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BOARD OF HEALTH MAY 22, 1997 4 8. HEALTH DIRECTOR’S REPORT Employee Committee -- Mr. Reimer provided attendees with a written report on the issues raised by the Employee Committee and actions taken to address these issues. The ad-hoc committee recommended that the Employee Committee be made permanent and that it have a revolving membership. The purpose of the Committee will be to address employee concerns, their issues and interests; to recommend specific action to the Health Director; and to plan activities designed to enhance employee morale. Budget Update -- In his initial meeting with the County Manager, the Health Director requested a temporary health educator be made permanent and two 8 or 10-hour temporary nurse practitioner positions be consolidated into one 20-hour position. The committee that reviewed the request recommended that it be a full-time position and that the current temporary health educator not be made a permanent position. When Mr. Reimer met with the Manager on May 6th, the Manager’s team did not recommend continued funding for Community Based Public Health because the Health Department did not have the Kellogg Phase II Grant in hand, which was due last October. The team would reconsider the request following receipt of a detailed account of the money flow. Mr. Reimer was able to go to the second meeting on May 19th with the check and the contract in hand and a step-by-step explanation of what money was expected last year, what actually came in, how costs were allocated, what money was left, etc. The Manager’s team was then able to see that the money was there to carry over for next year. With this background, the Manager decided to recommend the continuation of the Community Based Public Health Initiative. Activities Report -- Mr. Reimer noted, that, in light of the Board’s earlier discussion regarding the importance of health education to meet its long-term goals, this is an area where the Board could help in developing a strategy and in orienting the County Manager. Among the things that came up in the earlier discussion was that the main reason the Manager supported the Nurse Practitioner over the Health Educator is because they know what a nurse practitioner does -- they see patients in the clinic. People in the street understand that; but, who knows what health educators do? The Manager might be more responsive to the kind of community support and professional input that the Board could bring than to hearing it from staff. Mr. Reimer stated that he would like to develop a strategy and ask different individuals to work with him so that by next year John Link will have input from the Board that might make him more open to considering this. It will be necessary to increase the health education staff if the Board is going to adopt the kind of programs recently discussed. Ms. Chavious commented that it is necessary to overcome the image that the only thing health educators do is create pamphlets and posters and hold fairs with balloons and things. That is a visible part of the health educators job, but not the substantive planning, etc. which is also a part of the role of the health educator. The Board needs help in understanding the role of the health educator beyond development of materials, etc. Dr. Foster noted that there are actually many health professionals who would be able to provide the services of health education and that there are actually multiple professional routes to accomplish what is needed by looking at skill level, background and training that people have. A health educator is not the only one who can design health education programs. Dr. Klein stated that this would be health marketing. Business people market their services. The Health Department is competing against McDonalds -- and we are losing. Dr. Ives noted that Glaxo-Wellcome has changed its focus from selling medications to selling health. Dr. Klein suggested that, since the funds are not available to hire multiple staff, perhaps a point person can be