Peoria Standard

Woodford County Board of Health met Sept. 23.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

Present: Board Members: Bonnie Allen- President; Emily Barker, Vice President; Lisa Maynard, secretary; Gary Schaer; Jim Johnson, Dr. Susan Cole

Staff present: Hillary Aggertt, Administrator; Eric Lane, Director of Environmental Health; Emily Kelly, Director of Nursing

Topic / Discussion / Action / Responsible Person / Date

The meeting was called to order by Bonnie Allen.

Roll Call: Members present as shown above.

Review of Minutes: July 22, 2019 meeting minutes were reviewed.

Dr. Susan Cole moved to approve the July 22, 2019 minutes as presented. Gary Schaer seconded. Motion carried.

Department Reports

Environmental Health Report

Eric Lane presented his Environmental Health Report. Three core programs include water, septic and food. Numbers are average for the year.

Dr. Cole asked about the flood. Eric stated he assisted in the flood in Spring Bay area. He would take the water test kits to the Spring Bay Fire Department for distribution and collect to be sent for testing at the end of the day. Mr. Lane doesn’t have a flood number count toward the total for the month and does not have this separately. Aggertt stated as part of public health practice, WCHD has been submitting the flood testing free of charge to our residents to make sure they have clean water.

Lane stated he works mainly in the water/septic areas and allows the health inspector Paul Wilkins to focus on food. Lane mentioned Wilkins is doing a fantastic job with the new FDA food code regulations. There is no scoring. It takes about two hours per inspection. 290 inspections should be completed by the end of the year. Lane explained the high, medium, and low risk facilities. Two inspections at all high risk, one inspection at medium risk and one every other year of low risk facilities. Johnson asked if businesses like the new regulations. Lane stated at a training, the census of the room that included health department and businesses. Many like this new format because it focuses on core risk violations. The person in charge have to know more and become trained. You have to have a certified food professional manager on staff for high and medium risk facilities. The class is $150 at Woodford County Health Department. Many individuals that need to become certified take online classes. The training is renewed every five years.

Barker asked how doyou know if there isn’t a score? Discussion occurred about the forms being used and that they are all available on the WCHD website. WCHD staff have not seen the records of WCHD in the paper. Aggertt stated FOIA request for inspections were completed in the past. This is no longer the case and anyone can access on the WCHD website. Aggertt stated our forms are online and Peoria/Tazewell have a software program to look for each facility. It was confirmed that all violations are recorded on the form that is an itemized list to understand what the violations are.

Temporary food program will need to be discussed in the future to discuss a part-time portion to assist with all of the temporary food events in our county.

Lane stated a tire collection was completed and collected 1,155 tires throughout the local municipalities. The EPA sponsored the event, Woodford County Highway hosted and the contractor mobilized to collect and process the tires.

Allen asked about the EEE virus. Lane stated WCHD used to test for this virus in the past but the vector test kits are so expenses and the grant requires for West Nile Virus only. More discussion occurred about the different viruses and Lane stated the mosquitoes he has tested have been negative. In 15 years, Woodford County has not had a positive mosquito pool but have had positive birds when submitted. This year, WCHD had 1 positive bird and 6 negative. The WNV program focus on blue jays and crows because they are more susceptible.

Clinical/Maternal Child Health Report

Emily Kelly thanked the BOH for their support with the medical grade fridge issues that have occurred.

Kelly stated lead has stayed steady and WIC is trending upward in services.

The vaping cases are continuing and there are many probable cases and coming down the pipeline to understand the cause is not confirmed.

Allen asked if flu vaccine is available. Kelly stated we have some and VFC has finally allowed

WCHD to purchase and it should be here shortly.

