Local State Advisory Committee Meeting Monday 5-7-12
Attendance:
Sandy Collins MHOA-Chair John Coulon 3A
Ruth Mori MAPHN Thomas Carbone 3B
Frank Singleton MPHA Sharon Cameron 3D
Marcia Benes MAHB Karen Rose 3E
Laura Kittross 1A Berkshire Kevin Sweet 4A
Tracy Rogers 1B Dawn Sibor 4B
Mary Kersell 1C Hampshire Mike Colanti 4C
Soloe Dennis 1D Hampden Anne Marie Fleming 5B
Philip Leger 2 Lisa Cullity 5C
MDPH Attendees: Mary Clark, Mike Coughlin, