WC CWF Health District Board Minutes - 01/10/2025 WICHITA FALLS-WICHITA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD MINUTES
}4��AcouNrr,�,e�c January 10, 2025
Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District
1700 Third Street- Clements Conference Room
i E: 3 31
1Public Health Wichita Falls, Texas
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Keith Williamson, M.D., Chair Physician-City Appointment
Rachel Reitan. DNP, FNP-c Citizen At-Large- City Appointment
Melissa Plowman Restaurant Association - City Appointment
Jered Harlan, DVM Veterinarian-City Appointment
Ray Forsythe Citizen At-Large- County Appointment
Terri Farabee, RN Registered Nurse- City Appointment
Tonya Egloff, D.D.S. (Zoom) Dentist-County Appointment
BOARD MEMBERS EXCUSED ABSENCE:
OTHERS PRESENT:
Amy K. Fagan, M.P.A. Director of Health
Brandi Smith, BS, RN Assistant Director of Health
Judge Jim Johnson County Judge
1. CALL TO ORDER
Dr. Williamson, Chair. called the meeting to order at 12:00 pm after a quorum of members was
attained.
Dr. Williamson stated that Whitney Flack will not be here today, but is our new replacement on
the City Council.
II. Re-appointment & New Members Induction
Judge Johnson read the Oath to Dr. Williamson, reappointment, Terri Farabee, new member & Ray
Forsythe, reappointment. They all took the Oath and signed the Oath of Office and the Statement of
Officer.
III. Approval of Minutes & Absences
Dr. Williamson called for a review and approval of the November 8, 2024 minutes.
Dr.Williamson asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Melissa Plowman made a motion to approve
and Rachel Reitan seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously.
IV. 2024 Year in Review, 2025 Goals & Objectives
Amy spoke about the Health District goals for 2025.
1. Foster an organizational culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
2. Build knowledge among community members and stakeholder groups of the value the Health
District contributes to Wichita County.
3. Strengthen the capacity for the Health District to sustain and/or expand its services to ensure
community needs are met.
4. Increase use of technology to improve operational efficiency and service quality.
5. Ensure effective responses to prevent and control infectious disease, environmental hazards,
and threats to public health and safety.
Amy also spoke about the Departmental Objectives.
1. Continue Strong Financial Management.
2. Evaluate and Improve Services.
3. Continue to Provide Services & Seek Improvements.
4. Assess & Update Current Ordinances.
5. Educate Staff& Citizens Regarding Ordinances.
6. Enforce Rules to Protect.
7. Educate the Public about Who We Are & What We Do.
8. Ensure Adequate Training to Achieve Excellence.
9. Improve Knowledge & Expertise Within the Department.
10. Encourage and Embrace Change and Innovation.
11. Use Technology to Improve Services & Outcomes.
12. Staff Retention, Fulfillment & Resiliency.
We want to continue Strong Financial Management.
1. Met or exceeded all CWF, DSHS. HI-ISC requirements.
2. Managed 20 grants, accounting for over 50% of the budget.
3. Completed two renovations projects under budget.
4. Received new grant -Alzheimer's Disease & Related Dementias (ADRD).
5. Challenge-not successful in request for additional position at Animal Services in FY25 budget.
6. Will try again for 2 new employees for Animal Services.
We will Evaluate and Improve Services.
1. Added Bike Friendly WF Coordinator.
2. Split large division into Clinical & Wellness Divisions.
3. Substantial improvements to our Vector Control Program.
4. Implemented Customer Satisfaction Surveys throughout department.
5. Improvements in clinical services with coordination of HIV, DIS. STI.
a. Challenge: increase in syphilis, to include congenital syphilis, and HIV.
b. Challenge: laboratory turnover & meeting regulatory compliance.
The Health District will Provide Services & Seek Improvements.
1. Environmental Health Inspections: 3,876.
2. WIC Participant Encounters: 40,481.
3. Clinical example- number of Disease Intervention Program investigations: 188
4. Clinical example- number of HIV tests performed (not to include STI clinic): over 400
5. Vital Records - number of online applications processed: 1,185 & records issued: 11,030
6. Infectious disease - number of investigations received: 280 & investigated: 135 in Wichita
County
7. Animal Services intakes - number of cats: 1,114 & number of dogs: 2,286
8. Wellness example - number of suicide prevention handouts distributed: 14,448
9. Wellness example - number of participants in healthy cooking classes: 144
10. Wellness - Hosted 5 Harvest Days, yielding over 500 pounds of fresh produce that was
distributed to the community, benefiting more than 70 families.
11. Wellness - Play Well program reached a total of 997 children and young people, providing
them with health education and information about the various services offered by the Health
District. This was achieved through a series of 59 educational talks.
