HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-13-2006 Board of Health MinutesBoard of Heath Minutes
April 13, 2006
Board Members Present: Neal Burnett, Cinde Ebeling, Sidney Ontai
MD, Belinda Pena, Rita Robertson, RN, Judy Shannon, RN, and Don
Williams
Staff Members Present: John Castro, Director of Community
Services, Kelli Shurbet, Director of Nursing, Jamie Harrington,
Secretary.
Mr. John Castro called the regularly scheduled meeting of the
Plainview -Hale County Board of Health meeting to order at the
Unger Memorial Library on April 13th, 2006 at 12:30 p.m.
First Item on Agenda: Invocation, given by Neal Burnett.
Second Item on Agenda: Reappointment of board members and Oath
of Office. Dr. Sidney Ontai was reappointed to the Board of Health,
and sworn in by Mr. Castro. It was also announced that John Castro
would no longer conduct the meetings. As president of the Board of
Health, Dr. Sidney Ontai would serve as chair for the following
meetings.
Third Item on Agenda: Approval of February, 2006 minutes. John
Castro pointed out that new minutes had been completed to correct
some mistakes that had been overlooked prior to the mailing of the
Board of Health packets. He called attention to the changed items
for the Boards information. Mr. Castro also said that the minutes
had changed format in order to get the Board of Health to coincide
better with other City Boards. Don Williams moved that the minutes
be approved and Belinda Pena seconded the motion. It carried
unanimously.
Fourth Item on Agenda: Review of Expenditures. The expenditures
for January, February, and March were reviewed. John Castro
informed the Board that the only large, unusual expenditure
happened in January when the Influenza vaccine was paid for. He
further explained that the Health Department was continuing to pay
for previous order miscommunications. Mr. Castro also explained
the addition of the account for Bio -Terrorism. He pointed out that it
is a grant -funded budget that is separate from the general funds.
Neal Burnett moved that the Board approve the financial reports for
January, February, and March 2006. Judy Shannon seconded the
motion. Motion carried.
Fifth Item on Agenda: Update and discuss communicable disease
reports. Kelli Shurbet, RN reported the flu cases have dropped
dramatically from the previous meeting. She informed the Board
that one case of Viral Meningitis had been reported at South Plains
College. In addition, she reported that the Gonorrhea cases had
dropped, and that she had three reports of Syphilis. She added that
the Syphilis cases were in Hale County, not necessarily in
Plainview.
Sixth Item on Agenda: Health Department news. Kelli Shurbet
informed the Board that the Health Department had been very busy
with immunizations. She explained that National Infant
Immunizations week was during April. Rita Robertson asked if the
Health Department had been given any information about the Mumps
cases reported nearby. Kelli explained that there had been some
calls about Mumps but not as many as she had anticipated.
Kelli Shurbet also informed the board of the free cholesterol
screening that the Health Department put on. She reported that
about sixty patrons had come in to get the free test. She added that
the Health Department went to the local Health Fair and provided
free sugar tests and blood pressure checks.
Mrs. Shurbet further told the Board that the Varicella and the MMR
vaccines have been combined into one shot. She pointed out that
this is a good thing because it would cut down on the number of
immunizations given, but also added that the State was now
recommending that the Hepatitis A vaccine be given to all children
12 months and up as well. Rita Robertson asked about the
requirements that the schools would have to follow. Ms. Robertson
expressed concern about knowing which children she needed to
send to get the vaccination. She asked if the school would have to
start sending the students in the spring or wait until fall. Kelli
further explained that it was recommended for people who come in
to get immunizations and that is may be mandatory the next school
year. Cinde Ebeling asked if that vaccination would go along with
the twelve month old shots. Kelli Shurbet confirmed that it was to
be given then, but not before twelve months of age. Mrs. Shurbet
also told the board that on the Vaccines for Children Program the
Meningitis vaccine was available for order in June, but children who
wanted to receive the immunization would have to meet certain
criteria.
Cinde Ebeling asked Kelli Shurbet if the day cares could receive a
fax or something to update them on the changes in immunization for
the one -year-old shots, because a lot of them will be unaware of
the changes. Mrs. Shurbet replied that she would send the
information when the Hepatitis A immunization became mandatory.
Seventh Item on Agenda: Discuss and consider changing time, place,
and meal served for the Health Board Meeting, John Castro asked
the board how they felt about changing the location and meal served
for the Board of Health meeting. It was pointed out by Mr. Castro
that there are a variety of places around town that could serve as
the meeting place. He suggested trying out different locations to
find a suitable location. It was decided by the board to have the
next meeting at the Rockin R Steak House and start the meeting at
12:30 p.m.
Eighth Item on Agenda: Presentation by Dr. Ontaii, Dr. Sidney Ontai
presented to the board a slide show informing them of how to
determining a good screening test from a bad screening test. He
pointed out that the Health Department could provide advice to the
public on screening programs. He emphasized the importance of
the science behind deciding what is a good screening.
Dr. Ontai also pointed out that it is impossible to screen for
everything, and that there are thousands of different blood tests
that can be performed. In routine check ups the benefit of doing the
test on someone who is well must out way the harm that the test
will inflict. Dr. Ontai explained that this was a very difficult bar to
reach because if someone is feeling good there is nothing that he as
a doctor can do to make the patient feel better. He can however
make you feel worse by conducting a poor test. Dr. Ontai
emphasized that doing tests on someone who is sick and in the
hospital is a completely different story. Some tests that may be
painful are necessary in order to make the patient get better as
soon as possible.
Dr. Ontai explained the main benefits should be that we focus on the
diseases that are curable. He pointed out that a majority of
diseases cannot be cured, and of those that can be cured, it does
not matter if you cure them while symptoms exist or before they
surface, they can be cured with the same success rate. He added
that these are two common sense questions as to when screening
should occur.
Dr. Ontai then addressed the harms of tests. He said that the harms
that are going to be caused by the tests must be greater than the
benefits from doing the screening. Some of the harms are
dependent on how good the tests truly are. He pointed out the
validity of the tests may change over time, and that tests that are
likely to cause a false negative are a big harm. Dr. Ontai further
confirmed the importance that we make sure that tests are quite
accurate. He explained the different ratings for tests and how
ratings are determined.
Dr. Ontai stressed that these issues are important because
screening is taking care of people who are sick as well as those
individuals who are well, and that all the data that is collected from
screening should be followed up with a visit that connects the
number provided by the test with a primary care system that can
take the number and connect it to a system. He emphasized the
optimal importance of tying these things together.
Ninth Item on Agenda: Adjourn. John Castro adjourned the April
meeting of the Board of Health.
Secretary