Tuesday, September 14, 2010
 
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Finances and staff changes highlight health dept. board meeting

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[September 14, 2010]  Tuesday evening the Logan County Board of Health held their regularly scheduled meeting at the Logan County Department of Public Health building in Lincoln.

Board mInsuranceembers present for the meeting were Roger Bock, president; Mike Rohrer, secretary-treasurer; Maxine Lolling; Paul Kasa; Richard Bivin; and David Hepler.

Finances remain an issue

Sally Gosda, director of finance for the agency, spoke at length giving details of the financial situation of the health department.

For the months of July and August individually, she said that the bottom line had ended with positive balances each month, due in part to the receipt of Logan County property tax funds, and a little bit of an influx of state cash.

She said payments that had been received from the state comptroller were reimbursements from the state's last fiscal year and that none of the funds for the new fiscal year have been issued.

She also noted that the health department has not received any of the grant commitments from the state for the new fiscal year.

Administrator Mark Hilliard commented on this, saying it appeared that the state was building in their own delay in payments by delaying the actual grant awards.

On the whole though, he said, the agency is doing a little better this year than last year. He noted that expenditures as of the end of August are at 58 percent of the budgeted amount, when typically those figures could be at 75 percent of the budget.

In spite of a slightly better July and August, Gosda said there is still a deficit of approximately $469,000 for the year. She projected that the year would end with a deficit of approximately $311,000.

To date, the state owes the health department $174,000 from last fiscal year and $167,000 from the new fiscal year.

Gosda also reported that she had delivered this year's tax revenue request to the Logan County Board. The request is for $390,390.

She said she had presented information regarding what the health department has received over the last five years versus what they have reimbursed to the county. She showed the board that the agency last year had actually reimbursed the county more than it had received, to the tune of approximately $43,000.

In regard to this, board member David Hepler, who is the liaison to the county board, said he had just come from a tax reduction committee meeting at county and had learned that the county is anticipating a loss of revenues in the amount of about $750,000 this year. Hepler said the county is looking at cutting back on all cash distributions to try to make up for that loss of revenue.

He also noted that the county is anticipating revenues from the Sugar Creek Wind Farm near New Holland in the next fiscal year, and that could make a difference in how their financial situation actually plays out.

The county board's budget committee will meet tonight and begin their budget-building process for the year.

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Reappointment of board members

Maxine Lolling and Richard Bivins are both serving health department board terms that are set to expire Nov. 11. Hilliard asked the two if they would commit to serving another term and they both agreed. A motion was made by Hepler to accept the appointments and the board approved it unanimously. Hilliard will present the nominations to the county board for their approval.

Staff changes

During a portion of her presentation, Margie Harris, assistant administrator and director of nursing, said that Debbie Hoover, who heads up the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer program for the health department, will be retiring at the end of September. Hoover will be replaced by Marsha Dowling, who is currently the health education coordinator.

Hilliard said that interviews have been completed for a new health educator and the name of the person filling that position will be announced on Tuesday.

Hoover is retiring after 21 years of service to the health department. There will be a reception for her on Sept. 29.

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Harris also reported that in taking on two new counties in the HealthWorks program, the health department is now the lead agency for 15 counties. She said that the program is adding 30 to 40 new children per month in that program and that to keep abreast with the increased workload, they will be hiring two new medical case managers and one new clerk.

The health department has also hired Ryan Williams of Lincoln as their newest health sanitarian.

Peer counseling program to begin Oct. 1

Harris said that in the Women, Infants and Children program, a new peer counseling program for mothers who are breast-feeding will begin Oct. 1. She said Laura Huffer will work under contract as the counselor for the program.

Flu shots to begin Sept. 20

The health department has 1,000 doses of flu vaccine on hand and will begin immunizations on Sept. 20. Harris said that another 2,000 doses are on order.

Currently the agency has none of the preservative-free vaccine for use with children, so she said there would be a delay in child immunizations.

H1N1 will not be a separate immunization this year; it is included in the standard flu shot everyone will receive.

IPLAN completed

Hillard presented copies of the Illinois Project for Local Assessment of Needs to the board. The IPLAN is a community health assessment and planning process conducted every five years.

Hilliard said the plan had been reviewed by the Illinois Department of Health and had come back with only a few deficiencies. Those have been addressed by Hilliard and Harris, and the plan is now complete.

Adult obesity, diseases of the heart and oral health have been identified in the plan as the top three health concerns in the community. Hilliard said this information is what will drive the programs and services offered as well as fuel the searches for new funding.

The completion of the IPLAN fulfills most of the requirements for the county health department's recertification by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

To learn more about the Logan County Department of Public Health, visit their website at http://www.lcdph.org/.

[By NILA SMITH]

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