12 Wellness - one program alone participated in 40 outreach efforts, successfully reaching more
than 2,608 individuals with information about the various programs and services offered by the
Health District to the community.
2
We will Assess & Update Current Ordinances.
Retail Food Establishment Ordinance
Major modification
Completed
Animals
Minor modification — primarily to reduce regulations, reduce unwanted litters, & add clarifying
language in certain sections.
Completed
Body Art Ordinance
Major modification; potential to significantly lessen local regulation.
Started
Amy spoke about the Food Establishment Ordinance.
1. Identified the need and developed draft (Nov-Jan).
2. Sent out 801 letters to stakeholders (Feb).
3. Board of Health briefing (Mar).
4. Information & survey to website & social media (Mar).
5. Held 5 stakeholder meetings (Mar).
6. Survey available on website (Mar).
7. Reworked draft; draft fees (Apr).
8. Website Updated (Apr).
9. Board of Health Votes Unanimously in Favor (May).
10. Memo to Council (May).
11. Approved by Council (June).
12. Into Effect (August).
We want to educate the Public about Who We Are &What We Do, We started back hosting our Public
Health Fair on April 4, 2024 during National Public Health Week. Amy showed an Animal Ordinance
Video Series.
In 2023, at the Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District Animal Services Center, 559 Cats
and 966 Dogs were euthanized due to illness, behavior, and lack of space.
On May 4, 2024 the Spay/Neuter Campaign "It's Hip to Snip" was launched. Working with local groups
to maximize messaging and focusing on resource availability, not judgement.
We join with our community partners as we spread the word to Spay and Neuter, prevent unwanted
litters. We are committed to transparency. We now post at Animal Services the Weekly Animal Intakes
and the Weekly Animal Outcomes.
We want to improve knowledge & expertise within the Health Department.
1 All Staff Meetings every quarter.
2. We learn about the employees
3. We recognize wins, anniversaries and employees of the month.
Support staff development
"Advocate" Newsletter for staff
Inter-departmental coordination & relationship building.
Intra-departmental coordination & relationship building.
3
Encourage and Embrace Change and Innovation.
1. Major project to move the outdated electronic system into two separate systems for
Environmental Health & Clinical/Lab operations.
2. Use social media to our advantage.
3. 2024 Facebook statistics for the HD Main Page: 6,700 followers, Reach: 89,800, Views:
484,100, Interactions (likes, shares, comments): 9,100
4. Top Facebook posts were HIV Outbreak (Our first to go viral with over 245K views), Don't Wash
your Meat Graphic, and a reel (we just started those mid-year).
5. Assess departmental rules, seek input, and make changes.
6. Use of GIS technology for interactive mosquito map.
7. WIC had 2 major system changes — allowing for more on-line applications/access.
Staff Retention, Fulfillment & Resiliency.
Attrition Rates have improved significantly
2022: 28 staff left the department
2023: 23 staff left the department
2024: 14 staff left the department (out of 104 positions)
Moving out of the area: 3
Changing career &/or working from home: 5
Retirement: 1
Termination &/or resignation in lieu of termination: 4
Regrettable: 1
Staff Happiness & I have the Best Job Ever
1. Good News Friday
2. Megastar Monday
3. Frequent & transparent communication
4. Clear & consistent expectations across the department
5. Annual staff surveys
6. Crucial conversations approach
7. Support and understanding at all levels in the organization
8. Intermittent staff surveys, suggestion boxes, kudos boxes, questions boxes
a. Items are reviewed and addressed.
Goal — Celebrate Wins — Recognize — Support— Have Fun
1. We Celebrated Nurses Week!
2. We Celebrated World Immunization Week!
3. We Appreciate Animal Care Officers. Appreciation week is April 14-201
Challenges & Advantages
1. Expectations of enforcement, our role in the community & citizens responsibilities
2. Right amount of tolerable change.
3. Right amount of accountability & acceptance
4. Changes within the City of Wichita Fall,
Amy talked about our 2025 Goals.
1. Assess all goals & objectives with the team to determine best way forward.
2. Continue seeking improvements.
3. Continue recognizing the good & that we are here to serve the community.
4. Seek ways to improve communication within the department, with other departments and with
citizens.
4
Amy thanked the Board of Health for being incredibly supportive of our department and the work we
do. She knows the ordinance review is not easy. Our relationship and ability to have dialogue matters
so that we can accomplish all of our goals. Amy said 2025 is going to be great and their service is
appreciated!
The Board thanked Amy for all her work.
Next Meeting Date
V. March 21, 2025.
VI. Adjourn
Dr. Williamson adjourned the meeting at 1:00 pm.
Sign
G�
�tu e
4;14 4.,/i fe e
Keith Williamson, MD, Chair, Tonya Egloff, D.D.S., Vice-Chair
5