DUKES COUNTY HEALTH COUNCIL
Thursday, September 28, 2006 Meeting Minutes
West Tisbury Public Safety Building
CALL TO ORDER
Chris Knowles called the regular meeting to order at 7:30am and determined that a quorum was present. Attendees included: Nancy Gilfoy, Ilene Klein, Susan Wasserman, Ron MacLaren Jim Weiss, Jo Ann Murphy, Bob Tonti, Dedie Wieler, Paddy Moore, Julia Burgess, Janet Holladay, M. Jane Cleare, Olga Church, Judie Frandes, Terry Appenzellar, Antonio Teixeira, Hans von Steiger, Cindy Doyle, Rhonda Cohen, Patsy McCormack . Also present were, Ardell Otten, VHCAP guest Donald Rose, Jacque Cage, Murray Frank, Winn Davis County Manager, and Jennifer Caton, executive assistant to record minutes.
NEXT MEETING:
Chris Knowles reminded the council that the next meeting is set for October 26, 2006.
MINUTES:
Chris Knowles announced that there are some disagreements on the June 2006 minutes and they will be tabled until next meeting when Cindy Mitchell will chair the meeting.
There was a question on whether the May 25,2006 minutes were ready to be voted upon. Winn Davis said they were not finished. Rhonda Cohen said that the minutes said May, but they are June. It was decided that there was only one set of minutes in possession and they were for May 25, 2006 and they would be tabled until next meeting due to the disagreements. June was not available at the time.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Terry Appenzellar distributed the treasurer’s reported. She announced that the final FY06 numbers are a draft. She explained that on the backside of the report was the proposed budget for FY07. The final report shows the remainder balance of the grants that were carried forward for the operative expenditures for the health council.
Patsy McCormack/ Dedie Wieler MOVED to accept the FY06 Report, SO VOTED
Terry Appenzellar explained that in Sept they are waiting for approval from the state for the County budget. Because of the limitations of the County budget, what was asked for was reduced. The bottom line has the total in the gray out area they have received request from 3 committees and it was recommended for those and a certain amount for the coordinating committee to accommodate any additional requests. Terry explained the one area that needs further explanation is the youth initiative. This is a continuation of their long range planning.
Cindy Doyle further explained the youth initiative money is for professional fees and workshops. The youth risk behavior survey last year led into strategic planning and has now formed five working groups. The youth initiative has been awarded a grant from Southeast Center for Healthy Communities to provide technical support. They are coming to island to work with working groups to develop an island wide plan and strategies to implement. The working groups are substance abuse parent education and mentoring, and website development. The website would house a form of yellow pages for parents and students with links and information. The Southeast Center for Healthy Communities will be paid through the dept of public health. They are doing a number of activities and
had first meeting yesterday with 50 people. The parent/ education committee started having workshops and each cost $600. Also they did a survey focused on parents and there is a cost associated with the printing of the surveys. The initiative needed money to continue in their plans. Terry Appenzellar said that the coordinating committee was fully supportive of request was able to recommend an allocation of $2,000.
Terry explained that one issue with the budget is the County allocates money according to County codes. Terry explained that she could make requests to reallocate monies from non-salary accounts. Ilene Klein asked about the discrepancy between the last two bottom lines. She wanted to know what the total amount funded by the County was, either $5919.19 or $3250. Terry Appenzellar answered that it is $5,919.14. The difference is in the account codes and it is accounted for in the top half.
Bob Tonti asked if the budget is reduced by $600 from last year. Terry explained that the budget last year was about $6485.00
Terry said that they were asking for the approval of the bottom line or the next bottom, the one that is in bold. She said really it is an internal allocation of appropriations. Dr. Weiss clarified that the figure is the $3,250.00. Terry confirmed that it is correct. Paddy Moore asked about the $1,150.00 that is not included in the $3250.00. Terry explained that salary money couldn’t be reallocated to non-salary items.
Dr Weiss MOVED the FY2007 Budget, SO VOTED.
COORDINATING COMMITTEE:
Elder Affairs Committee Special Report and Update Donald Rose and Jacque Cage
Jacque Cage explained that the Elders Affair Committee has been working from a survey that was done. The survey is of the island network of services available to seniors. This survey was sent out to about 200 people, to service organizations and professionals. One thing that was noticed was while there is a good deal of communications there were some noticeable areas where links to the public safety groups, pharmacies, and independent practitioners were not in regular contact with other agencies. They came up the Accident Prevention Project as a way to engage these groups to work together. It is about to begin planning prevention and Donald Rose will be leader in the program.
Donald Rose explained that the purpose is to engage public safety with the health care professionals. He offered an invitation to a meeting on Tuesday, October 24th at 5pm at the West Tisbury Safety Building for a brainstorming session, the first meeting of the active campaign. He believes after first meeting have a list of people and contacts. This will be an ongoing, yearly accident prevention campaign backed by the County.
Cindy Doyle asked if the accident prevention is strictly for the elders. Jackie Cage answered that it is because it is from the Elder Affairs Committee and that is their focus. Donald Rose said from a public safety perspective any accident prevention campaign is going to affect all of us.
UMASS Medical School/Health Council Future Relationship and 2006 Clerkship: Murray Frank, Clerkship Committee:
Chris Knowles announced: October 4, 2006 at 4:30PM South Side Room Martha's Vineyard Hospital – Reception for UMass students arriving to perform their clerkships.
October 17, 2006 2 – 4pm South Side Room Martha's Vineyard Hospital - presentation of UMass students preliminary findings.
