DUKES COUNTY HEALTH COUNCIL
Thursday, May 25, 2006 Meeting Minutes
West Tisbury Public Safety Building
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Cindy Mitchell called the meeting to order at 7:40am for new member orientation. Attendees for the orientation included Terry Appenzellar, Cathy Brennan, Chris Knowles, Dr. James Weiss, Ardell Otten, Anna Markwica, Nelson Smith, Hans von Steiger, Matt Poole and Deborah Potter, executive assistant to record minutes.
NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION:
Cathy Brennan, Cindy Mitchell, Terry Appenzellar, and Chris Knowles provided the new members with an orientation regarding the history, structure, and current goals of the DCHC.
REGULAR MEETING:
Cindy Mitchell Chair called the regular meeting to order at 8:04 am and determined that a quorum was present. Additional attendees included: Olga Church, Rhonda Cohen, Jane Cleare, Dr. Antonio Teixeira, Bob Tonti, Tad Crawford, Paddy Moore, Susan Wasserman, Judy Flanders, Nancy Gilfoy, Cindy Doyle, and Michelle Laserow. Also present were, Sarah Kuh, VHCAP and member ex officio, Mary Leddy, VHCAP, guest Dedie Wieler, and Deborah H. Potter, executive assistant to record minutes.
NEXT MEETING:
Cindy Mitchell reminded the council that the next meeting is set for June 22, 2006.
MINUTES:
The meeting minutes of April 27, 2006 were SO VOTED with the following change:
Mr. Knowles requested that the April minutes be amended to reflect his position for not accepting the nomination as chairman was not related to facilitating work but that he objected to the Coordinating Committee adopting an independent agenda of its own other than that of the whole DCHC, the setting of policy other than in consultation with the DCHC as a whole, and conducting advocacy activities not voted upon by the DCHC as a whole.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Terry Appenzellar distributed the treasurer’s report. She noted that the transfer of funds as previously approved is not shown as the final approval was completed last night, otherwise the report is up to date. Terry Appenzellar also remarked that she recently reviewed the county budget and the DCHC and VHCAP received smaller amounts than previously requested. She added in the case of VHCAP, they went in requesting approximately $90,000 and they received about 88 percent of that requested amount which for a small group is a significant difference so that area will need to be looked at to determine available options. Cindy Mitchell noted that it was a small struggle to get the numbers. Matt Poole asked about the process and
how the council may be able to plead its case more effectively.
Terry Appenzellar noted that they still have a small amount in reserve that will need to be spent or it will be lost. Cindy Mitchell asked if it was possible to pre-pay for certain services that will be needed in the future and was advised that this is normally not approved by the county as invoices for actual goods or services are needed to process the payments.
Ardell Otten asked if it was appropriate to ask if the change in the budget could be explained to the commissioners as to the negative effect it will have on the program and the group discussed the recommendation to contact the CAB to advocate for more support in the budget process. Terry Appenzellar suggested having Sarah Kuh prepare a document that will quantify how the changes will affect VHCAP to bring back to the commissioners.
COORDINATING COMMITTEE:
Cindy Mitchell noted that at the meeting last week, the committee made a recommendation to eliminate the July and August meetings. The committees will continue their work and the Coordinating Committee will issue status reports to update the council as needed. Paddy Moore favored the July meeting although Jane Cleare noted that the issue in July is more about obtaining a quorum as opposed to the information sharing process. Chris Knowles stated that the Coordinating Committee would still be meeting and work on many of these on-going issues. After some discussion, Cindy Mitchell stated that the July meeting will still be scheduled and if there is nothing to discuss, the meeting can be cancelled. Cindy Mitchell also asked Didie Weiler if she could provide an update on the Hospital
building progress in the future.
HEALTH COUNCIL COMMITTEE/PROGRAM REPORTS AND UPDATES:
Youth Task Force Update: Cindy Doyle advised that the group was formed about a year and a half ago as there was not a sub committee that dealt with issues relating to youth. She noted that once the group started meeting, one of the earlier efforts was to conduct a youth risk survey which is now available on the Dukes County website. She also noted that the recommendation from the Heller group was to not use a paper survey but to convene a group of people and through open discussion determine what issues the youth of the vineyard face. Ms. Doyle noted that during the initial meetings, the group identified five key issues:
- The entire community is responsible for the environment for our youth
- Valuing Youth: Promoting and recognizing positive youth efforts
- Evaluating Youth Services
- Opportunities for Youth: On island and off island experiences
- Substance Abuse
She continued by advising that the group left that meeting with these ideas and met again in January to facilitate the creation of five working groups:
- Resource Mapping:
- Mentoring: Idea not to create another group but to support the groups that exist
- Substance Abuse Group: flyer will be inserted in the June 15th Times. Big increase in abuse from 8th grade to 9th
Parent Education and Support
Out of School Activities
She added that the Martha's Vineyard Times report on My Space was again a negative emphasis, as opposed to a positive reflection of the good things youth are doing, and they met with a group of students to discuss the article. She stated the group then wrote a letter to the editor detailing their discussion and criticisms of the report.
