DUKES COUNTY HEALTH COUNCIL
Minutes
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Call to order
Dedie Wieler, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:30AM.
Attendees included: Eleanor Beth, Julia Burgess, Jacque Cage, Tad Crawford, Stephen Danzig, Valerio DeStefani, Cindy Doyle, Jay Ferriter, Judie Flanders, Chris Knowles, Rex Jarrell, Bobbi Lima, Patsy McCornack, Karen Meeks, Paddy Moore, Domingo Pagan, Gayle Poggi, Oceana Rames, Bob Tonti, James Weiss, Dedie Wieler, Terre Young
Vote to approve the Minutes of the May 28, 2009 meeting: Moved and seconded with the request to change the date of minutes from April 30th to May 28th; minutes approved.
Treasurer Report: Julia Burgess: Most unused money in this year’s budget has been transferred to the Access Program. The only balance which will be carried over for next year is $528.24 from Account 242; Health Council, Unrestricted Grant. These monies will be reserved for special projects. The county informed Julia that if the Health Council does not need funds for programs, the county will keep the money for their use. This issue will be discussed at the September meeting.
Coordinating Committee: A slate of officers was elected at our last meeting. They are; Chair, Dedie Wheeler, Vice Chair, Cindy Mitchell, Treasurer, Julia Burgess, and Secretary, Terre Young
A motion was made to approve the following proposed by law changes relative to maintaining membership with the Council: Article III.D.5 Members must attend at least 60% of the regularly scheduled meetings of the full council in order to maintain membership on the council. The motion was seconded and the vote to accept was unanimous.
Rural Scholars: Patsy McCornack: The project needs to have definition by July 9th in order to start the process with UMASS Medical. The YTF offered their project idea which is to develop a plan for parental engagement with the goal of building a support and safety net not only for the students but for the parents as well. Rex and Cindy agreed to write a paragraph for UMASS to use in their proposals to the students.
MV Hospital update: The Department of Public Health has mandated that MVH spend a percentage of the new building cost on community benefits.
- The hospital has 2 million dollars to spend on island and is looking to fund innovative programs which address existing or new health priorities. The funding could be given as several yearly 20K grants or 1 100K, given as 20K for 5 years.
- MVH has spent over 2 million on the focus of hiring and retaining new physicians.
- MVH will spend ½ million on a collaborative effort with the six town health departments and the County to create a countywide database.
- MVH will support initiative with 400K seed money to support mental health and substance abuse on island. This money has been committed, not spent.
A motion was made to move 400K from the data base category and increase the money available for the innovative programs; it would be made clear that the boards of health can apply to this segment as well.
The results of the discussion was a council recommendation to focus on preventative care on funding for community benefits.
CHNA Update: Chris Knowles The Community Health Network Area, covers the Cape and Islands. The group’s focus in on behavioral health, family support, and the needs of the elderly and disabled. They work toward securing access to health services for 100% of the population 100% of the time. They provide training for intake and referral staff and work to increase awareness of all services available. The CHNA has a grant (or will have, sorry, poor note taking and memory) for $300k to address the issue of teen suicide. This grant has been spearheaded from community health center on cape and the Barnstable county department of human services.
The next Dukes County Health Council meeting will be at 7:30 Thursday, September 24th at the West Tisbury Public Safety room.
Dedie adjourned the meeting at 9:25AM. Respectfully submitted, Terre D. Young
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