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DCHC Minutes 4-29-2010
DUKES COUNTY HEALTH COUNCIL
Minutes
Thursday, April 29, 2010

Call to order

Dedie Wieler, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:45AM.

Attendees included: Tom Bennett, Jacque Cage, Sharon Clauss-Zanger, Cindy Doyle, Jay Ferriter, Judie Flanders, Chris Knowles, Rex Jarrell, Karen Meeks, Patsy McCornack, Paddy Moore,  Jo Ann Murphy, Gayle Poggi, Oceana Rames, Connie Teixeria, Bob Tonti, Susan Wasserman, James Weiss, Dedie Wieler, Terre Young

Vote to approve the Minutes of the March 25, 2010 meeting:  Requests to amend minutes regarding the spelling of Amanda Hutchinson’s name; minutes approved.

The next scheduled meeting will be May 27th.

Nominating:  Chris Knowles: A ballot for membership was presented for three new members. They are: Dave Caron, a member of the Oak Bluffs Board of Health, Rev. Rob Hensley, a clergy representative, and Amanda Hutchinson, public official, Aquinnah Board of Health. Susan Wasserman made the motion to cast one ballot for the entire slate. Motion was seconded by Connie Teixeira and the motion was approved and the vote for the slate, unanimous.

Coordinating Committee: Dedie Wieler:  Conversation started with a look at the Health Council. What it is? What should it be? Where is it going?  As no one has come forward to join the Coordinating Committee which has lost two members and has no remaining members willing to take on the chair position vacated by Dedie, the council seems to be at a cross road. Great conversation with suggestions and comments being;
  • DW meet quarterly and rotate the chair duties between Coordinating committee members; we could come together to share information. This is not apathy, we are all over committed.
  • CK The work is being done by various committees, dissolve the council with open invite for everyone to meet quarterly but not with DCHC name and county by-laws requirements;
  • CK meet quarterly, have a theme and anyone from the island would be free to come in;
  • CK  This is the 15th birthday of the council, 4/95. It has served as a great incubator, YTF, Rural scholars, Rural Clinic, Access program
  • SW  This is a very valuable forum. Without structure the projects would falter
  • PM  As an island we tend to fracture. This person speaks strongly to continue the council. We could re-examine the by laws and mission statement.
  • CD  The council is valuable and it is unique to have all groups together creating a network and safety net.
  • RJ  We are a local level CHANA doing vital work in our community
  • JC  We also have history and encourage consumers to be at the table and have such a diverse group
  • JW  Being new to the island this forum has offered him connections that have allowed him to meet and work with people he might not have connected with so quickly or easily
  • CD know how important it is that what we all do is help each other. She needs all of us to keep people who are most at risk in mind
  • KM  This is one place where people do come together and that has made the work of the agencies more collaborative
The talk about changing the council is driven by the fact that we don’t have a leader. We will make clear what accountabilities of the chair are at the May meeting. Oceana offered to take on the chair responsibilities for the May meeting. Connie offered to join the Coordinating Committee.

Duties of the chair include, running Coordinating Committee meetings, setting council meeting agenda, work with anyone who wishes to be a speaker, if there are political issues in the council, members talk with the chair first. More ideas from the floor:
  • The agenda could be organized by someone other than the chair
  • Have term limits for chair, make them clear and have other members step up to the plate
  • Leadership roles on council
  • Mentor new members
  • Create a draft of Coordinating Committee structure
Jim Weiss offered to head this task force which will meet on Thursday, May 13th 8 am at the Superintendent’s office, VH.  All are invited. SW, PMcN, BT, CD, GP, CK and TY offered to participate.

The group thanked Dedie for her dedicated work with the council.

MVH Community Health Initiatives: we have not created enough coordination to hold the planned community meetings. They are rescheduled for May 18th at the Howes House and May 20th at the VH library.  The focus of the forum will be to find the major health issues and validate them, being certain that the DON group’s ideas are reflective of the committee’s perceived issues and find any new issues and then create a sense of priorities. Our job with this process is to get really clear about what we want and go forward.

Rural Scholars: Rex Jarrell: The program is being re-arranged by moving the participating students from freshmen to sophomores and we will not have scholars this year. Please keep a project in mind and this committee needs new members.

The next Dukes County Health Council meeting will be held on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 7:30 in the Public Safety Building in West Tisbury.

Dedie adjourned the meeting at 9:05 am.           Respectfully submitted, Terre D. Young

My apologies for the length of these minutes, I did not want to miss the importance of people’s comments. And, my apologies for anyone whose thoughts and comments I have missed.