McLean County Times

McLean County Health Committee met Dec. 3.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Health Committee of the McLean County Board met on Monday, December 3, 2018 at 4:30 p.m. at the Government Center Building, 115 E. Washington Street, Bloomington, IL.

Members Present: Chairman Susan Schafer, Members: Carlo Robustelli, Randall Martin, Catherine Metsker, George Gordon, Sharon Chung and

George Wendt via remote attendance.

Members Absent: None

Other Members Present: Member Logan Smith

Staff Present: Mr. Bill Wasson, County Administrator; Jessica Woods First Assistant State’s Attorney – Civil Division; Mr. Eric Schmitt, Administrative Services Director; Ms. Julie Morlock, Recording Secretary, County Administrator’s Office; Ms. Trisha Malott, Supervisory, Behavioral Health Coordinating Council; Trevor Sierra, Assistant State’s Attorney

Department Heads/ Elected Officials Present: Ms. Cindy Wegner, Nursing Home Director; Ms. Michelle Welch, Adult Detention Center; Jason Tabb, Director Juvenile Detention Center; Ms. Camille Rodriguez, Administrator Health Department; Ms. Cassy Taylor, Director Court Services

Others Present: Sonja Reece, McLean County Board of Health

Chairman Schafer called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. and declared a quorum. She informed the Committee that Member Wendt had requested to attend remotely under County Board Rules and asked if there was any objection. Hearing no objection, she approved Mr. Wendt’s request to attend remotely and declared him present.

Chairman Schafer presented the minutes from the October 16, 2018 special meeting and November 5, 2018 regular meeting for approval.

Motion by Metsker/Martin to approve the minutes from the October 16, 2018 special meeting and November 5, 2018 regular meeting.

Motion carried.

Chairman Schafer confirmed there were no members of the public.

Ms. Camille Rodriguez, Health Department Administrator presented the monthly reports for the Health Department. She mentioned she had also provided a memo regarding an individual hired to help with behavioral health work. Mr. Robustelli asked about the how the individual hired would interact with Ms. Malott. Ms. Rodriguez indicated the individual would work with Ms. Malott to address community behavioral health matters and the Mental Health Action Plan. She indicated that Ms. Malott’s role in the community at large and this individual would partially work to determine how the Health Department could assist whether it was with funding or staff. The individual would handle grants and contracts given by the Health Department to agencies that would help with the goals of the Mental Health Action Plan. Ms. Metsker asked for clarification of information in the reports regarding undocumented individuals. Ms. Rodriguez went over how they usually obtain that information. Chairman Schafer asked if there were any further questions or comments for Ms. Rodriguez, hearing none, she thanked her.

Ms. Cindy Wegner, Director of the Nursing Home presented for action a request to approve position reclassification requests. She indicated the Committee had already reclassified the registered nurse positions and this request was for the nurse manager positions to accommodate for wage compression. Mr. Gordon thanked her for being aware of the need to reduce wage compression.

Motion by Robustelli/Gordon to recommend approval of the position reclassification requests.

Motion Carried.

Ms. Wegner presented her monthly reports and indicated she would be breaking down the admission and discharge numbers to help them understand those numbers. Ms. Metsker stated she felt the increase in numbers justified the work of Blue Ribbon team and Ms. Wegner. Chairman Schafer asked if there were any other questions or comments, hearing none she thanked Ms. Wegner.

Ms. Michelle Welch, Jail Medical and Mr. Jason Tabb, Director for Juvenile Detention Center presented their reports. Chairman Schafer asked if there were questions for Ms. Welch and Mr. Tabb, hearing none, she thanked them.

Mr. Wasson went over the employment activities under the purview of this Committee.

Mr. Wasson stated staff would present information on a pharmaceutical contract just completed and would then present the final contract for them to approve at a stand-up meeting. Mr. Sierra went over the process for proposals and indicated staff would be presenting a contract with Contract Pharmaceutical Services, a national firm with an office in Chicago. He stated that Jail Medical and the Juvenile Detention Center would place orders on line and receive medications within 24 hours. He stated that this contract would save approximately $90,000 a year. Ms. Metsker asked if there were any local providers considered and if the savings was such that we could not go with the local provider. Mr. Wasson confirmed that was the case. Mr. Robustelli asked if any local providers submitted proposals. Mr. Wasson confirmed there was a submission from McLean County and another from central Illinois. Mr. Martin asked if there would be supplies stocked. Mr. Sierra stated they would work to figure the most frequently used medications and those would be stocked. He also stated that if a medication is needed and not in stock, they could work with local pharmacies contracted with CPS to receive the medication. Ms. Schafer asked if this would affect the Nursing Home and Health Department in the future. Mr. Wasson stated that in those areas medications are usually paid by insurance, Medicare or Medicaid where as these were direct payment, but that Staff would still look at future contracts for the Health Department and Nursing Home.

Chairman Schafer stated that the next meeting would fall on December 31st since the first Monday of the month was just before the Executive Committee meeting. There was discussion among members about availability. It was determined December 31st at 3:00 pm would work for all members for the January, 2019 meeting. Other meetings for the 2019 calendar year were discussed and the following suggested:

Monday, December 31, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. (January 2019 Meeting)

Monday, February 4, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. 

Monday, March 4, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. 

Monday, April 1, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. 

Monday, May 6, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. 

Monday, June 3, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. 

Monday, July 1, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. Monday, August 5, 2019 at 4:30 p.m.

Monday, November 4, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. 

Monday, December 2, 2019 at 4:30 p.m.

Under Other Business Mr. Robustelli stated that an email has been sent out from the Center for Human Services indicating they would have to suspend new patient psychiatric services. Mr. Robustelli asked about the impact on the mental health action plan initiatives. Mr. Wasson said they had already been looking for ways to help with these services before this notice had been sent out. He stated this will affect County programs and staff was working to try to find ways to fill this gap for the services we provide. Mr. Robustelli stated he wanted to make it aware to the public that these problems exist, usually due to State budget matters and we are working at the local level to try to find solutions. He also asked if Ms. Malott was keeping track of our community’s capabilities to meet these needs. Mr. Wasson stated that BHCC is monitoring this matter and recognizes where gaps exist. He stated that Ms. Malott is involved, along with Ms. Rodriguez in agency-to-agency meetings as individuals work to find solutions. Ms. Schafer agreed that the Board and Board of Health have both had discussions about this national issue and discussions are happening to try to address it in our community.

Chairman Schafer indicated they had not received Bills and Transfers, so would need to be considered at a stand up meeting before County Board.

Chairman Schafer asked if there was any additional business to come before the Committee; hearing nothing, she adjourned the meeting at 5:50 p.m.

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