Murray Frank reported on the program with UMass Medical School in Worcester. This is the 5th year in this relationship with the school and the Health Council. Each summer a medical student finishes their first year here to explore how medicine is practiced on an island. Each October a group of students that come to Martha's Vineyard to perform as a group to serve a specific task. Ilene Klein has been the clinical manager of that relationship. The goals are to corroborate in educating and orienting and try to influence them to devote their practice to rural areas where there is a shortage. It is also to get the students to ask us a lot of questions that we would benefit from the answers. The third clerkship that was here last year focused on mental
health and substance abuse. They interviewed about 3-dozen people. One thing they noticed there was a total absence in uniform of the way mental health was identified or categorized by professionals. The students assignment this year is to continue that aspect of the project and do research in what is available in screening tools. Then test it with practitioners. The last day is to report their findings. Each one will have experiences at the Rural Health Center, Island Access Program, and Island Counseling. The rest of the time they will be working on the island mental health project. At the end on the 17th at 2pm they will be given a few hours to put together a presentation. The money for this program has come from three sources, Macy Jr. Foundation, Mass Medical Society, and the Edgartown National Bank. They started out with $36,000. They now have only $7,500 in a bank account run by the
Foundation of Island Health. At some point in time ask to review the budget. He also mentioned that without the help of the hospital in providing housing this would not be able to take place.
Ilene wanted to say that this is a very vital program. However it is time that they take a step back and allow some other people to step forward with it. They have developed a proposal that recognizes the work and splits up the work that is required to have a vital program. The budget is limited; between the hospital and the Health Council, they need to figure out where the funds are best spent and do we apply for more grants. They are hoping people stay vested in program
There was discussion about the screening tool that is being developed. Also discussed was the past reports and how to access them. It was decided that they would be posted on the website so that everyone would have access to them.
There was some discussion about when and how the decision would be made for future support and the remaining funding. It was yet to be determined because there were discussions that needed to take place.
Chronic Illness Report
Jane Clear gave a report on Chronic Illness Committee. She explained that there was a decision to change their format. She reported that they would have one meeting in which they will split up into small groups. They will also be requiring a letter of commitment from each member. She reported that they would be trying to publicize their work that will be distributed. The goal is to become incorporated and will not longer be a committee of the Dukes County Health Council. There will be financial planning and research done for insurance. There was discussion on the group most in need, being the middle age group from 40-60.
Chris Knowles asked if anyone had any issues they wanted on next month’s agenda.
Julia Borges announced that there will be a conference on Oct 27-28th on the integration of mental health, substance abuse and domestic violence.
Ron MacLaren said he would be interested in finding out what was going on with the dental program. Interest in the hospital and rural health program was also mentioned. Rhonda Cohen reported that the youth task force would be meeting with a dozen groups to get input on substance abuse. One group would be the Health Council and would like to be on the agenda.
HEALTH COUNCIL COMMITTEE/PROGRAM REPORTS AND UPDATES:
Youth Task Force Update: Cindy Doyle gave a brief report on the substance abuse prevention project. She talked about the workshops and groups that were being formed and training that would be made available. She reported on the concentrations of the different groups. She said they are working on getting an inventory of resources on a website. Cindy offered an invitation for anyone to join in on the initiative.
There was discussion on website information. Jackie Cage mentioned that she would like to meet or discuss website issues with Cindy. Rhonda Cohen suggested that maybe having a Dukes County Human Service site would be where they need to go. A detailed discussion took place on other information that has been gathered and how to use it and make it more accessible. There were talks about being able to provide surveys and directories. Ilene Klein said that it would be a good idea for the Jackie Cage, Cindy Doyle, and Rhonda Cohen to get together to discuss the topic further.
MV Health Report: Paddy Moore
Paddy Moore gave an updated report on the Health Report and the Island Health Foundation. She explained that there was a survey conducted that provided baseline pictures. The Health Report committee has not been able to agree over the actual written form of the conclusions. The foundation has decided is to transfer the working information to the County. The foundation has decided that it may go out of existence. There will be a voted on Nov 15th transfer the left over monies to provide some funding to go along with the data, to make some use of it.
There was some questions regarding the report, such as when it was done and what stages the data was in. Paddy answered that the study was done in 2003 and there are some interpretations of the data that will be available. The information is in polished form that could be accessible in electronic form. Chris Knowles asked if the results would be published as a document to be distributed in addition to an electronic file. Paddy said they could be made available.
Chris Knowles on behalf of the Health Council expressed appreciation for hard work that people had put into it.
Rural Health Network Planning Grant: Dr. Ilene Klein
Dr. Klein reported that there is still a meeting in the future, so it is a little premature to give a formal report. Dr. Klein reported there was an $85,000 federal grant federal to support communities that wanted to work towards becoming a network. She described some of the work that has been done, such as looking at financial models, issues on access and quality of services, and consultations with technical assistances. There is a meeting next week, after which there will be a final report. The group will be coming together to be deciding the next steps.
There was discussion on when the report will be available. The point was made that so many surveys take place and no one sees the end report. It was pointed out that it was a federally funded grant; there will be a final report that will be in available to the public.
Other Updates:
Bob Tonti announced that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The women’s health network will have a seminar on October 19th at 6:30pm at the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center.
Winn Davis, the County Manager presented the new County Discount Prescription Cards. There were questions regarding where they were available. It was reported that they will be available at the County Administration Building then it will be at other locations.
ADJOURNMENT
Chris Knowles adjourned the meeting at 9:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jennifer Caton
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