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Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 939
La Marque, TX 77568
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The Executive
Report |
Phone: 409-938-2401
Fax: 409-938-2243
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The Executive Report is a monthly summary of key activities and
significant happenings in the Health District overall. This summary of
activities and/or happenings may involve: one of many different
public health
programs, the
Galveston Area
Ambulance Authority (GAAA), the
4C's
federally-funded community health clinics (CHC's), and/or
collaborate efforts among community health partners.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact:
Pisa Lewis , Executive Assistant,
at 409 938-2401, by email:plewis@gchd.org;
or Kurt Koopmann, Public Information Officer,
at 409-938-2211,
by email:kkoopman@gchd.org.
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| November 20,
2003 |
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Archives |
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 On-Camera
Interview Regarding Odor Nuisance
Update on Zephyr
Employees Heard at Town Hall Meetings
Bayou
Vista Considering Animal Services Contract
Cooling Tower Emissions & Air Pollution
National
Recognition of Strategic Health Planning Process
4C’s Clinic Updates
Status of Recruitment Efforts
Current 4C’s Clinic Trends
Treatment of Patients with Mental Illness
Preventive Medicine Resident to Rotate at 4C's Clinics
UTMB Telemedicine Opportunities and Continuing Medical
Education (CME)
Operational Updates
WIC Program Review
4C’s Federal Grant Application
Local Health Department Meeting
NACHC Pilot Program
| On-Camera Interview
Regarding Odor Nuisance |
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On November 4,
News 24 Houston had an on-camera interview with
the Director of Pollution Control regarding an
odor nuisance complaint about a seafood processing
facility near Kemah. The facility is subject to
prior odor complaints previously reported to the
Health District and United Board of Health. The
pollution control problem indicated that the odors
are associated with pre-treatment ponds, recent
maintenance, and the die-off of their microbes.
Improvements in the facility’s housekeeping,
solid waste handling, and wastewater treatment
system have reduced the amount of air pollution.
Since our initial report to the Board, the Pollution
Control Division has not received any additional
complaints. Further, we discussed our role as
a health department, how someone can call in a
complaint, any health effects associated with
the odor, nuisance odor determinations, and the
subjectivity of these determinations. For more
information, contact Ronnie Schultz, Director
of Pollution Control, at rschultz@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2314 |
| Update on Zephyr |
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The
dog at the center of an ongoing dog mauling case,
Zephyr, remains in the care of District animal
control officers at the Joe Vickery Animal Shelter.
At a hearing in County Court #2 on November 13,
Judge Dibrell set a December 1, 2003 date for
a trial to determine the final disposition of
Zephyr. An original Justice of the Peace Court
ordered the dog to be euthanized. The dog’s
owner appealed that decision. The Galveston County
Daily News recently published two stories: (1)http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?wcd=15056
(2)http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?wcd=15197.
For more information, contact Marty Entringer,
Director of Environmental and Consumer Health,
at mentringer@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2458.
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| Employees Heard
at Town Hall Meetings |
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Four town hall
meetings for health district employees were held
on November 12 and 13. A town hall meeting with
4C’s clinic providers identified three issues
for further discussion at their next meeting:
1) Increase staffing of nurses. 2) Increase staffing
of registration and, 3) Guidelines on treating
mental health patients. Other town hall meetings
allowed employees to express concerns which included,
educating our community about the services at
the 4C's Clinic and the cost of these services;
transportation for our clients to and from the
clinics; general training for all employees and
specific training to their jobs; custodian services
not available in all locations; and Texas City
and Galveston services not being consistent. The
issues and questions from the town halls will
be summarized and shared with employees as well
as posted on the Health District internal web
site. For more information, contact Pisa Lewis,
Customer Service Specialist at plewis@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2260.
