2) Possibly combine Administrator and Environmental Health Director positions. 3) Create an Administrator, Business Manager position. Mary advised that she turned her resignation in early to make sure that the County can fill the position before she leaves. She stated that she feels it is critical that this position not be left vacant because the nurses do not have the time to pick up the workload to cover even a portion of the job. Alternatives for dividing the responsibilities were then discussed. Mary Catlin recommended that the Director of Nursing be strictly an administrative position with no direct care (nursing) responsibilities. Funding alternatives were also discussed to allow this change in duties for the Director of Nursing. The salary needed to attract a Nursing Administrator would be about $26,000 to $33,000 annually. A person with several years of experience is needed. The discussion turned to the issue of employee turn over in the Department. Workload, salary, and lack of policies were cited as factors in why the department has lost employees in the past year, Mary Catlin reported. Dr. Geerlofs said that to minimize the impact of turnover it may be better to split the administrative and nursing positions. Mary Catlin then explained a typical day of administrative duties, as well as a typical day of Director of Nursing duties which includes space and resource scheduling, nursing personnel matters, budget tracking, etc. Dr. Geerlofs suggested that the administrative role needs to be well defined for each of the Department services. The role of overall administrator is less in this department because much of that work is done be each of the Directors. Dr. Geerlofs said that he would like to see the overall Administrative duties rotate between the Director of Nursing and the Director of Environmental Health. This rotation of the administrative work would help cross train these key staff members. Only one person would have the ultimate administrative authority. The Board will consider the alternatives and plan to reach a consensus at the next meeting regarding the plan for filling the vacancy being created. George Brown asked if there were any people in the Department who have the qualifications to take over the Director of Nursing position? Mary advised that there are, but they are not interested in the position. Mary Catlin asked the Board how they felt about taking the direct Health Board Minutes: May 17, 1988 Page: 3 nursing duties from the Director of Nursing and making it strictly a Nursing administration position? If this is done then the part-time nursing position will become a full time Public Health Nurse position. Commissioner George Brown moved to direct the Health Department to hire a full time Public Health Nurse to replace the two part time nursing positions that are due to be vacant soon. commissioner Dennison seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. NURSES REPORT: The monthly statistics for the nursing section were submitted by Mary Catlin. * WIC (Women, Infants and Children) clinics have increased and 225 clients are now being served. Nancy Smith the nurse who has been doing the WIC program will be leaving. Immunizations are again being offered in Quilcene twice a month. * * State Child Protective Services (CPS) Contract and Funding: Funding for this contract will start June 1. The contract includes a "Right to Refuse" clause so that the Health Department can refuse a case if it is felt that there is a problem with providing the necessary care for or if the workload is too great. The Health Departments provides home visits by a nurse to parents and children that are having problems. AIDS Regional Task Force: State was divided in to six plan for AIDS education. Under a recently passed Senate bill the regions to look at the needs and devise a School Reports and Contracts: It would be wise to anticipate less money coming in from some portions of the school contracts such as sex educations, etc. next year, Mary Catlin advised. The schools can now handle portions of the services now being provided by the Health Department. AIDS education is now required for school children in grades 5 through 12, so this may be a new service provided to the schools in the future. Letter of Resignation: Laurinda Lanza has submitted her letter of resignation. She has been the nurse assigned to handle newborn baby care. Beth Kreibiel-Johnson - speech therapist for the child development program has submitted her resignation also. Another nurse, Nancy Smith, will also be submitting her resignation. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR'S REPORT: A written summary of the environmental health activities for the month was submitted by Rick Miklich. Cape Georqe Sewer District Comments: Steve Rice attended the public hearing to represent the Health Department, regarding the sewer Health Board Minutes: May 17, 1988 Page: 4 district's sewage treatment plans. One item of concern in the Sewer District's plan, is their intention to have the septic tanks for all properties that are hooked up to the system stay in Use. This means that the effluent will be pumped from the home into the septic tank and not pumped directly into the treatment plant. Septic tank septage is pumped from the septic tank and dumped at the landfill. Sludge from the sewage treatment facility is disposed of at the landfill. Non Profit Orqanizations: Rick Miklich stated that the Department needs to come up with a definition of a non-profit organization. The definition used in previous years was not clear. There are two issues, Dr. Geerlofs noted: 1) Does the Department want to exempt non-profit organizations from the fees and 2) if these organization are to be exempted then how is a non-profit organization defined? Dr. Geerlofs further explained that for every permit that is exempted from temporary food services fees the Health Department is absorbing the cost associated with the issuance of that permit. The cost for these services comes out of the budget. The suggestion was made that possibly a reduction in fee could be given to these organizations. Chairman B.G. Brown advised that the Board has made the decision to exempt private non-profit, and governmental organizations from the temporary food service fee. A private non-profit organization must provide proof of their non-profit status. MEETING ADJOURNED JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH ~) B. G. Brown, Chairman ~ George C. Brown, Member