WC CWF Health District Board Minutes - 08/26/2011WICHITA FALLS - WICHITA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD MINUTES
RtV° August 26, 2011
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MEMBERS PRESENT:
Richard Sutton, M.D., Chair
Bryan Press, Vice Chair
David Carlston, Ph. D.
Clay Clark, D.V.M.
Lauren Jansen, Ph.D.
MEMBERS ABSENCE EXCUSED:
Tracy Hill, D.D.S.
Robin Moreno, M.T., Secretary
Lou Franklin, R.N., B.S.N.
Amy Cone, M. P.A.
Not Present
Not Present
Dorothy Roberts -Burns
Woodrow "Woody" Gossom
Falls- Wichita County Public Health District
-Third Street - Parker Conference Room
Wichita Falls, Texas
Board Members
Director of Health
Assistant Director of Health
Health Authority
Assistant City Manager
Council Liaison
County Judge
I. CALL TO ORDER & INTRODUCTIONS
Chair Dr. Sutton called the Board of Health meeting to order at 12:15 pm after a quorum of members was
attained.
II. APPROVAL OF MARCH MEETING MINUTES AND ABSENCES
Dr. Sutton called for the review and approval of minutes from the last meeting held on July 22, 2011.
Bryan Press introduced a motion to approve the minutes as presented and Dr. Carlston seconded the
motion. Motion passed unanimously.
At this time it was noted the excused absence of Dr. Hill and Robin Moreno.
III. HEALTH AUTHORITY APPOINTMENT
Lou Franklin stated every two years a contract is renewed with the Family Health Center to provide the
Health District with Medical Director Services and the Health Authority. Dr. Mattar agreed to serve as the
Health Authority and Dr. Minter to serve as the Associate Health Authority in Dr. Mattar's absence for
another two year term upon the Boards approval for re- appointment.
Dr. Sutton requested a motion to recommend the re- appointment of Dr. Mattar as the Health Authority
and Dr. Minter as the Associate Health Authority. The motion was approved by Dr. Clark and seconded
by Dr. Carlston. Motion passed unanimously.
IV. PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM
Al Gonzales, Public Health Preparedness Coordinator, presented information on the Public Health
Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Program that is grant funded from the Centers of Disease Control
Prevention through the Department of State Health Services of Texas. The Preparedness Specialist,
Crystal Morgan, assists the Coordinator to conduct a variety of planning and preparedness activities.
The PHEP program is responsible for the city and county health and medical plans. A majority of
emergency planning is done with the coordination of partners and State cohorts in the community; they
are essential in plan development. Within communities nationwide and worldwide public health would be
the lead agency in various disasters and incidents that could involve natural or man made like severe
weather, bioterrorism, and disease outbreaks.
The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is managed by a division within the CDC; it is a stockpile with
undisclosed warehouse locations throughout the United States that contain medical supplies,
medications, antiviral meds, ventilators that were recently added after H1 N1 and other equipment. In
addition, deployable hospitals are available with some basic medical equipment that can be set up in any
large space. SNS is a huge program of the PHEP, and it is coordinated with the State Health Service
Region Coordinator, other partners and local hospitals. Examples of when SNS would be deployed
include a disaster such as a terrorism attack or pandemic flu where local resources would run out fast.
The SNS is suppose to be able to be received in a community within 12 hours a basic set of supplies and
within the first 62 -72 hours, a team would arrive to help assist in getting supplies and medications out to
the citizens.
Surveillance and epidemiology is conducted with assistance from the Nursing Division, local hospitals,
and healthcare providers. Everyday, the Preparedness Specialist conducts electronic surveillance
looking for disease outbreaks and any clues that would indicate bioterrorism. The North Central Texas
and Northern Surveillance network is monitored with the use of two programs: Electronic Surveillance
System for the Early Notification of Community based Epidemics (ESSENCE) a web based program and
Real -Time Outbreak Detective System (RODS). ESSENCE alerts include warnings of respiratory, GI,
neurological fever, botulism, paralysis; warnings occur if the numbers of expected cases in certain areas
have exceeded the baseline for the day. Red indicates an alert for those that exceed the threshold and
yellow a warning for those that may need to be investigated. Chief medical complaints are listed in the
program that detects keywords grouped into areas such as gastrointestinal, fever, respiratory in order to
detect any patterns. The information gathered is then forwarded to Nursing to review and contact
Infectious Disease Practitioners for investigation. RODS can indicate a progression of gastrointestinal,
neurological, respiratory, and rashes to detect trends. A rash can indicate chicken pox or measles and
constitutional flu like symptoms. In the spring, respiratory, constitutional, and GI illnesses spiked to
indicate H1N1 late in the season. Additional clues can be detected from daily over the counter
medication purchased at six of the local pharmacies. These are great tools to indicate the possibility of
something going on in the community that would lead to an investigation. In addition, the system
enables staff to look at the region and statewide for any trends.
AI Gonzales stated meetings are frequently held via phone with Tarrant County and Health Service
Region 2/3 out of Arlington. Not only is there a lot of communication between the state and local levels
but with the Infectious Control Practitioners and local hospitals that can inform us of the trends in the
area. On reportable diseases and notifiable conditions, meetings are held with providers and labs to
supply them with information including binders, and posters to signify the importance to report. The
posters offer a quick view of what should be reported within a time frame of a day, two days, week, or
month.
The program provides education, training, and public outreach with an emphasis on personal
preparedness. For a few years now, pandemic flu outreach and awareness pamphlets have been
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translated into six languages such as Spanish, German, Korean, and Vietnamese to reach the various
local and county populations. The Flu Fighter billboards and posters are not just preparedness for the
seasonal flu but the potential and other pandemic flu like H1 N1. The campaign last year of the Flu
Fighter bus billboard received a lot of positive feedback. September is National Preparedness Month;
PHEP is to participate at Falls Fest and Kohl's Kid Safety an event that is done in collaboration with the
Ready.Gov campaign. Qualified training is available to staff, partners, and stake holders related to plans
and preparedness, the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and the Incident Command
System (ICS) from basic to advance.
The top three goals for the August 2011, to July 2012, grant period are:
1) Strategic National Stockpile
The need to be prepared is a continuous work on the exercise and plan revision to accommodate new
requirements from the CDC and the State.
2) Surveillance and Epidemiology
Electronic surveillance will continue with the participation of two hospitals in the county: United
Regional and Kell West. Epidemiology is continually monitored to implement more reportable
conditions education and visits to providers.
3) Public Preparedness Outreach
Outreach emphasizes that individual preparedness is of utmost importance in guarding the community
against various threats. Web accessibility and communication on face book as City of Wichita Falls
Emergency Preparedness or Health Department feedback has been good. The public is always
encouraged to contact us; we get calls, inquires, go out and do presentations on preparedness.
This highlights a big part of what is done that takes a big team effort and could not be done without the
collaboration of the medical partners in the county.
Lou concluded the Ambulance Ordinance passed and moved forward with the franchise applications sent
out to the local ambulance companies with the intent to present the franchises at the second council
meeting in September.
V. NEXT MEETING DATE
October 28, 2011
VI. ADJOURN
Dr. Sutton requested a motion to adjourn. The motion was made by Dr. Jansen and seconded by Dr.
Carlston. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
Richard Sutton, M.D., Chair, Bryan Press, Vice Chair, or Robin Moreno, M.T., Secretary
Public Health Board
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