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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH October 23, 2003 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by V. Anne Miles 4 October 23, 2003 connectivity between the Health Department and a separate department with respect to the issues that are health related. According to statistics, 40% of counties in North Carolina have animal shelter services in the health department. Board members agreed that no matter what jurisdiction animal shelter services falls under it won’t work unless there is effective communication and that there will have to be more oversight no matter who is responsible. There will also have to be increased oversight on a regular basis, regular meetings with the shelter director and shelter staff, regular meetings with the board of directors of whatever the organization is that is running the shelter, and they are going to have to carefully receive and monitor all reports, financial as well as activity reports. That’s going to have to be done on a monthly basis, not just semi-annually or quarterly basis, because of the level at which the public in this county expects the operation to occur. Concern was expressed about the county running the animal shelter because a government tends not to foster volunteers. The backbone of the non-profit agencies is its volunteers. That is how they can make it work and stay within a budget. Typically governments do not invest the resources in managing volunteers the way nonprofits do because that is the lifeblood of nonprofits. D. Primary Care Needs Assessment The Health Department has been concerned about access to care availability for low- income uninsured and underinsured residents. This concern is echoed in the most recent Community Health Assessment where access to health care is one of the top concerns of Orange County residents. The Health Director has begun discussions regarding a Community Care Network with neighboring health departments and medical providers to look at ways to address this issue. Within OCHD, there have been discussions about whether the focus on preventive clinical services results in fragmented care and loss of continuity of care for the vulnerable populations we serve. It has been suggested that by expanding clinical services to include primary care we would be providing a medical home and comprehensive care to traditionally served populations that often do not have access to such services. To address this, we requested an MSW-MPH candidate, Aviva Scully, to undertake a needs assessment by interviewing or surveying clients, staff and community stakeholders and reviewing secondary data. Her assessment and recommendations are in the paper entitled ‘Primary Care Needs Assessment for Orange County Health Department 2003.’ Aviva Scully presented the assessment report to the Board for discussion. E. Medical Reserve Corps Grant In fall of 2002, the department applied for a grant to the US Department of Health and Human Services to establish a Medical Reserve Corps of volunteers that could be utilized during emergency situations. That grant was not awarded, however staff reapplied for the grant this spring and we received notice of award recently. The award is for a total of $50,000 each year for a three-year period and is intended to hire a volunteer coordinator who will recruit, train, and coordinate volunteers for emergency response. The initial award is for the federal period of September 1, 2003