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Bayou
Vista Considering Animal Services Contract |
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The Bayou Vista
city council is considering renewing its animal
services control contract. On November 13, district
staff met with Mayor pro-tem, Bill Jackson, and
the Animal Shelter Advisory Committee representative
from Bayou Vista, Ginger Strickland, to discuss
the current cost of the animal control contract
and the justification for the charge. As a result
of the meeting, Marty will submit a memo outlining
the funding and services under the Animal Control
program. In the longer term, the Health District
will share findings and recommendations from the
program review with the Animal Shelter Advisory
Committee. The Committee will also assist in updating
the services agreement and making recommendations
to the United Board of Health. For more information,
please contact Marty Entringer, Director of Environmental
and Consumer Health, at mentringer@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2458.
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Cooling Tower Emissions
& Air Pollution |
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Cooling towers
commonly used in the processing of petrochemicals
have come under increased scrutiny for their role
as a source of air pollution in the local area.
In a method similar to the radiators in automobiles,
chemical compounds are cooled when water in tubes
pass over a core containing the chemicals. The
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
has recently initiated a program to investigate
cooling tower emissions. Currently the District
does not conduct cooling tower inspections, but
refers to TCEQ any tower suspected of creating
a condition of air pollution. The Pollution Control
Division is constructing two mobile air-monitoring
units that will track cooling tower emissions
along with other toxic air pollutants. Staff is
also working to secure funds that would allow
the purchase of handheld monitors that could also
be used to track cooling tower emissions. For
more information, contact Ronnie Schultz, Director
of Pollution Control, at rschultz@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2314. |
| National Recognition
of Strategic Health Planning Process |
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The Galveston
County Health District has submitted an application
for a presentation at the National Association
of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) 12th Annual
Conference, “Local Boards of Health, Prevention,
Preparedness and Power”, in Denver, Colorado
on July 28, 2004. The Health District’s
Strategic Health Planning Process was submitted
as a successful process and outcome involving
extensive collaboration with Board Members and
community stakeholders. For more information,
contact Gay Lane, Administrative Officer, at glane@gchd.org,
or call 409.949.2401. |
| 4C’s
Clinic Updates
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Status of Recruitment
Efforts. Since the October 30 Board meeting,
the 4C's Clinic has accepted the resignation of
one full-time mid-level provider. Applications
continue to be accepted and interviews scheduled
for the three vacant provider positions. To date,
a total of 23 applications have been received.
We are also in the process of credentialing several
part-time providers who will be on "stand-by"
should an unexpected need occur. Of the three
open LVN positions, one LVN position has been
filled. Applications continue to be accepted and
interviews have been scheduled for the two remaining
vacant positions. To date, 16 applications have
been received. An advertisement for providers
and LVNs was published in the Houston Chronicle
this past weekend. Also, an advertisement for
providers will be in the December issue of Texas
Medicine magazine. The Health District will continue
to review salaries of those certain hard to fill
positions. For more information, contact Kathrine
Hall Human Resources Director, at khall@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2230 |
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Current 4C’s
Clinic Trends. With the continued tracking
of clinic productivity, data shows that provider
productivity was 8.7 patients seen per clinic
half-day for the month of October, compared to
8.1 in September and 7.6 in August. Appointment
capacity has showed an increase at both sites:
Texas City up to 70% from 68% in September and
Galveston at 70%, up from 61%. The total number
of patient encounters increased to 3,126 during
October (compared to 3032 in September and to
3243 in August); however the no-show rates (28%)
for scheduled patients remained approximately
the same as in recent months. The proportion of
walk-in patients increased slightly to 31%. The
percentage of patients who reported to the clinic
and were seen on the same day increased (60% in
August and 63% in September) to 69% in October.
For more information, contact Susan Studebaker,
Director of Clinical Services, at sstudebaker@gchd.org,
or call 409.949.3406.
