HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-16-2006 Board of Health MinutesPlainview -Hale County Board of Health Meeting
February 16, 2006
Board Members Present: Dr. Sidney Ontai, M.D., Neal Burnett, Cinde Ebeling, Judy
Shannon, R.N., and Don Williams
Staff Members Present: John Castro, Kelli Shurbet, R.N., Terry Arnold, and Jamie
Harrington.
Mr. John Castro called the regularly scheduled meeting of the Plainview -Hale County
Board of Health meeting to order at the Plainview Convention Center, on February 16,
2006 at 12:30 p.m.
Third agenda item - Review of expenditures: Mr. Don Williams moved to accept
the expenditures and Dr. Sidney Ontai seconded the motion. The motion carried
Fourth agenda item - Update and discuss communicable disease reports: Kelli
Shurbet then gave an overview of the current state of communicable diseases in Hale
County. She explained to the Board that 60 cases of influenza had been reported to
her, and that mumps had been reported but not confirmed. Judy Shannon then stated
that it turned out not to be mumps as once speculated. Kelli also informed the board
that the Health Department had plenty of influenza vaccine. John Castro added that the
Health Department might see how much vaccine gets used up in the next few weeks,
and possibly offer the flu shot for free because of the excess vaccine remaining. Dr.
Ontai further explained that patrons who had received the flu shot early in October or
November should probably get a second dose in February or March anyway.
Kelli then reported that Gonorrhea has been running rampant in Hale County right now.
She had six positive tests in the month of February, and was awaiting more results from
other exams. She speculated that four exams were going to also come back positive
due to the existence of symptoms. Kelli Shurbet explained to the board that she had
already done 18 exams in the month of February and was even away for a week. Dr.
Ontai asked if it had been reported to be prevalent in any cluster and Kelli stated that is
was most seen in patients between 18 to 25 years of age. John Castro shared that he
had suggested bringing in someone from Region 1 to look at the outbreak in order to
get gonorrhea under control. He said that it is very serious if we have someone who is
asymptomatic in the community spreading the disease around. Mrs. Shurbet predicted
that it was an asymptomatic female because she was seeing mostly males or that the
females were getting treated elsewhere. Don Williams asked if information could be put
out to the public informing them of the outbreak. John Castro then said that it would be
looked into to see if the State had any Public Service announcements that we could put
out. Dr. Ontai then suggested that maybe people were being treated inappropriately and
the disease was not being sufficiently taken care of. Kelli Shurbet explained that when
patients do not follow up the Health Department couldn't ensure that the disease has
been taken care of. Cinde Ebeling then asked about the number of HIV positives in Hale
County. Kelli explained that when people come in for STD testing they are also
screened for HIV, and she had not seen a positive case since she began. She also said
that Chlamydia had been reported but was not as prevalent as Gonorrhea. Further, she
told the board that most of the positive Chlamydia cases were referrals from Lubbock,
and that most people that came in were having symptoms of Gonorrhea.
Fifth agenda item — Health department news: In Health Department news, Mr.
John Castro explained that there was not very much going on except for the hiring of
Terry Arnold as Bio Terrorism expert, Kelli Shurbet as Director of Nursing, and Jamie
Harrington as secretary. He further iterated that he is hoping to make the Health
Department more visible as it was in the past. He said that the Health Department
needed to get out there in PSA's and let the community know the different things that it
does.
Sixth Agenda Item — Discuss and make a recommendation to the City Council
and County Commissioners on a new appointment to Health Board President:
The Board then discussed the appointment of a new Board of Health president.
Suggestions were made for Dr. Turner to be nominated for the position. It was talked
about. The nomination of Dr. Ontai was also suggested and discussed. It was
recommended that the board have someone appointed as Board of Health president
who was active in the medical field and had board certification. After further
discussion, Mr. Don Williams moved that Dr. Sidney Ontai be recommended for Board of
Health president. Judy Shannon seconded the motion. There were three in favor of the
motion, and there were two abstentions. The motion carried to recommend Dr. Sidney
Ontai to the City and the County as president of the board.
Seventh agenda item — Discuss and consider changing the time of the Health
Board meeting: The next item of discussion was changing the time of the Board of
Health meeting. The board talked about a time and day change to better suit the
members. It was moved by Don Williams to change the time of the Board of Health
Meeting to 12;00, Dr. Ontai seconded it, and the motion carried unanimously. John
Castro announced that the next meeting would be on April the 13th at 12;00.
Eighth agenda item — Discuss Board of Health meeting for April 13, 2006: The
board then discussed the adoption of animals in Hale County. Mr. Castro explained that
there had been some changes at the Humane Society and the number of adoptions has
fluctuated. It was suggested that the Board of Health get involved and recruit other
individuals to help in animal control.
The meeting was then adjourned.
Jamie Harrington,
Secretary, Plainview -Hale County Health Department
