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WC CWF Health District Board Minutes - 02/22/2002WICHITA FALLS - WICHITA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD PLACE: Wichita Falls- Wichita County Public Health District TIME: 12:15 p.m. DATE: February 22, 2002 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: C.J. Lippard, Chairman Gregory Stockton Diane Stewart, R.N. Kathy Sultemeier, D.V.M. Beverly Stiles, Ph.D. Susan Strate, MD BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Larry Rains, D.D.S. RECEIVED IN CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Date By Time $ 3� HEALTH DISTRICT Reuben A. Warren, Jr., Assistant Director of Health REPRESENTATIVES: Clifford Burross, M.D., Medical Director WICHITA CO. REPRESENTATIVE: Joe Miller, County Commissioner WICHITA FALLS CITY COUNCIL: Bill Altman, Councilor WICHITA FALLS CITY MANAGER OFFICE: Matt Benoit, Assistant City Manager MINUTES: I. Call to order C.J. Lippard, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. II. Approval of Minutes It was moved by Diane Stewart, seconded by Greg Stockton, and carried that the December 21, 2001 minutes be approved. III. Next Meeting Date The next meeting date will be Friday, April 26, 2002. IV. Director's Report — Barbara J. Clements, Director of Health In Mrs. Clements absence, Mr. Reuben Warren presented the following: 1). The new Texas Commissioner of Health, Dr. Eduardo Sanchez, recently attended the Regional Local Health Directors Quarterly Meeting in Abilene, Texas. Reuben stated that he believes Dr. Sanchez will have a very positive influence on the state legislature regarding public health issues in the State of Texas. Page 1 of 1 Dr. Sanchez is a board - certified family physician with extensive knowledge of local public health issues. Dr. Sanchez told the directors that he will be more readily available to locals than previous commissioners and intends to stay abreast of issues at all levels of public health. The commissioner relayed that he expected to focus on two areas of concern during his first year in the office. The first focus area will be addressing obesity in Texas citizens, especially young children. The second area that he wanted to concentrate on is childhood immunizations. Texas ranks 50th in the nation in immunizing children on schedule and Dr. Sanchez thought that to be unacceptable. 2). Dogs at large: The Health District has been receiving a lot of calls recently concerning packs of dogs running loose in the county. These animals are attacking livestock and doing substantial damage. The County Judge and the Commissioners Court have asked Roy Ressel, Rabies Control Officer for the County, to provide some input on this issue. Dr. Burross reported that at a meeting last week, he was told of 18 rabid skunks in Tyler County just this year. This is a substantial increase over past years. He expressed concern with this statistic. In response to concern about animals at large in the county, Roy Ressel suggested that the Commissioner's Court adopt a leash law. He has been issuing notices of violations and filing charges on owners that live in the county if their animals are not vaccinated. 3). HIV: There has been a dramatic increase recently in the number of positive cases of HIV in the community. Between 11 and 14 new cases have been found since January of this year with most of the clients enrolling in our HIV service programs. This number is what we would expect to see for an entire year. We have identified previously unknown meeting areas in some of the local parks. Our staff is performing outreach into those areas, trying to identify persons that need to be tested and, if necessary, treated. They also attempt to identify partners that may have been exposed to the disease. Mr. Altman asked if criminal charges could be brought against a person who is infected and knowingly exposes someone to HIV. Dr. Burross answered in the affirmative, that there is a law. 4). Contracts: The City Council recently approved the new Hepatitis C contract providing funding for testing of high -risk persons to determine the incident rate of the disease among that group of individuals (e.g. IV drug users, those with homemade tattoos, etc). The rate so far is 43 %. TDH is attempting to gather data and statistics to support possible intervention programs. Dr. Miller questioned the advisability of funding such a contract since Hepatitis C is not curable. Several board members offered various opinions on the matter. Reuben also mentioned that the Ryan White III and HOPWA contracts for 2002 -2003 would be presented for approval at next City Council meeting. Page 2 of 2 5). Industrial Waste Water Pretreatment Program Ordinance: Reuben explained to the board that the federal government sets standards concerning certain pollutants that can be discharged into the sewer system. Industries that discharge those pollutants must be permitted, inspected, and have their waste - streams monitored routinely. Based on our Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) ability to remove certain pollutants from our environment, we have to set local limits. When the dynamics of our POTW s change, we have to go back and recalculate those local limits. It is recommended that this be done every five years. We performed our most recent recalculation about three years ago but since then the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) has not responded. We recently sought and obtained political pressure to receive the needed approval. The new revised standards will soon go to Council for approval. 6). Aggressive Dogs Two recent dog attacks were related to the board. One attacked an insurance man that walked into a back yard to investigate the ensuing potential liability from a recent attack by the same animal. Another dog, in an unrelated incident, attacked a child whose injuries were severe enough to require plastic surgery. The dog in the latter instance was destroyed. It was suggested that perhaps pro- active classes would be helpful to allow citizens to recognize dangerous animal behavior. Dr. Sultemeier suggested a pet trainer, Eamon Riley, employed by PETCO as a possible spokesperson. He currently gives talks to area schools and organizations on child behavior around animals. V. Election of Officers Matt Benoit, Assistant City Manager, was in attendance to swear in Dr. Kathy Sultemeier, D.V.M., and Dr. Beverly Stiles, Ph.D. as new Board of Health members. Mr. Lippard welcomed the new members. A nomination was made by Kathy Sultemeier and seconded by Greg Stockton that Mr. Lippard continues as Chairman of the Board. The motioned was approved. Bill Altman suggested Susan Strate to be re- elected to the position of Vice - Chair. It was so moved, seconded by Diane Stewart and approved by the board members. Diane Stewart was nominated by Kathy Sultemeier to be the Board Secretary. The motion was seconded by Greg Stockton and approved by the members. VI. "Common Molds Found in the North Central Texas Area" Reuben Warren, Assistant Director of Health Mr. Warren presented a brief overview of the common mold problem found in this area of Texas. He discussed the elevated insurance rates in homeowner's insurance that resulted from the large number of claims that resulted from last year's flood in South Texas. Page 3 of 3 4 He mentioned that he had recently read that the insurance industry has asked the legislature to put a cap on damages from mold claims. He said that tight, enclosed warm environments with high humidity facilitate mold development. One important health consideration of Stachybotrys. is that as long as it is damp or wet, it does not aerosolize which minimizes inhalation of the spores. He mentioned that small amounts of mold could be cleaned by homeowners using 1 cup of bleach mixed in 1 gallon of water. Sponge the solution on, wait 15 minutes and then scrape of the residue. The person cleaning up molds needs to wear a dust mask, rubber gloves and have all of the windows open while cleaning with the bleach water. A professional should clean mold contamination exceeding 1 square foot in diameter. While we often get calls concerning black mold contamination, the Health District employees do not examine or inspect private homes. We will provide mold cleanup information and procedures, if requested. Several examples of exaggerated mold related expense were related to the board. Some discussion was held concerning the difference in 'mildew' and black mold. Two handouts were provided to the members; How To Clean -up The Mold and Mold & Allergies Made Simple. VII. Other Business The Board excused Dr. Rains, who had called and said he is out of town. Dr. Strate came late. NOTE: Dr. Strate was detained at the hospital and arrived after the Board adjourned. Reuben Warren reviewed the meeting proceedings with her. VIII. Adjournment It was moved by Diane Stewart and seconded by Dr. Sultemeier that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 1:30 p.m. i L 1,4� , 4,;LR , - Diane Stewart, Secretary Public Health Board Page 4 of 4