MONTEREY BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MINUTES
Date: February 25, 2013
Present: John Makuc and Peter Kolodziej
The meeting began at 4pm
1. The minutes from 12/17/12 were approved.
2. The Board reviewed the WMH property septic file after reading comments in their quarterly report that Mt Everett had inspected and stated that the existing system would be useable for the proposed community center. The Board will notify the WMH that in order to determine if the existing septic system would be useable for the proposed community center a current Title V will need to be done and the WMH will need to speak to the Building Commissioner to get an occupancy load number. Once all that has been done then they will want to meet with the Board of Health to review all of that information to determine if the existing system is suitable. The last opinion the BOH has on file to the WMH was in 2009 when they applied to the ZBA for a change of use from residential and the BOH had commented that
at this point they did not have any issues with the application for a change of use but that any future renovations would require the Board’s approval.
3. The Board reviewed the following data compiled from the Needs Assessment Survey:
160 people responded
143 people completed the survey in its entirety (89.4%)
142 respondents (88.8%) live in Monterey; 54 of those are part time residents (34.2%) and 97 are year round residents (61.4%)
Insurance
- 45 or 30.4% obtain from their employer
- 21 or 14.2% obtain from their spouse’s employer
- 34 or 23% purchase on their own
- And 48 or 32.4% checked other which included mostly Medicare, some SSI, VA and retirement benefits received from employer
- 0% were uninsured
The 3 most important health issues having the greatest impact overall on our community were:
- Aging issues (121 responses or 81.8%)
- Heart disease & stroke (95 responses or 64.2%)
- High blood pressure (60 responses or 40.5%)
- This was followed by diabetes (27.7%), dental problems (10.1%), and other (23.6%) which included cancer of all forms, obesity, isolation, lyme disease, influenza, nutrition, orthopedic issues, access to affordable health care and use of a preventative lifestyle
88 people (59.5%) stated they were in excellent health, 53 (35.8%) said average health and 7 or 4.7% stated they were in poor health.
136 (91.9%) of the respondents go to their doctor’s office when sick, 1 (.7%) go to an urgent care center and 11 (7.4%) checked other and listed the following places: ER, online research, VA and Gould Farm staff
Of those responding 49 (39.2%) have been told they have hypertension, 37 (29.6%) weight issues, 44 (35.2%) high cholesterol, 11 (8.8%) diabetes, 43 (34.4%) no helath issues and 31 people checked other and listed the following conditions: back problems, arthritis, osteoporosis, cardiac issues, cancer, allergies and thyroid issues
Over the last 12 months when medical care was needed 8 people or 5.4% did not get/seek care and 2 people (1.4%) were unsure or didn’t know. When asked why they did not get care the answers were (6):
- Uninsured at the time (2)
- Home care not available
- Doctor’s office did not have any available appts./it would take too long for an appt (2)
- Too expensive
3 people or 2.1% of the respondents have had issues with interpreting/understanding medications they’ve been prescribed (141 or 97.9% have not had any issues)
5 people or 3.5% of the respondents do not understand why they have been prescribed a particular medication and what it is supposed to do for you (139ppl or 96.5% do)
7 ppl or 4.9% have transportation issues preventing them from receiving the medical care they need, 137 or 95.1% do not have any transportation issues.
Of the services available in Berkshire County respondents have used the following:
- SHINE Counselor 8ppl (5.6%)
- VIM 2ppl (1.4%)
- VNA 17ppl (11.8%)
- Elder Services 10ppl (6.9%)
- Berkshire Health Systems Outreach Program 5ppl (3.5%)
- Local Council on Aging 2ppl (1.4%)
- Private caregivers 11ppl (7.6%)
- None of the above 103ppl (71.5%)
- 13ppl (9%) also listed that they’ve utilized the following: Hospital, massage therapist, ambulance, Red Cross, CHP Dental and CHP Early Intervention
76.3% or 106ppl stated they personally would not benefit from limited in home assistance. 7.2% (10ppl) said they would and 17.3% (24ppl) said maybe and commented that it wasn’t needed now but maybe in the future or after some sort of surgical procedure
It was agreed based on the responses that a copy of the survey should be sent to the service providers in the area to enlist their help in getting the word out about the existing free services out there that would address a lot of the concerns noted in the responses.
John and Peter felt that the responses indicated that the existing services need to be communicated to the public better and that at this point they do not justify or require the hiring of a Town Nurse.
Peter provided an update on the Church property cleanup which has come to a halt. Peter offered the options that the Board would have to deal with the liability that the Police Department feels exists. Peter is going to call the son requesting an update at the BOH meeting on the 18th regarding the progress of the cleanup.
The Board is scheduled to meet next on Monday, March 4th but at this time there isn’t anything pending and this meeting may be cancelled if nothing comes up to review.
The meeting adjourned at 5pm
Submitted by,
Melissa Noe
Inter-Departmental Secretary
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