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HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

MINUTES

February 2, 2009

The Health and Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, February 2, 2009 @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Jeffery L. Metzger, Sr., called the meeting to order.  Members present were Eileen Dubin, John Emerson, Pat LaVigne, Richard Osborne and Paul Stoddard.  Others present were Jess Collins, Mary Ramp, Dr. Shirley Richmond and Lisa Seymour.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Emerson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from January 2009.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., said that he would like to discuss the Mental Health article that appeared in the “Daily Chronicle” today.  Mr. Stoddard said that he would like to update the committee on the Board of Health. 

Moved by Ms. Dubin, seconded by Mr. Osborne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

POTENTIAL PROBLEM WITH KISHWAUKEE HOSPITAL AND POTENTIAL HOSPITAL BEDS FOR MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., said that there was an article in the “Daily Chronicle” today covering the potential problem of Kishwaukee Hospital no longer having beds for mental health patients.  He said that with the state of the economy today and an increase in mental health related issues, he feels that it will be a growing problem and how the County is going to handle this problem is something that he would like to discuss.

          Ms. Dubin said that by sitting on the Mental Health Board also, it came as no surprise to them.  She also is concerned about the veteran’s that will be coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and their mental state and the help that we will need to provide for them.

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., also said that he feels that funding will also be a problem out there with this increase in need.  He feels that the committee needs to make awareness a priority as far as getting everyone’s input as to what the problems are and what is our growing need in the County.

          Ms. Dubin said that we also need to let the community know that we care about this issue.

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., asked the committee over the next month to think about this issue and ways in which we could help and begin discussion on this in March.

TRI-COUNTY COMMUNITY HEALTH INTRODUCTION – DR. SHIRLEY RICHMOND

          Dr. Shirley Richmond introduced herself to the new committee members and explained who her clinic serves. 

          She said that it has been a successful year for them financially, however, they are never ahead.  There are still people out there in the community that do not know that they exist.

          Kishwaukee College has contracted with Trans Vac to transport people now from Rochelle to their clinic.  Kishwaukee College supports their clinic with their space and furnishings. 

When this clinic started their clinic served patients from Lee, Ogle and DeKalb County and our county, which was all rural.  They receive a greater reimbursement from Medicare if they remain rural.  They do take some of the load from the hospital with Medicaid people who go to the emergency room, but that Medicaid now is slow to reimburse them.

They saw 3,300 patients last year.  They work with nutritional students

to help out with diabetics that they see.  They have had advanced practiced nurses and a Physician. They also have some part-time employees and 1 full-time employee. They have problems with keeping mid-level providers and that they hope to bring in someone in the next couple of weeks. 

They provide physicals for students, job physicals, sports physicals, etc.  They have a sliding scale for $30.00, and lab work will be by contract with each individual.  Some of their patients do have insurance.  Most of their patients currently come from DeKalb County, 23% are from Ogle County and 25% or higher now are from the Hispanic population.

She also mentioned that they have 1 cna and one staff member that are both bi-lingual that helps with the Hispanic patients that they see.

They have problems with “no-shows” but that this rate has improved somewhat.  They are trying to find volunteers that could call people to remind them of their appointments.  They do have donors, but they could always use more donations.

The committee asked Dr. Richmond if her clinic serves any senior citizens? 

Dr. Richmond said yes they do with blood pressure readings and diabetics. 

The committee discussed with her that she may be eligible to apply for the Senior Services Tax Levy Grant and to contact Ms. Ramp in the next week to see about the application process.

Mr. Stoddard asked Dr. Richmond if there was any unmet need that she has noticed? 

Dr. Richmond said that they do have a mobile unit that goes out to the schools because there are some kids that are not getting their physicals.

The committee thanked Dr. Richmond for her very informative report.

HOPE HAVEN INTRODUCTION BY MS. LISA SEYMOUR

          Ms. Lisa Seymour, the Provisional Housing Coordinator, for Hope Haven, introduced herself to the committee. 

          She explained to the committee that they provide transitional housing for up to 12 families.  They can provide this service for these families for up to two years.  These people that they serve have to be DeKalb County residents for at least six months.  She said that currently the waiting list for this housing is full. She also said that they do have some senior citizens in their transitional housing.

          Ms. Seymour further explained that they also have emergency shelter that they can provide for a family for up to 90 days.  They try to find a family housing during this time period.  They can extend this time if they cannot find the housing for these people.

          If a family is served by Hope Haven in the transitional housing program and they do not have a high school diploma, Hope Haven requires them to get  their G.E.D. while they are staying with them, through Kishwaukee College. They do have job training and interviewing procedures in-house for these families too. They also help the families to create a budget and help them to get out of debt.

          In the current economy, she is receiving 3 or 4 phone calls a day from families that are facing eviction or can’t afford their housing any longer. 

          Ms. Seymour said that their funding has been cut across the board.  She said that they did lose a donor last year, too.

          Ms. Ramp said that they get about $100,000 a year in donations.  They also get some State funding, Federal funding, Township funding, and United Way funding, but what keeps the doors open are the donation funds. 

COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT YEAR-END REPORT

          Ms. Ramp explained the makeup of her Administrative Board to the committee. She said that John Hulseberg would be appointed to her board in February.  He will be replacing Howard Lyle’s position.

          She said that the demographics of her report starts on page 3 (on file in the County Board Office or the Community Services Department).  She said that currently her office is serving more female single parent families.  They served 1160 total persons with the Block Grant funds and a total of 466 households served.  She further explained that the Block Grant funds are continuing to go down, but that hopefully the stimulus package will help them.

          She currently has three staff members working in her office.  They handle a lot of emergency funding.  They received a private donation last year that is to be used for just emergency assistance, not staff time.  The Block Grant mostly pays for their salaries. 

UPDATE ON THE BOARD OF HEALTH – PAUL STODDARD      

          Mr. Paul Stoddard, committee member, also sits on the Board of Health.  He updated the committee on the Board of Health’s latest meeting.  He said that they met in the new Community Outreach Building, which is very nice.  He said that they talked about the rising costs in healthcare for their employees. 

Mr. Stoddard also said that the Environmental Division of the Health Department is discussing a recycling program.  They will be putting out a proposal to all rural townships to help them out with a recycling program.  They will provide the dumpster and a small amount of money to defray the costs for the first couple of years. 

Before adjourning, Chairman Metzger, Sr., said that he would look into inviting Mr. Chuck Rose, President of the Mental Health 708 Board for the March meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Stoddard, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                Respectively submitted,

                                                _________________________________  

_____________________________ 

Mary C. Supple, Secretary