GRAND FORKS BOARD OF HEALTH MINUTES Thursday, April 12, 2007 I. Call Meeting to Order The Grand Forks Board of Health meeting was called to order at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 12, 2007, in the Health Department conference room. Judy DeMers called the meeting to order. Members present: Judy DeMers (Chairperson), Arvin Kvasager, Don Shields, Dr. Hargreaves, and Mike McNamara. Others present: Debbie Swanson, Wally Helland, and Keith Westerfield. II. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meeting January 18, 2007 A motion was made by Arvin K. and seconded by Don S. to approve the minutes as submitted. All approved and the motion passed. III. Old Business A. Legislative update – Debbie S. gave an update on Fluoride Varnish, Immunizations, Smoke-free bill, Dental Loan Repayment, Dental Medicaid Reimbursement, and School Health and Wellness (see attachment). - Don S. thanked Judy D. for a letter she sent in February to Senator Holmberg (see attachment), in behalf of the Board of Health, asking to support the funding of the School Nursing bill (#2385). - Don S. had passed out copy of the ND Legislative Bill Tracking System (see attachment), that shows the details of the different bills being followed by Public Health since the first of the year, and actions taken on them, including who voted for what/when. - Judy D. asked if the Hepatitis A vaccination is going to be as expensive as the Hepatitis B, and will there be any provisions for people who can’t afford them; to get some kind of reduced cost or free, since it (Hep A) will be required for school? Debbie S. answered that the Hepatitis A vaccine was added as a childhood vaccine, so it was automatically added as a VFC (Vaccine For Children), and those children on Medicaid, or have no or little insurance, will be able to get the state-supplied vaccine (for $8 donation). B. Northern Valley Dental Access Project – Debbie S. gave an update on Grants, Site Development, and Staff Recruitment (see attached Issues Listing). She also handed out copies of the preliminary design floor plan of the dental clinic (provided by Sullivan-Schein Designs). - Had a number of dentists and dentists-to-be that will be newly graduated express interest because they are interested in Public Health practices. Arvin K. asked how many dentists will the clinic have? Debbie S. said they plan to have a full-time dentist and a Dental Director (part-time, who would be more involved though with setting policies and procedures, mentoring a dentist, providing technical assistance and expertise, and seeing complex patients). Although not recruiting yet, they have received a lot of applicants for the hygienist position. Because it’s a Community Health Center, they will be employed under Community Health scales for salary. - Fortunate to have Sullivan-Schein Dental in doing designs and recommending products. They check all the donated equipment and furniture, to certify that it could be used (or want to use it), and also recommend ways to reupholster the chairs and benches (to match). The benefit for them is that we purchase supplies from them. - Maybe write a letter to the editor to give it public exposure again. IV. New Business A. Election of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson (see attached Issues Listing).. - Arvin K. nominated Judy D. for Chairperson. - Don S. nominated Arvin K. for Vice-Chairperson. All voted in favor of nominated individuals, who were elected. B. Tetanus Booster Blitz Mass Vaccination Exercise. Debbie S. gave a briefing on this (see attached Issues Listing). - People will have to pay something for the vaccine this time, unless the Public Health Department can come up with a lot more budget (have secured $6,700 in private funding). - Compressed the timeframe (2-4 pm) to see how many can get vaccinated, and then they would understand better how long it would take to vaccinate a larger number of people for a longer period of time (in addition to getting people their booster shots--do two things at once!). Looking for more funding to bring the cost down, or maybe offering free vaccine to the first 50-100 people? Details haven’t been worked out yet. - Could tie (tetanus) vaccines with Pandemic Flu exercise, to get federal funding? Don S. said that they are not allowed to use vaccines right now, as part of the (Pandemic Flu) exercises (tried with the flu vaccines previous years). There will be a community Pandemic Flu Tabletop exercise April 27th. Fargo has some additional money that doesn’t have those strings attached to it (in case heard about a subsidized vaccine). They are the only city in North Dakota that is designated by the federal government to directly receive Homeland Security dollars, and they are able to purchase vaccine. - Debbie S. stated that the tetanus vaccine is covered by health insurance, so people could go to their physicians to get it. Altru is planning on doing vaccination promotion in a few weeks. - Also consider that when the tetanus vaccine was purchased in 1997, the cost was a few dollars each, but now cost $18 each. V. Next Regularly Scheduled Meeting – 4:15 p.m., Thursday, July 12, 2007 VI. Other 1. Student Illness, March 19, 2007 - Wally H. recapped the issue with sick Red River High School students on 19th March. An undetermined number of students got sick after a free lunch at Sharon Lutheran Church (nobody that they know of had to go to the Emergency Room or their doctor—only lasted about 24 hours). Public Health’s Environmental Health Department did not have any food samples, or stool samples, so there was no laboratory work done. There were tacos and pizza served, and the ones that ate the tacos became ill. They weren’t able to prove what the cause was. They did educate the staff on proper safe food handling procedures. Getting copies of USDA book, designed for volunteers feeding groups, to distribute to churches, scouts, etc. He has also offered our services for past years. 2. Emergency Powers of Health Officer - Don S. briefed that the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at the state-level asked the ND Attorney General to issue an opinion concerning the powers of the Board of Health and the Health Officer, to quarantine, close, or isolate (see attachment). This was to clarify, due to changes in state law and questions that had arisen. The ND Attorney General stated that the Health Officer, through powers given the Board of Health, can order all these options if an emergency exists. 3. Staff Award - Debbie S. made an announcement that one of the Public Health staff, Carrie Kaltenberg, received ‘Public Health Worker of the Year’ award in March for her work last year with Tobacco-Free Coalition, and Public education. VII. Adjournment – A motion was made by Arvin K. and seconded by Don S. to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, James Hargreaves, MD, Secretary By: Keith Westerfield Office Specialist, Senior Public Health Department Attachments: - Public Health Legislative Update and Summary, April 12, 2007 - House Bill #1293 - Letter to Senator Holmberg, from Board of Health, February 9, 2007 - North Dakota Legislative Bill Tracking System - Grand Forks Herald Article on Dental Clinic Grant - Dental Clinic Preliminary Design - Issue Listing, April 12, 2007 - Attorney General Letter, March 27, 2007