WC CWF Health District Board Minutes - 09/12/2025 WICHITA FALLS-WICHITA COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH BOARD MINUTES
*c00"npoe,, September 12, 2025
Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District
1700 Third Street— Clements Conference Room
Wichita Falls, Texas
Public Health
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Keith Williamson, M.D., Chair Physician —City Appointment
Melissa Plowman Restaurant Association —City Appointment
Jered Harlan, DVM Veterinarian —City Appointment
Terri Farabee, RN Registered Nurse—City Appointment
Rachel Reitan, DNP, FNP-c Citizen At-Large—City Appointment
BOARD MEMBERS EXCUSED ABSENCE:
Dr. Morgen Gardner Dentist—County Appointment
Ray Forsythe - Unexcused Citizen At-Large—County Appointment
OTHERS PRESENT:
Amy K. Fagan, M.P.A. Director of Health
Brandi Smith, BS, RN Assistant Director of Health
Whitney Flack City Councilor
I. CALL TO ORDER
Dr. Williamson, Chair, called the meeting to order at 12:05 pm after a quorum of members was
attained.
II. Approval of Minutes &Absences
Dr. Williamson called for a review and approval of the July 11, 2025 minutes.
Dr. Williamson asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Melissa Plowman made a motion to approve
and Dr. Harlan seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously.
Dr. Williamson stated that Dr. Gardner is excused. Ray Forsythe was going to be here.
Amy introduced Karel Davis the Texas Healthy Communities, Program Manager and Monica Gil
Garcia, Wellness Administrator. She is over all the Wellness programs.
III. Healthy Aging
Karel spoke about the Healthy Aging plan and the ultimate goal is to help Wichita County residents
achieve better health outcomes as they age. The Wichita Falls-Wichita County Public Health District
staff created a publication called "Seasons of Life", a guide for Healthy Aging in Wichita County, Texas.
It is like a short story that gives tips about healthy eating, tips on exercise. It includes information about
the 50 Plus Zone offered by the city and the YMCA activities. There are several other places that offer
exercise options. There is information on the Meals on Wheels.
Whitney Flack asked if there was any information on sleep and how important it is to the prevention of
Alzheimer's. Karel said it is very important to get enough deep sleep because it helps clean out the
cells and allows them to repair, detoxify and rejuvenate. Karel said we need between 6 and 8 hours
sleep each night.
Amy stated that sleep and loneliness are two things that we have tried to focus on.
Rachel Reitan asks what we are going to do with the "Seasons of Life" publication? Karel said it will
be put on different websites.
Karel also said there was a section about animals. And how important they are to our health. They
reduce the stress and help prevent strokes.
Amy suggested doing a media push related to each season. Karel could do a quarterly piece on social
media. Karel is very good that.
IV. Bike Friendly WF Overview
Dr. Williamson introduced Ashley Sisk; she is the Bike Friendly WF Coordinator.
Amy mentioned this was a position we did not have in the past, it has been a community effort to get
this funded. Ashley was with the Health District as a Health Educator. The City Council has been very
supportive of the position and work.
Ashley spoke about being involved in community health and her work as a Health Educator here at the
Health District. She spoke about all the different projects she has been involved in since the program
started in October 2024. In her new position she has many community partners. She teaches adults
and kids how to ride. We offer free classes for all ages. The "Bike Smart. Ride Safe" class builds
confidence, safety skills, and knowledge for biking on the road and trails.
Another class, "Learn to Ride", helps new riders of any age build balance, confidence, and basic biking
skills.
"Ride with Confidence" class helps teach essential bike handling, traffic skills, and road safety to
become a more confident and capable cyclist.
The "Share the Road. Save a Life" class is for drivers to learn how to safety interact with cyclist and
understand laws that keep all road users safe.
We have applied for a bike friendly community designation through the League of American Bicyclists.
Wichita Falls is a bike friendly community. Ashley said one of our goals is to become silver. What that
means is we are making our infrastructure acceptable for transportation and recreation services. The
benefit of cycling helps with our economy and air quality. It also helps get people out and active.
Amy mentioned that Ashley was able to get in the Driver's Education school. Ashley put a packet
together for students.
Dr Williamson asked if the bike lanes on the road are 2 way or just go with the traffic? Ashley said you
are supposed to go with traffic in one direction.
Amy said in the new budget we have money for education. We will be able to educate citizens about
different questions. Their objective is to keep citizens safe.
Ashley also helped the City of Wichita Falls on an application for TxDOT funds to finish the trails by
Lake Wichita. It will help get riders off Lakeshore Dr. It will also help with the trails on Seymour
Highway to Lucy Park. We will know in October if we get any funds. There is also a website for the
Trails.
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Dr. Williamson asked if she had a good working relationship with the Wichita Falls Police Department.
She said yes, she has talked with Officer Brian Arias, the Public Information Officer. Amy said we
might want to see if we can go to the Police Academy and talk to them about bike safety and laws
relating to bike safety.
V. Funding Updates
Amy spoke about the funding updates at the Health District. We may get our funding pulled for
Disease Intervention Service grant starting February 1, 2026. This is the team that goes and
knocks on doors and lets people know that they have been exposed to an STI. It will be hard to
track and get people into treatment. Which is very concerning for our community. We will also
lose our Community Clinical Health Bridge funding. They do the stress management class, pain
management classes, and nutrition classes in our cooking kitchen. The program loss will be big.
The State came back and asked what we could do with a third of the funding. We would be unable
to pay a fulltime person with what they are offering. The program will end the last of October. We
are waiting to hear about one other grant that employees 14 people. It is supposed to renew
November 1st. We had a backup plan and have not laid any employees off. Karel and a few other
staff have written two new cancer grants. One is for Breast Cancer Prevention, Awareness,
Resource and Referral. The other is for skin cancer. We keep writing grants to help pull money
in.
Amy talked about the painting that we are doing to the Health District. We are also updating the
STI desk area and moving Immunization over and combining the clinic area. We will have real
glass at the desk that will slide open and new furniture for the lobby.
Amy spoke about the West Nile Virus case we have. She also said we have a new sprayer for
Vector Control after January. It will help spray a larger area. Vector will also have a new computer
system in the trucks to use.
VI. Next Meeting Date
November 14, 2025.
VII. Adjourn
Dr. Williamson adjourned the meeting at 12:55 pm.
Sin ture
Keith Williamson, MD, Chair, Rachel Reitan, DNP, FNP-c, Vice-Chair,
Melissa Plowman, Secretary
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