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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH September 23, 2009 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 7 September 23, 2009 The Interim County Manager was given an assignment from Commissioners to examine various aspects of county government operations and to provide the Commissioners with his observations and recommendations. The full report is 65 pages long. The attached excerpts apply primarily to the Health Department. The Interim County Manager, Frank Clifton, reviewed the report at a work session on September 10. Discussion and comments by Commissioners were offered after the presentation. Mr. Clifton spent about 2 hours with the Health Director touring all facility locations and discussing the Department’s services and future facility plans prior to writing his report. The Board of Health was invited to discuss the Interim Manager’s recommendations and observations and given the opportunity to provide comments back to the Commissioners. The full report is available in the BOCC September 10 meeting agenda on the Orange County website. Chris Harlan asked the Board if they felt a response to the report would be appropriate. Commissioner Yuhasz stated that the report consisted of observations, not recommendations and no immediate reaction is required of the Board. He also stated the Commissioners have not endorsed any of the observations at this point. E. Report on Cabarrus County Facility Visit Mary Beck, Senior Consultant for UNC Health Care, Amy Bragg, Planning Director for UNC Health Care, Pam Jones, Asset Management Director, and Rosemary Summers, Health Director took a field visit to the Cabarrus Health Alliance in late August. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the relationship between the Cabarrus Health Alliance and the local hospital. Cabarrus County is home to a “NC Research Campus” conceived of and sponsored by David Murdoch, the owner of Dole, Inc. This is a public-private partnership in that the land is donated by Mr. Murdoch, and one central building was built by him. The concept he had is that that researchers from many different universities will be housed on this campus and the synergy between these research topics, primarily in the prevention arena, will yield better results. Each university that wishes to have a presence must fund their own building or a portion of a building. It will also eventually become a community with all basic services being provided on or near the campus. To date, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, NC Central, NC A&T, UNC-G, and Appalachian State already have a presence on the campus. The Cabarrus Community College has also broken ground on a building. The Cabarrus Health Alliance will be constructing a new facility at the edge of the campus to replace their current facility. The hospital will be constructing a diagnostic facility across the street from the new Alliance building. While each organization is funding their own construction, the collaboration between the two organizations appears to be strong. Hospital representatives have a clear and vital connection to the governing board of the Alliance. Both entities have clear referral practices in place to ensure that residents receive services that they need, an example is that some specialty clinics are provided in the health department on a regular basis.