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22 N. Georgia Ave. Suite 300 • Mason City, IA 50401 • Phone: 641-421-9300 • Toll Free: 1-888-264-2581 • Fax:
641-421-9350
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Administration
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Cerro Gordo County Board of Health Present: Mark Johnson, MD, Chairman Staff: Ron Osterholm, Health Director Guests: Tammy Bryant , Health Promotion & Education Service Manager The meeting was called to order at 12:30 pm. NEHA Sabbatical Exchange Ambassador Award: Brian Hanft gave a brief introduction expressing his pride before turning the floor over to Dixie Fullerton. Fullerton explained she asked for permission to apply for the National Environmental Health Association’s (NEHA) Sabbatical Exchange Ambassador Program. The award is not bestowed by way of nominations; candidates are required to submit an application complete with references. Out of approximately 5,000 NEHA members, Fullerton was chosen to receive the award. She traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey where NEHA Executive Director, Nelson Fabian presented her with the award. Commencing October 9-30, 2007 Fullerton will be in the United Kingdom fulfilling her award requirements. Fullerton briefly outlined her itinerary and mentioned the possibility of Cerro Gordo County hosting someone involved in the exchange program as well. The Sabbatical Exchange expenses are paid by NEHA. Although they have applied, no one in the state of Iowa has ever been accepted for this award. No one else from the United States is taking part in this sabbatical exchange.The idea of Fullerton posting a blog while she is abroad was discussed. Spirit of Hermina Ron Osterholm revealed Tammy Bryant was the 2007 Spirit of Hermina Award recipient for her role in developing heart healthy programs for the youth in Cerro Gordo County. Awards: Ron Osterholm presented Director’s Awards to Michele Appelgate, Penny McCaslin, Tammy Bryant and Kara Vogelson. Osterholm also presented an Employee of the Year Award to Dixie Fullerton. Consent Agenda: Moved by Dougherty, second by Kellogg to approve the consent agenda. Passed. Personnel Policy Recommended Changes: Brian Hanft presented the proposed personnel policy changes. Hanft explained from time to time the department tries to look at the policies being followed to ensure our written policy reflects the same. The first two items on the list, “recording work hours” and “hours of work and work period”, are the result of the Replicon program, the health department’s time tracking program. Item number three, “use of unpaid leave” would allow employees to utilize unpaid leave first while retaining 5 days of vacation for future use. The last item “use of county owned vehicles” would allow a county owned vehicle to be taken home at night, once approval is given from the direct supervisor or health director. Regarding the county owned vehicles being taken home by employees, Tom Drzycimski, County Personnel Department, checked with our car insurance carrier and they agreed it is an acceptable policy for us to follow. Moved by Kellogg, second by Schickel to approve the Personnel Policy changes as recommended. Passed. Annex K - Continuity of Operation Plan: Ron Osterholm presented Annex K – Continuity of Operation Plan. Osterholm explained that federal guidelines want all essential functions to be restored within 72 hours from the start of reconstitution, but our plan allows for all essential functions to be restored within 96 hours. Osterholm felt 96 hours is more realistic. The plan lists a number of relocating alternate operating facilities. The health department has entered into Memorandums of Understanding with each facility. The plan includes a vulnerability assessment, line of succession, delegation of authority and mission critical technology and interoperable communication. This plan will be updated annually, upon any new presidential directives, following an exercise and after any real life incidents. Moved by Kellogg, second by Schickel to approve Annex K – Continuity of Operation Plan as presented. Passed. Modify FY 08 Local Public Health Service Contract: Linda Read presented the FY 08 Local Public Health Service Contract for modification. Read would like to include the ability to bill for family support visits, protective services and prevention of abuse and neglect services. Family support visits are for children under the age of 6, while protective services are court order for those aged 6 and above; while prevention of abuse and neglect services are not court order but are for those aged 6 and older. We currently provide the all 3 of these services, but have not been allowed to bill for them in past years. The Department of Human Services (DHS) is always involved with these services but the court system is not. We act as an educational tool while DHS is punitive. We are also mandatory reporters. The right to bill for these services would provide for 20-30 additional paid hours. Moved by Schickel, second by Dougherty to approve the modification to FY 08 Local Public Health Service Contract as presented. Passed. Nonprofit Organization: Ron Osterholm stated he took the bylaw document to Randy Nielsen of the Pappajohn Law Firm. Nielsen stated the firm has knowledge of how to proceed with becoming a 501(c) 3 as well as prior experience in handling