The regular meeting of the Columbus Board of Health was held in the
Administration Conference Room of the Health and Human Services Center on
Wednesday, September 27, 2006, at 1:00 P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Isaiah Hugley, City Manager
James H. Sullivan, M.D.
Howard Willis, M.D.
H. Banks Carroll, M.D.
James A. Lawrence, D.D.S.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Mrs. Brenda Dozier
SPECIAL GUESTS: Dr. John Phillips, MCSD Superintendent
Eddie Ogleton, MCSD Board Member
B. J. McBride, MCSD Board Member
Darlene Shirley, MCSD Lead Nurse
Keith Seifert, MCSD Board Member
OTHERS PRESENT: Zsolt Koppanyi, M.D.
Ed Saidla
Margaret Gosden
Pam Middleton
LaQuita Rogers
Cheryl Johnson
Karon Bush
Antonio Lawrence
Jackie Miller
Tori Endres
Katrica Williams
Julia VanHeuvel
Dr. Sullivan called the meeting to order and asked for a motion to approve the
minutes of the August 23, 2006 meeting. A motion was made by Dr. Carroll,
seconded by Dr. Lawrence and approved by those members present.
Dr. Sullivan stated there was one Excused Absence for the meeting today. Ms.
Brenda Dozier is attending another event. Dr. Sullivan asked for a motion to
accept the Excused Absence. A motion was made by Dr. Lawrence, seconded by Dr.
Carroll and approved by those members present.
Dr. Sullivan presented Service Awards to Ms. Margaret Gosden for 25 years of
service and to Ms. Gloria Miller for 30 years of service.
Dr. Sullivan called on Ms. Gosden to present the Equipment Purchase
recommendation to the Board. Ms. Gosden stated that the computer server
currently used by the Health Department is ten years old. We need to purchase a
new server. The flu campaign will begin soon with approximately 600 plus people
presenting for service. The current technology and the server are outdated
causing slow downs in processing time and repeated failures. We have submitted
through the City Manager a project to fund the complete replacement and up
grade of the system to be financed through the ACCG or GMA loan pools.
Currently, to survive on a day to day basis, the box or server must be
purchased. Patient wait time has increased tremendously. Permission is
requested from the Board, until we can get through the loan pool process, to
expend $75,000.00 from the Fund Balance to acquire the new server and to
maintain this clinical operations. The ultimate goal for this particular server
is to become a central server for all sixteen county health departments. This
overall project will eliminate travel and time to support 17 smaller servers as
well as place data in a more accessible location. This would be crucial in a
Bio or other mass casualty event. Ms. Gosden asked the Board for their approval
to purchase a new server for $75,000.00 (Fund Balance) within the next 45 days.
Dr. Sullivan asked if the money coming in will replace the money used out of
the Fund Balance. Ms. Gosden stated this was correct. Dr. Sullivan asked for a
motion to purchase a new server in the amount of $75,000.00(Fund Balance). A
motion was made by Dr. Lawrence, seconded by Dr. Sullivan and approved by those
members present.
Dr. Sullivan asked for introductions from the persons from the Muscogee County
School District attending this meeting.
Dr. Sullivan asked Mr. Saidla to oversee the meeting and to allow discussion
and comments.
Mr. Saidla asked Dr. Koppanyi for any comments. Dr. Koppanyi stated that quite
a bit of time has been spent on teen pregnancy and STD prevention and
treatment. He feels that this is a major goal for the health department and
school system to work together in developing ways to assist the young teens.
Mr. Saidla welcomed everyone and especially Dr. Phillips Superintendent and
Staff from the Muscogee County School System.
Mr. Saidla introduced LaQuita Rogers, Nursing Director; she discussed Community
Assessment and the Focus on the Youth in the Community here at the Health
Department. A brief discussion followed.
Mr. Saidla also introduced Antonio Lawrence, Communicable Disease Division of
District Clinical Services, he discussed information and statistics related to
the District on sexual transmitted diseases (gonorrhea and chlamydia). A brief
discussion followed.
Mr. Saidla introduced Julia VanHeuvel, Nurse Manager, Teen Center. Ms.
VanHeuvel discussed the Teen Center Program (Getting There From Here). The
issues concerning a shortage of staff were discussed. A brief discussion
followed.
Mr. Saidla called on Dr. John Phillips, Muscogee County School Superintendent
for his comments. He stated that the number one goal is what we can jointly do
to educate children. Education is the best way to go and certainly the core of
value systems. If those are dealt with from infancy, when these children grow
up they have a core value system that they can rely on. The problem is that so
many of our kids particularly those children of poverty don?t have that support
at home. When the attendance rate is looked at within the last three years the
number of children that have missed 15 or more days have improved. This is
tracked under Federal Law at the present time that has dropped from well over
16% down to less than 10%. The drop out rate declined significantly. The
graduation rate has increased. There was a large gap between what we were doing
here statistically and where the State was. We have closed that gap
significantly being that the graduation rate is approximately 69%. That is not
wonderful but the State is 70%.
Dr. Phillips stated that the concerns are what the future is going to be for
the teens and how to achieve that future. Most of the pregnant and postpartum
girls are in the TAPP Program. The fathers are generally not school boys but
rather older men in their twenties or older. This is sad to say as well. The
TAPP Program has been a wonderful program to keep children on track too and to
give them a second chance by providing daycare for their children and teaching
parenting skills to the young ladies. Many of them are now graduating from high
school because we can keep them on track. One of the problems we have now that
we were able to do previously, even though we were violating the law, we felt
it was best by requiring these young ladies to attend the TAPP Center removing
them from the regular population. The goals of TAPP are #1 they are not held up
as some symbol of something good taking place and #2 we get them into a
structured environment where we can care for their children and keep the
students on track for graduation. You can?t force someone to leave the regular
school because they are pregnant to go to an alternative program, so they must
choose to attend TAPP. This causes an added burden to make sure that the mother
of that pregnant teen understands what a wonderful program TAPP is. We know
generally speaking, the ones that stay in the regular school drop out quickly.
They cannot cope with a child, going to school, and things of that nature. We
are open to any and all collaborative efforts and are here to be supportive.
Dr. Willis stated that one of the reasons there needs to be a meeting of the
minds is that education and awareness is very important. Public Health needs
not only to be involved, but also school officials. There needs to be a way to
involve the Legislature in a way that makes sense to them. At the same time
this needs to be looked at as a policy making process, parents and community
leaders look to us to be able to make those tough decisions. The issue is what
we need to do now to use the resources that we have. The policy making and
policy direction is going to have to come from bodies such as the Board. How
willing is the Board to be that body?
Dr. Sullivan stated there are two things that he perceives; #1 is to get the
kids in as soon as we can and keep them as long as we can; #2 it is really not
the Legislature things that can be worked on to change the laws?it is really
the judicial system that stops us every time we try to turn. They are the ones
that say no you can?t do this and yes you can do this. Dr. Sullivan stated that
he did not know how this issue was going to be approached. Dr. Phillips stated
that the school system provides a wonderful sex education program in the middle
school and then moving to high school there are nine weeks of Health Education
required by the State. Ms. Williams stated that with her experience in
providing sex education in the county?you must be very careful with flyers,
brochures, etc. because of the guidelines that must be recognized.
Mr. Saidla asked for any other comments. Ms. Shirley stated there is a definite
need for collaboration even more between the school and Health Department not
only with sex education but other health issues.
Dr. Koppanyi stated that he hopes that this initial meeting will be fruitful
with the cooperation of the school district.
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted:
______________________________
Pam Middleton, Secretary
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