Aggertt stated WCHD is focusing on flu clinic Memorandum of Understanding agreements before open clinics since flu is so readily available. Metamora Township High School will continue to work with our agency and we have a new one with Germantown Hills District. We are not sure at this time how many individuals will attend this clinic. If we have several doses left after our MOUs have been completed, WCHD will open up flu clinic timeframes. Anyone can call and schedule an appointment. We mainly did this for nursing students but since we currently don’t have any, we thought this would be best for this flu season. Per Dr. Cole’s recommendation, we should wait until October 1 to offer any flu. WCHD will offer the quadivalent flu vaccine this year and not the trivalent as there is a difference.

The nurse’s, bookkeeper/grant manager, office manager and administrator have been meeting every other Friday morning for a short amount of time to discuss structure and review policies. We hope to present policies to the BOH for consideration and approval starting in January.

Lead: Follow-up testing for lead is kind of like a marathon, not a sprint. Follow up testing for children with high leads depends on the level the most recent test was at. Many children only have a follow up test every 3-6 months, and that is if the parents are cooperative. If the initial test was high, it can take quite a while to get the level to under 5 mcg/dL to be able to close the case.

Third Party Billing Report

Ms. Tallyn provided the Third Party Billing (TPB) report to show the cost associated with the program to include materials but also the time allocated to this program. This is a new way to look at the report to include all expenses.

Financial Report

As of the end of August 2019, WCHD has expended $451,589.73 (61 percent) of the $737,773 budget. The MOU signed for rent went through the end of August which is why there was such an increase, the check for the fridge was claimed in August but is being mailed in September.

Schaer moved to approve the financials presented. Dr. Cole seconded. Motion carried

The vaccine fridge we originally went to purchase had a backorder due to a recall on a part for 6- 10 weeks. We couldn’t wait that long with school immunizations to be given. The Director of Nursing and Administrator researched and found a company called K2 Scientific that could get a medical grade fridge to WCHD within 24-48 hours. WCHD ordered from this company, there was a delay of a week for the shipment which created a problem overall. The fridge was accepted and there was a tilt of 50 degrees. The company stated it was ok to use and followed their instructions to make sure it was. The fridge is working, WCHD had it sit for the allotted time and it regulated temperature for the VFC timeframe of 1 week. We purchased a backup fridge which was a standard fridge only (acceptable by VFC) prior to the shipment of the medical grade fridge so we could receive our vaccines back and continue to provide our services. The standard fridge went out of range which created an excursion and an issue with the VFC program. We had to take our vaccines back to Advocate and have them hold the vaccine until the medical grade fridge came. We finally got it up and running. The medical grade fridge is working but we are waiting for documentation before releasing the check. More information will be discussed at the meeting.

At the end of August, WCHD had $790,657.07 in reserves. As you are aware, $500,000 was put into a 6 month CD and the total is as follows: CD 6 month deposit: $502,335.59- Money Market Account: $288,321.48 with a total of $790,657.07.

Hillary has completed contracts for WIC, PHEP, and CRI. We are waiting to sign a contract for the Comprehensive Health Protection Grant that includes Local Health Protection, Tanning, West Nile Virus, Lead and Safe Drinking Water. This is the biggest grant we have and we hope to be able to execute this in the near future. This is a two year contract so we don’t have to do this again next year as Aggertt created two year budgets. WIC will be released again and Eric will be signing as there will be an amendment to include equipment for EBT WIC coupons.

All grants will be reimbursed month to month excluding the local health protection grant.

With the county having a few findings within the audit, all grantees have additional exhibits to follow. These are stated in the grant under Exhibit G. WCHD is no longer the parent but the County is. The risk factors are based on the County questionnaire and audit. There are additional protocols we have to figure out and follow. Aggertt wanted to bring this to your attention. If the county cannot correct these issues in a year timeframe (state fiscal year of July 1- June 30) our grants could be in jeopardy. Currently, guidance has not been given to correct some of these issues from the state level.

Old Business

Narcan Event @ WCHD

Aggertt stated she thought Susan Tisdale would be at the meeting but the email in your packet is a resource. Narcan training and education have been the focus. Aggertt stated the Board of wanted WCHD to reach out to local EMS and law enforcement and they were all in support to educate the community. The risk is not on WCHD but just a host site to provide training.

