Orange County NC Website
Chair Jacobs noted that the website is misspelled. <br /> Commissioner Pelissier said that this dashboard technology falls in line with the discussions <br /> on the strategic plan. <br /> Commissioner Price asked if schools are tied into the electronic health records. <br /> Colleen Bridger said there is only access to the immunization registry. <br /> Commissioner Price asked if at risk students can be indentified in the case of an outbreak. <br /> Colleen Bridger said this would only be possible if physicians enter the information into the <br /> immunization registry. <br /> Commissioner Price asked why breast cancer is so high in this County. <br /> Colleen Bridger said the incidence rate is higher than the state, but mortality is also higher <br /> than the state average and this is age adjusted data. She said this means it cannot be attributed to <br /> overpopulation. She said there is no good explanation, but the solution is better screening. <br /> Commissioner Rich asked if there is any ethnic data. <br /> Colleen said the incidence is more prevalent in African Americans. She said screening <br /> activities are targeted to African American churches. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said he would like to see more attention focused on child poverty in <br /> the County. He asked for feedback on what else ought to be done. <br /> He asked if there was anything that the Health Department would like to request from the <br /> Board. <br /> Colleen Bridger said more funding would be helpful. <br /> She said one of the dashboards being worked on is "Social Determinants of Health". She <br /> said poverty is a big indicator for all of the priority issues. She said there needs to be a better <br /> understanding of the pockets of poverty in the County. She said this will allow greater focus for the <br /> interventions. <br /> She said the other initiative is to continue to invest in education, which is the solution to <br /> pulling people out of poverty. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said he is thinking about the needs of children even before they <br /> reach public school. He feels there needs to be more early intervention. <br /> Colleen Bridger said the first five years are critical. She said it might be interesting to delve <br /> into the brain development in the first five years, to further understand the importance of investing in <br /> that age. <br /> She said that her answer to Commissioner Dorosin's question is that the Board of Health <br /> would like to better integrate health into things like planning and transportation. She said help is <br /> needed from the Board in order to move forward with becoming more involved in this conversation. <br /> She said more money would also be great. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin asked if there were more money, would you be doing more of the <br /> same thing to a larger number of people, or if it would mean expanding priorities. <br /> Colleen Bridger said the department would expand their priorities. <br /> Corey Davis said there is a huge list. <br /> Commissioner Dorosin said he is interested in seeing that list. <br /> Matthew Kelm said one of the intervention ideas came from working with environmental <br /> health. He said this led to a realization that there could be more done to educate families about <br /> lead in the water. <br /> Colleen Bridger said the department was very appreciative of the additional funding for this <br /> year. <br /> Commissioner Pelissier referred to the comment on transportation and health. She said the <br /> Master Aging Plan committee is always talking about transportation for the aging population. <br /> She said it would be good to collaborate with other departments, such as the Department <br /> on Aging. <br /> Colleen Bridger said she would make sure this is on the radar screen. <br />