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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Citizens Advisory Health Board - 04/16/2003 • V Q Minutes CITIZENS ADVISORY HEALTH BOARD April 16,2003, Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District 1702 Home Road, Administration Conference Room Members Present: Rose Caballero, Blanca R. Garcia, Tony C. Diaz,Gloria Farias, Leo Barrera, Larry Bittle Members Absent: Amanda Stukenberg,Melinda Gonzales,R.N.,Karen Beard Health District: Annette Rodriguez Guest: Emily Martinez Timeline/ Meeting Outline Minutes Action Taken Responsible Party Call to Order Rose Caballero, Vice Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 12:20 p.m. Opening Remarks Discussion regarding packets. It was explained that the packet from the previous meeting was required because the last meeting was cancelled due to a lack of quorum. Health Discussion regarding the Health Department Department Budget. A question was asked how was the Budcet allocation of funds this year as opposed to last year. Annette responded that level funding was being requested, for the city budget. The positions here were not affected by freezes or R.LF.'s. A 5% cut from the State is expected, although this could go up. The county has frozen some positions. Our county positions are reimbursed 100%by the Hospital District, and we will be requesting to unfreeze these positions with commissioner's court. Question: Are their any open positions that may cause disruption to the service. Reply: Yes, our LVN and clerk position does impact our immunization program. Question: Can we find out the total number on staff here at the Health Department? Reply: Yes we can get that for you. Leo Barren, Chairperson,arrives. There is now a quorum. Mrs. Caballero tells Mr. Barrera where they are at and that the minutes have not been approved yet. Minutes Minutes from February 19, 2003 are approved as written. Mr. Barrera requested that he hand over SCANNED the chair to Ms. Caballero as he is currently in jury duty. She preferred not to take over. She requested that Mr. Barren continue chairing until `i he needed to leave and at that time she would take back over if needed. Mr. Barren continued chairing the meeting. Discussion re Budget continues Rose Caballero referred back to the position involving immunizations; this position should be reinstated not frozen. This is a critical area. Rose asked what action was to be taken about these positions. Reply: Discussions had taken place with the Hospital District with regard to the frozen positions. The Hospital District reimburses the county for the county positions at the health department, and therefore we should not be affected by cuts. It will be taken to commissioner's court requesting to unfreeze these positions. Larry Biddle offered using industries occupational health nurses to assist if needed in vaccination programs. Rose Caballero asked about the hours at the immunization clinic for vaccinations. If there were new hours of operation to accommodate the public. Reply: Monday nights are extended hours. Rose commented that more may be needed. She is interested in long term hours of operation. Possibly on weekends, working at schools or events or even the mall for immunizations. It had apparently been discussed previously by the Board that the hours of operation should be extended permanently. Question was asked: Which positions had been approved under the bioterrorism grant, and why they could not have hired a nurse as an educator through this grant to assist with immunizations? Reply: The grant has several positions approved, an Epidemiologist, two Information Specialist, a PC Tech, an Infectious Disease Coordinator, which is a nurse and an intermediate clerk. By definition (job description) and pay scale the Information Specialist really could not be a nurse, this would have been difficult to do. Emily from the City was kind enough to explain 4 City the compensation study to the board. Compensation Study The City had recently implemented a 5-year compensation plan. It had been many years since this had been done. The plan had to be implemented over a 5-year period because there was not enough money in the general fund to implement all at once. A matrix was created to stagger the increases fairly over the 5-year period. All city employees received something, even if it was only a I% increase,since implementation of this plan. The system was explained to all city staff in several meetings. The study was done to make sure that the City remains competitive and can retain their employees. Many areas were looked at to make decisions on the compensation plan including: Education Experience Freedom to Act Complexity Working conditions Human relations Interaction with outside agencies etc. Although the City has a good benefit package, employees look at the bottom line which is take home pay. Local outcome measures were discussed. Rose Other items Caballero mentioned possibly adding Family Planning to the outcomes. She also inquired on Health Education if the number of presentations versus the number of calls for health information could be broken out. Annette told her most definitely; it just was written together for this particular performance measure. The Director's r port was given. Annette asked the committee if they would fill out the surveys which were part of their handouts, and give their input. These were from a student as a school project. The committee did not wish to do this. Rose Caballero made comments to the Board and requested they be included in the minutes: Last month the Board met with only 4 members present, therefore not having a quorum. Dr. Boostrom informed the attendees they could meet but no minutes could be recorded. Mrs. Caballero explained that in the past, minutes had always been kept regardless of quorum or not. Annette Rodriguez communicated that Dr. Boostrom had given her clarification on the matter, and it is that the Advisory Board can meet and can have discussion but a person should be appointed from the group to take minutes if there is not a quorum present. The Board understood there could not be any action taken but could conduct the meeting. Dr. Boostrom was insistent that the Board could discuss but no minutes could be kept. Mrs. Caballero closed the meeting. The Board members volunteer their time and for the Director to expect the members to just visit without benefit of any Board activity is not what the members intend. Mrs. Caballero expressed concern that neither Dr. Boostrom nor Jorge Cruz-Aedo responded to her after assuring her they would check and get back to her about keeping of minutes without a quorum. Neither provided a response. It is a lack of concern for the Board members who did show. She expressed concern that the committee does not seen to be going anywhere and Dr. Boostrom should have listened to the members and not dismissed the person who was to take the minutes. Annette apologized on behalf of Dr Boostrom and commented that the agenda's are set as decided in the retreat in January. Maybe there should be a discussion section at the meeting for other items. Dr. Tony Diaz commented on the disrespect shown to the committee by the Director. Also that everyone needs to be encouraged to attend the meeting next month to ensure a quorum. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m. • Next Meeting May 21,2003