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 Board members present for the meeting were David Hepler, Maxine
Lolling, Mike Rohrer, Bill Sahs and Todd Walker.
Guests included Mark Hilliard, Dianna Heyer, Sally Gosda, and Marcia
Dowling; all from the Logan County Department of Public Health.
IBCCP Grant Status
LCDPH administrator Mark Hilliard told board members that it was
around this time last year that the Health Department was having
issues regarding the money brought in by an IBCCP Grant. The grant
helps to pay for the breast and cervical cancer programs offered by
the Health Department. Hilliard said that last year the state was
willing to help fund the deficit for the county to keep the program
in operation.
Normally, the application for this grant would need to be received
by the state in July. “We haven’t seen any grant applications yet,”
said Hilliard. He said that the department has received the
paperwork for other grants, but not the necessary grant for the
IBCCP.
“The number of clients in the program has declined because of the
number of clients enrolled in Medicaid. We’re looking at a situation
where that will continue,” said Hilliard. “We’re also in a situation
where we have lost [most of] our clerical staff.”
Hilliard told the board that due to a loss of clients, a loss of
staff, and a likely continuation of those trends, he would recommend
not renewing the grant application. Said application is offered
because a group has significant need for the funding, which can only
come along if there are enough clients and employees to make the
program function efficiently.
“Traditionally, our case load was running at about 800…that is
reduced to more than 200 now,” said Dianna Heyer, the assistant
administrator. Heyer added that since September of last year, the
department has attempted to gain guidance from the state.
“What we continued to hear was ‘business as usual,’” said Heyer. She
said that the department was also told to continue serving women
already in a screening cycle.
“This program cannot function, we cannot do the work, with any fewer
staff than we have,” said Heyer. “There is no way we can do this
program with less funding.”
Bill Sahs said he wasn’t sure how the board would be able to hire
someone to help run the program for what may only be one year.
Currently, Marcia Dowling works with the program, but she is
retiring at the end of the month. Sahs and Heyer both expressed that
they would not want to hire someone new and tell that person they
were only needed for one year, should that happen.
“It’s hard as it is to get RN’s,” said Heyer.
David Hepler said he feels the board should wait and see if the
state sends the paperwork before the next meeting. The state
government has been known to be late in delivering paperwork for
grants in the past.
Hilliard said the board would need to make a decision before the
next meeting, as the grant year would start in July. The board is
not scheduled to meet until after the start date. Hilliard said his
recommendation was to vote at the present time.
Todd Walker made a motion to not reapply for the grant, which was
seconded by Maxine Lolling. The motion passed, with Hepler voting
no.
[to top of second column] |
Appointment of Public Health Administrator
Current administrator, Mark Hilliard, plans to retire at the end
of July.
After a brief executive session, the board members voted on the
appointment of a new public health administrator. The board
members present voted to appoint Dianna Heyer as the new
administrator. Hepler voted “no” on the appointment.
Heyer is currently the assistant administrator and director of
nursing. She is a Registered Nurse and possesses a Bachelor of
Science in Nursing. Heyer will take on the position as of
September 1st of this year.
Regional Collaboration
As part of his administrator’s report, Mark Hilliard told the board
that he has been working with various health-care organizations in
central Illinois. These organizations, found in Logan, Mason,
Tazewell, Peoria, and Marshall Counties, are looking into efforts of
collaboration in order to better provide health improvement services
to the populations.
Hilliard said there may be opportunities to receive federal funding
as part of the Affordable Care Act should these efforts come to any
fruition. There were no other specific updates on these potential
efforts at this time.
Health Department Finances
“We had two months in a row where we made money,” said Sally Gosda
as she began her financial report. Gosda told the board that the
Health Department had an excess last month of $42,295. Gosda said
that the month of April is typically a better month, as people are
paying taxes to the state, which prompts the state to pay a few
bills.
Gosda also said that Home Health Care revenue for April was over
$62,000. “This is almost double what we have been pulling in,” said
Gosda.
 “Most of that revenue will be pulled back to offset fiscal year
’13,” said Gosda. She added that for the past couple of months, the
Health Department has been able to pay a few extra bills.
Gosda also provided a copy of an audit report that was recently
completed for the department. She said that the only finding of note
on the audit was a lack of signing off on vaccine order forms. “That
is all done electronically. There’s nowhere to sign off on,” said
Gosda, who also said they will be implementing a plan to fix it.
The other finding Gosda noted was an error in tracking a few hours
for WIC-related operations. “It’s not a big finding…We do have
checks and balances in place, but I missed it, and I do take
responsibility for that,” she said.
[By DEREK HURLEY] |
