Minutes 09-21-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Jacobs asked if the dental clinic would expand in the current space at Whitted or look for other space within the same building. Rosemary Summers said that the preliminary plan would be to put all of the dental services where they are now and move clinical services elsewhere to give the dental clinic the extra space. Commissioner Hemminger asked about the differences between options 2 and 3. Rosemary Summers said that option 2 is additional staff and would maximize all eight dental chairs. For this next year, with the transition, they want to make sure that they are at a maximum level at the new space. The second phase would be to add staff the following fiscal year. Chair Foushee asked if staff has determined how clients would access vouchers procedurally. She is concerned about the people who would have to make this transition and whether this would add an extra step to getting the help they need. Rosemary Summers said that if this can be done early enough, the vouchers could be offered at the last visit for the visit coming up so that it would be easier. Another thought is to give the bus driver some vouchers, and if the person can show an appointment slip, then they would get a bus voucher from the driver. Commissioner Pelissier asked if the BOH has looked at the long-term implications of the increase in dental services and if there is some plan to do that in the near future. Rosemary Summers said that the Board of Health will be having a presentation on health care reform tomorrow night and the effect on public health. This will be an agenda topic at the joint meeting with the BOCC next month. Commissioner Pelissier asked how often the 420 bus runs and Frank Clifton said that it runs about eight times a day and there may be another bus. There are conversations with the Town of Chapel Hill about transit at this time. Commissioner Gordon said that the 420 bus starts at UNC Hospitals and ends up in Hillsborough. She said that the bus would not drop people off at Whitted, so clients would have to take another bus in Hillsborough, if one is made available, or walk. Commissioner Gordon noted that, according to the information provided to us, the dental clinic is open two days a week at Carr Mill Mall and serves about 40% of the patients, while the clinic in Hillsborough is open an average of three days a week and serves about 60% of the patients. We have also been told that the clinics are fully booked. In that case, she wondered if it was really possible to distinguish the demand in the two clinics. Discussion ensued about the conclusion of having one facility in Hillsborough. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page five of the abstract under Additional Expense and "provide transportation or vouchers for 2,000 visits per year." He said that this is presumably multiple visits from the same people. Rosemary Summers said that statistics show that regular clients average two visits a year. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the Health Department sends reminders. Rosemary Summers said that right now the reminders are on postcards. Commissioner Jacobs suggested sending vouchers along with reminders. He said that the more proactive they can be the better with regards to public transportation. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to having this in the CIP for 2021 and said that the County just went from a ten-year CIP to a five-year CIP. He asked if it would take five years at the end of the five-year CIP to fund and construct this facility. Rosemary Summers said that the BOH wanted to make clear that the preferred option was two full-time clinics at two locations, realizing that there was no money now to do this. They wanted to put in a marker somewhere for the County Commissioners to consider future capital. Commissioner Nelson said that he is not clear about what analysis has been done on the clients actually using the dental clinic. He said that many of the clients have to use the bus