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Treatment of
Patients with Mental Illness. District staff
met with local executives of the Gulf Coast MHMR
to discuss current referral barriers and future
opportunities to collaborate in seeing mentally
impaired patients of the 4C's Clinic. Subsequently,
at a 4C's provider meeting, there was a discussion
of an apparent increase in complex mentally ill
patients arriving at the 4C's. The 4C’s
scope of services provides for mild illness (anxiety,
stress, situational disorders, etc), but do not
provide the more extensive treatment modalities
(including expensive psychotropic medications)
by the patients we are now seeing. We are exploring
several options, including having met with Gulf
Coast MHMR. Currently MHMR has a waiting list
of approximately 700 patients. Due to their own
funding crunches, they are exploring serving more
patients with Medicaid. For more information,
contact Susan Studebaker, Director of Clinical
Services, at sstudebaker@gchd.org
or call 409.949.3406 |
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Preventive Medicine
Resident to Rotate at 4C's Clinics. Dr. Paul,
UTMB Preventive Medicine Resident, will began
a rotation at the 4C's Clinic beginning December
1, 2003 through the end of January 2004. Dr. Paul's
rotation will include seeing 4C’s patients
and assisting in clinic assessment initiatives.
The rotation is expected to benefit the resident’s
learning objectives and to assist the 4C’s
clinics in evaluating clinical operations to identify
access to care improvements. For more information,
contact Mark Guidry, MD, MPH, Chief Executive
Officer at mguidry@gchd.org,
or 409-938-2401 or Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH, Chief
Medical Officer at ushah@gchd.org,
or 409.949.3406 |
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UTMB Telemedicine
Opportunities and Continuing Medical Education
(CME)
Drs. Guidry & Shah received an orientation
to UTMB's telemedicine department by Jeannette
Hartshorn who offered a CME program to orient
4C's providers and nurses to the technology and
its potential healthcare applications. The CME
program was successfully arranged for December
10 from 9-12 at UTMB Levin Hall. In the future,
the Health District hopes to pilot a telemedicine
connection partnership with UTMB for convenient
access to needed specialty consultations. For
more information, contact Mark Guidry, MD, MPH,
Chief Executive Officer, at
mguidry@gchd.org, or call 409-938-2401.
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| Operational
Updates |
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WIC Program
Review. The WIC program underwent a TDH review
in November 2002. The state review identified
the following findings in the following areas:
(1) disposal of lancets, (2) documentation of
staff training, and (3) a handicapped parking
sign. The WIC Director has already taken corrective
measures, and a TDH follow-up review is scheduled
for November 18, 2003. For more information, contact
Sharon Barb, WIC program Director, at sbarb@gchd.org,
or 409.949.3474, or Shirley Carr, BSN, Director
of Community Health Nursing, at scarr@gchd.org,
or 409.949.2456. |
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4C’s Federal
Grant Application. Health District staff continues
to work on the FY35 Annual Clinic Grant for 1.6
million dollars to fund the 4C’s clinic.
This grant will be submitted to the Department
of Health and Human Services for the 35th year.
This is the last year of a five-year continuation
grant, and next year the health district will
have to submit a competing grant. The grant will
be submitted before December 1, 2003. For more
information, contact Jay Holland, Chief Financial
Officer at jholland@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2260. |
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Local Health Department Meeting. On Friday,
November 14th, the Health District hosted a meeting
of the Local Health Department Task Force. The
task force meets quarterly and consists of representatives
from 11 local health departments, staff from the
Texas Department of Health Region 6/5S, and the
Texas Health and Human Services Commission. Meeting
participants provided updates on activities from
their respective areas, discussed what changes
have occurred as a result of the reorganization
of state agencies, and provided updates on smallpox
planning, changes to primary healthcare, immunization
inventory systems, and surveillance systems for
the TB program. For more information, contact
Pisa Lewis, Customer Service Specialist, at plewis@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2260. |
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NACHC
Pilot Program. An application packet was submitted
to the National Association of Community Health
Centers (NACHC) to participate in a pilot program
to evaluation of the 4C’s Clinic business
practices, which would include review of our registration
and appointment process along with billing and collection
policies and procedures. NACHC will contribute $5000
towards the cost of the review for the 15 centers
selected. For more information, contact Kathy Barroso,
Chief Financial Officer, at kbarroso@gchd.org,
or call 409.938.2257 |
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