this. Nielsen will get back to us as far as how to proceed from here. At this point, Osterholm suggested waiting until the first of the year and moving forward at that time. Free Clinic Update: Barb Kellogg stated the Committee has not met since the Board of Health’s last meeting but she mentioned the 14 county health access survey is in it’s final stages. Dr. Simon Geletta of Des Moines University plans to give the final review of the survey in October. The survey instrument has been translated to Spanish to include more families. The idea of pre-certifying people for different levels of charitable care at the hospital was mentioned as a response to local needs. Empowerment Board Update: Ron Osterholm stated the Empowerment program is back within the Health Department and Cody Williams has been hired as the Empowerment Area Coordinator. Williams will be a full-time, exempt employee. The Empowerment program has the ability to write grants, not just to rely on state dollars. With the program staying in Cerro Gordo County, our goal is to ensure the approximately $943,000 in program funding stays within the three county area, that the appropriate indicators are selected, an appropriate RFP process is used, and the Board of Supervisors are protected from any wrong doing in the process. This is a contractual relationship whereby the health department is the employer of record maintaining the capabilities of hiring and firing the Coordinator. In essence, Osterholm works for the Empowerment Board while Williams work with the Empowerment Board. Thus, if the Board does not like what is being done, they will be firing the department and Osterholm, not Williams. The health department requested a position of ex-officio capacity, where the department’s representative can not vote or motion but can discuss issues. There are already 2 public health positions on the Board that are mandated by the state administrative rules. Williams has been in-house since August 20 with no signed contract to date. The contract is for 1 year at a time. It was initially drafted this way but we can negotiate for a longer term contract next year. The Board asked that this contract be presented to hem for review annually. The Board asked for quarterly updates the first year of the contract with this program. The Empowerment Executive Board will have an opportunity to perform an evaluation of the program annually. Disease Outbreak Update: Osterholm described the crypto outbreak experienced by Mason City. Hanft and Crimmings did an outstanding job getting an investigation started. Osterholm felt they were steps ahead of the state health department which resulted in several positive conference calls. They were identifying, by tracing back, the pools affected. They were contacting pools giving out information on hyper-chlorination. They contacted daycare centers and had medical providers contacting Crimmings themselves. They tried to contact the State. A news conference was held where Appelgate, Willemsen, the Mason City swimming pool and Dan Brown were in attendance along with Hanft and Crimmings. While they were holding the news conference, Osterholm was on conference call with representatives from the Iowa Department of Public Health explaining his frustration with their lack of response to our local situation. Crimmings stated she spoke with several epidemiologists with the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) at the beginning of this outbreak. The CDC had also been tracking other outbreaks in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Iowa has 36 cases that are connected to this particular outbreak, 7 of which are in surrounding counties. There are 19 lab confirmed cases and 10 epi-linked cases. The epi-linked are basically household contacts that are experiencing the same symptoms or a group of friends who are experiencing the same symptoms. Crimmings took another step informing schools today since many schools are beginning this week and they are definitely at risk of expanding the outbreak. The majority of the cases are school aged kids due to the pool exposure. Osterholm felt this could have been a lot worse, but Hanft and Crimmings were on top of it and did such a great job. Though the numbers are there, it could have been more. Though the State did not recognize it as an issue, they kept moving forward. The State anted nothing to do with it, so we’ve worked with the CDC doing genotyping instead. Crypto has a 1-12 day incubation period, 7 days is typical. Statistics show that 90% are from a pool exposure. Once diarrhea starts, the shredding of parasites begins and they are contagious, thus no swimming for 2 weeks is recommended. Luckily swimming is about over for the summer anyway, so we can stop that transmission. Crimmings concern now is the transmission in daycares and schools. Disinfectant for this parasite is 3 percent hydrogen peroxide. Crimmings indicated she had an active TB case as well. Core Team Dialogue: The Core Team had no additional items to discuss. The Core Team was dismissed at 2:08 p.m., leaving the Health Director to meet with the Board one-on-one. Miscellaneous: There was no business to discuss. The meeting was adjourned at 2:11pm. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 21, 2007 at 12:15 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Barb Kellogg
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