Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
letters when the fund was being developed. A major portion of the fund has been designated far the <br />prescription drug program. There is now some talk in Raleigh that the fund will be used to balance <br />the budget. She said that the County Commissioners could write letters to the legislative delegation <br />and to the foundation board on the State using that fund to balance the budget. Commissioner <br />Halkiotis said that he believes that there are more high school kids smoking now than ever before. <br />Chair Jacobs asked that the Board of Health provide to the County Commissioners their <br />legislative agenda. <br />Chair Jacobs asked if there was any data on elder abuse and Rosemary Summers said that the <br />Health Department does not have any of this information. Mary Beck said that they could get some <br />figures from UNC-Hospital and compare that data over a period of time. However, not all elder abuse <br />leads to reporting at a hospital. She said that an educational process that encourages identification <br />and reporting would help. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to obesity and said that on the front page of USA Today, there <br />was an article about more people using drive-in food than ever before and right beneath that was the <br />rise in obesity. He said that the way that we develop our communities is contributing to the obesity of <br />this generation. <br />Martha Jane Stucker said that she just heard that there is federal income tax relief available for <br />the obese. <br />Rosemary Summers said that in other counties, in an effort to lower the budget, the schools <br />have been cutting out sports at the middle school level, which would lower the level of activity for this <br />age group. <br />Commissioner Brawn asked if there is data on how Orange County's grades compare to the <br />state. Mary Beck said that Orange County could be compared to the target grades, but not all the <br />data is available for the state. In general, the health status of Orange County is good compared to the <br />rest of the state. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked how Orange County compared with other counties. Rosemary <br />Summers said that in the area of teenage pregnancy, Orange County compared favorably to other <br />counties. One of the other areas of concern from the last risk factor survey was alcohol use, <br />particularly in binge drinking in youth/college age. <br />Commissioner Brown asked how they would use the indicators from year to year. Mary Beck <br />said that they would like to use the same indicators and possibly add some each year. <br />Summary of Health Department Strategic Plan Accomplishments <br />At this time, different members of the Board of Health spoke about the accomplishments of the <br />strategic plan. <br />Martha Stucker spoke about communicable disease. There were grant funds awarded for TB <br />reduction and these are being used for clinician education. There is now an expanded list of <br />physician practices for rapid fax communication. <br />Sharon Van Horn spoke about childhood immunizations. Forty-six percent of children in Orange <br />County are age-appropriately immunized by 24 months of age. This is up from 16°~ last year. This is <br />partly due to the fact that they are coordinating with WIC to obtain immunization records. They are <br />trying to develop an Internet record sharing program with private providers and to continue cleaning <br />the records -aiming for over 60% age-appropriate immunizations in 2002. <br />Lee Werley spoke about sexually transmitted infections. He said that there was a rise in syphilis <br />from three cases to 24 cases in 2001. The good news is that mini-RIOT (Rapid Intervention Outreach <br />Team) addressed the outbreak. The integrated clinics have been increased to five days per week. <br />They have also been using providerlnurse teams. There will be an increase in outreach efforts to <br />communities, screening and treatment in jails, researching of new software programs for improved <br />clinic management, and HIV case management services. <br />Mel Hurston spoke about Clinical Support Services, or Central Administration Services. The <br />denial rate for Medicaid was less than 15°~ this year. There has been an increase in appointment <br />slots per day since January. There have also been huge increases in third party billing and payments <br />and workload. The revenues far this fiscal year are over budget. Some of the needs are inventory <br />