Johnson moved to approve to Woodford County Health Department to host a Narcan event at this location. Barker seconded. Motion carried

Discussion/Action on Internal Building repairs

Aggertt stated there is a list of issues that were addressed at the last meeting. She provided this list and was able to mark several items off with low cost to include the lobby toilet that kept running, the Clinical flooring issue, and the hot water issue on the clinical side (as this isn’t taken care of completely but the nurse’s run hot water every morning to get it to their lines in the treatment room and bathroom).

Aggertt stated there are two issues she would like to discuss tonight. This include first, the blinds in her office. She received quotes from Faulk’s, Sauders and Lowe’s. Lowe’s is the cheapest but she likes to support local when she can. Since there was such a cost difference, she would like the BOH to make this decision. Discussion occurred.

The BOH agreed to go with Lowe’s as it is a way cheaper option but go with the levelor.

The second issue to address is the conference room. When you have trainings in this room, it gets so hot that you have to try to open up the outside doors in the winter and you are not able to circulate enough room in the summer. This continues to be an issue for all day long classes. Staff have turned down the thermostats so much that they have to have heaters (summer/winter) to try to regulate the conference room. The agency has been able to handle this with 2 hours or less in their meetings. Aggertt reached out to Bill Coffman at the County to see if he could look at it for her to give a recommendation of where to start. Bill provided a quote from Ruyle in the amount of $6,390 to install and provide new supply air registers and associated duct work, return registers, elbows to be installed on top of existing ceiling supply registers to eliminate pinching of existing flex duct, replace flex duct in excess of 10’ with insulated hard duct in four locations. Aggertt mentioned Heinold also looked at this when they came to look at the air conditioning. They suggested putting in a new unit just for the room. Aggertt stated she is not an expert in maintenance and looks at Bill being an expert in the heating/cooling area is why she trusts his opinion. More discussion occurred.

The BOH would like WCHD to look for additional quotes relating to the increase in duct work, as well as, a new system to analyze all options. Aggertt/Lane will bring what is found to the next board of health meeting for further discussion.

Admin Report

Emergency Response

On September 4th WCHD conducted a distribution and dispensing exercise. Health department staff and medical reserve corps volunteers were utilized to staff the clinic and participate as “patients” to help test the hourly throughput. Following this exercise, the emergency response coordinator is working to complete an After Action Report and Improvement Plan, to consider and make necessary changes.

Dr. Cole moved to approve the Administrator Report as presented. Maynard seconded. Motion Carried

Dustin started to work on the first quarter MCM Action Plan that is submitted to the CDC. All CRI counties are required to submit this additional work plan for the CDC to track progress among the CRI regions.

At the most recent Woodford County Emergency Planning Council and Medical Reserve Corps Meetings, discussion occurred to move forward with the development of a functional and access needs registry. This registry would be a voluntary list for individuals that might need additional assistance (wheelchair, hearing, oxygen, limited mobility, etc.) during a disaster. They would put their information on this registry that can only be accessed by first responder personnel, so that if their area is impacted by a disaster, they could potentially receive special assistance. We are still in the early stages of planning, but the feedback from both groups was positive.

WCHD PIO and County PIO are working together to update the Joint Information Centers (JIC) locations throughout the County.

Health Education

Andrea continues to work on ITFC related tasks and the beginning of year finalizations.

Since Andrea is the lung cancer lead for the Partnership, this group is also representing the tobacco coalition for the grant.

The Maurice Elbert Funds grant will be coordinated with Advocate to provide Mental Health First Aid trainings.. Rachel and Hillary are working with Advocate Eureka Hospital to offer a few Mental Health First Aid classes at area churches or facilities. This grant is for $1,400. This will pay for food and books to offer the class for free. Hillary has been working with the hospital and community partners to get this setup.