She also reported they have met with organizations on the Cape that coordinate youth activities and they are applying to be one of the groups they help for a variety of ideas with the idea not to create a direct service but as a means to emphasize bringing together various groups to help them communicate more effectively. Olga Church asked what was being done in the Substance Abuse area as there is a Substance Abuse Committee and that the two groups within the Council should be communicating and coordinating efforts.
Terry Appenzellar noted the special requirements for administration of grants. Dr. Klein noted that there was a grant policy for the DCHC that needed to be followed and if the policy seemed onerous, perhaps it should be reviewed to make it less so. Tad Crawford also recommended requesting being added to the Dukes County Commissioners agenda as that venue actually has a lot of public exposure.
MVH Community Benefits RFP Update: Chris Knowles noted that as part of the DoN process for the Hospital there were certain requirements that needed to be accomplished. He stated that the RFP for Behavioral Health is back at the hospital and as soon as it can be distributed it will be while the second RFP is currently in the hands of the BoH agents for their input then forwarding to the DCHC for review. He added that pending that input it will go to the ACHCA and then on to the State who always make significant changes. Susan Wasserman asked if there was going to be an adjustment to the start date of the RFP and Chris Knowles noted that probably there would not be any change as that a restriction enacted by the State.
Public Health Committee update: Dr. Klein reported that on April 28 and 29 the Lyme disease forum was conducted. She noted that there was 100% attendance at the Clinicians event and standing room only at the public event. She stated there were so many questions that they had to have the attendees write them down and the answers will eventually be posted on the Dukes County website. She said MVTV taped the public forum and eventually it will be broadcast with Portuguese subtitles. She stated that some of the nice things that have evolved are that the Zane’s are committed to continuing the process and that the speakers are interesting in creating a tri-island research area that includes Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island.
She also reported that the LPHS is underway with four of the ten essential health services questions being completed, three more scheduled, and the last one to be done in June. She advised that the data is being sent to the CDC for compilation and they should be able to have the information back in the fall as expected. Susan Wasserman provided information on how a few of the groups met, interacted, and completed the survey while noting that one of the major points being expressed by the participants was ensuring that some constructive efforts and actions occur as a result of these groups. Chris Knowles added that the definition of what a LPHS is subjective and that eventually a more specific definition of what this is may need to be created. Dr. Klein noted that this is just
a starting point and when the report is returned they will debrief the facilitators and participants and then eventually the DCHC as well. She also noted that originally the PHC had four initial goals in their mission statement and is working diligently on accomplishing these tasks:
- Supporting the towns in their development of an integrated Emergency/Disaster Management system that flexibly responds to both the needs of the seven towns, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and of the County at large;
- Supporting and implementing dynamic public health education and disease prevention programs grounded in community health profiles;
- Conducting a local public health system survey, using the ten essential public health services,
- Establishing a health statistics database as a cornerstone for monitoring and prioritizing community health problems and public health efforts.
She added that the Emergency Management component started progressing on its own and that they have engaged the services of Dan Pace who is interested in participating in the health statistics database project with the idea of helping the group develop their own database. She noted that the idea with the database is to start small and refine the system and then eventually incorporate other data and statistics as deemed appropriate and relevant to the community.
Cindy Mitchell asked what the controversy about Tick Born Disease was about and Dr. Klein responded that there is an underlying issued about whether or not tick born disease is a disease in the clinical sense and if the ability to treat it is feasible since one of the largest problems is that there is no test that can accurately track the results.
Other Updates: Bob Tonti reminded the DCHC that tomorrow evening will be a guest discussion followed by a reception at the Old Whaling Church and that the VNA will be moving on June 15 to 457 State Road, Vineyard Haven which is behind Humphrey’s.
Tad Crawford noted on June 24th will be the first meeting of the MVC planning group at 9 am at the Sailing Camp. Paddy Moore noted that the MVC has a survey on its website that members should look at.
MASS HEALTH ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY ACT: Cindy Mitchell noted that there was no sufficient time to discuss this issue and it will be deferred until June.
ADJOURNMENT
Cindy Mitchell adjourned the meeting at 9:25 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Holtzer Potter
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