WCHD applied for the Life Smart grant and WCHD did not receive this. We hope to have the opportunity in the future but data was a barrier as it will be with any competitive grant until we have an epidemiologist to assist with data analysis and collection.

Partnership for a Health Community

The Partnership Board has finalized the Community Health Needs Assessment and this will need WCHD Board of Health approval for the IPLAN regulations. The Implementation meetings are occurring and Hillary as the co-chair has attended the first found for all four priorities to make sure the structure has been in place. We hope as a tri-county the implementation plan will be inclusive of all sectors and geographic areas. The new structure and representation will work well as the hospitals and health departments are taking ownership. The leads of the new cycle have been determined as follows:

Mental Health- Holly Bill (Hult Center)

Substance Abuse- Tim Bromley (OSF)

Support for both: Amy Roberts (Peoria City/County Health Department)

Healthy Eating/Active Living: Greg Eberle (Hopedale Medical Complex); Kaitlyn Streitmatter (U of I Extension for Peoria/Tazewell); Shanita Wallace (Tazewell County Health Department) Support: Amanda Smith (OSF)

Cancer: Tom Cox (OSF for Breast); Andrea Ingwersen (WCHD for Lung); Diane Hahn (CRC for Colorectal)

Support: Amanda Smith (OSF)

A data committee has been formed and Tim Heth (UPH) and Monica Hendrickson (PCCHD) are the co-chairs with support from Amy Roberts at PCCHD.

Peoria City/County Health Department is taking the lead to write the Community Health Improvement Plan. An MOU has been created for all parties required to meet an IDPH IPLAN regulation or an IRS regulation for all parties involved to use. This will be presented at the BOH meeting. The final Implementation plan will be presented to WCHD Board of Health in November to be approved.

The SWOT analysis is required per IPLAN regulations and this will be discussed and approved at the meeting for our records. A letter will be created and the President will have to sign stating all requirements and documentation is completed for IPLAN standards to retain the certified local health department status.

Hillary has been working on the Partnership for a Healthy Community website restructure and we hope it goes live this week. Once it does, there will be discussion boards for those that have access as a partner to create networking and collaboration opportunities.

Through the Tri-County Trek project, WCHD will not be paying for this event out of local funds but it will be sponsored for all three health departments through the Illinois State Physical Activity and Nutrition (ISPAN) grant. This is currently being completed. 

IAPHA Report:

The president of IAPHA was let go of his new job and Hillary is now as of September 1 the new president of IAPHA. She has coordinated coverage for her absence.

There is more communication with HFS now that they are at the table and it seems to be working better.

DHS and DCFS with HFS are in the mix of trying to stay in their silo of providing a service but have to work together for the local health department perspective. This is mainly for FCM and WIC. There might be a change in the model moving forward.

Admin

WCHD has received the Child Passenger Safety grant through IDOT. This will be starting the first of October with Erin Luckey being the program person taking this on. She does such a good job with the community. I had her train my husband and me on car seat safety and install our car seat for us. She did a fantastic job and answered all of our questions. I appreciate this service as I am sure our community does as well.

Hillary was not able to contact all dentist and have interviews with them all in a timely manner. She will start on this when she returns from leave. She would like to have the conversation with the BOH to determine what types of questions to ask and make sure there is consistency. We will want to make sure that health department services are supported before finalizing and recruiting.

Proposed: MRC/County Employee and dependent flu shots

Aggertt presented charging the county for flu shots similar to the public to make sure we gain some for the time allocated to implement the flu shots. The agency is still conducting a public health service and providing a special clinic for all county employees to take advantage of. With the costs increasing and the time allocated, she would recommend charging $21/regular dose and $58/high dose. Discussion occurred.

Schaer moved to approve to charge the county $21/regular flu and $58/high dose flu for the 2019/2020 season. Johnson seconded. Motion carried.

Proposed: Community Health Needs Assessment

Aggertt presented the Community Health Needs Assessment. The Partnership for a Healthy Community Board has approved this entire document as their own and Aggertt is requesting for the BOH to approve as the WCHD finalized document to continue the IPLAN requirements as a tri-county.

Maynard moved to approve the Community Health Needs Assessment as presented. Dr. Cole seconded. Motion carried.

Proposed: Community Health Implementation Plan Contract

Aggertt stated the Peoria City/County Health Department is taking the lead in writing the Community Health Implementation Plan. This plan is a document that also is associated to the IPLAN requirements. This contract makes all parties involved responsible for their portion of the completion of this plan. This would include OSF, UPH, Peoria City/County Health Department, Tazewell County Health Department, Woodford County Health Department to pay the $1,184/each. Hopedale and Advocate Eureka would pay a reduced cost since they are considered critical care and using some of the information but they also have to write their own plans. More discussion occurred.

Maynard moved to approve the Community Health Implementation Plan Contract as presented. Dr. Cole seconded the motion. Motion carried.

Aggertt stated this contract would be due by all parties within a month. If approved, she will sign the contract but it will be paid in December since we budgeted for this in the next county fiscal year. Peoria City/County Health Department has agreed to this change for our agency.

Discussion/Action: SWOT Analysis for IPLAN

Aggertt presented the SWOT analysis (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) for Woodford County Health Department.

Dr. Cole moved to approve the SWOT analysis with the amendments added. Maynard seconded. Motion carried.

This document was not surprising for what was presented due to staffing, rural settings and funding. Johnson brought up safety as a concern and he would like the BOH to address this sooner rather than later. Aggertt stated WCHD has looked at this concern mainly being violent acts (active shooter) scenarios as a threat for staff but also weather related concerns. Since the building is on a slab, there isn’t a safe location for staff to go during severe weather. More discussion occurred and will continue at a later date.

The BOH would like to add the lack of awareness in the community as a weakness that needs to be addressed. Aggertt stated she hopes if an Epidemiologist is hired at WCHD, this will help with data points collected and presented to gain more support for the needs to address in our county. The current structure is not setup to allocate significant time and resources to awareness campaigns outside of social media networks.

Proposed: Monday, December 23, 2019 closure

Aggertt stated she had a conversation with all staff about Monday, December 23, 2019 and all staff would like to take PTO and close the department. This would be similar to Friday, July 5th earlier this year. If approved tonight, this gives enough time to notify the community and our partners, clients, contractors, and restaurants of this closure.

Maynard moved to approve the closure of Monday, December 23, 2019 with staff using Paid Time Off. Dr. Cole seconded. Motion carried.

Proposed: Recreational Marijuana statement

Aggertt stated this topic was relating to what Ms. Barker has presented at the county level and she would refer to Ms. Barker to provide further information.

Ms. Barker stated as we all know recreational marijuana will go into effect as of January 1, 2020. She is looking for the BOH to create an opposed statement for the sales to occur throughout the county to include but not limited the non-incorporated areas and municipalities. More discussion occurred.

Ms. Barker will put together a statement and send it out for approval as the BOH is able to vote by survey prior to the next meeting based on by-laws.

The BOH is looking for Ms. Barker to draft a statement for the BOH to review. A survey vote will take place prior to the next meeting and will be placed on the November meeting agenda to finalize.

Discussion/Action: Epidemiologist position

Aggertt stated she did not put this position on the agenda to approve this evening because we are not sure if any revisions to the tax levy and budget will occur. She is putting this on the agenda to discuss that if the budget and tax levy stay the same as presented, she would like WCHD BOH to look at approving an Epidemiologist position to assist with data collection, analysis and reporting. This will not only assist our department but the county as a whole with the potential resources needed and grant funding available. Discussion occurred.

More discussion will occur in November. If approved in November, WCHD will look at posting the position and hiring someone by the end of January if possible. WCHD will look at a potential consultant if the position is not able to be filled.

Adjournment

At 9:03 pm Maynard moved to adjourn. Dr. Cole seconded. Motion carried.

https://www.woodford-county.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09232019-983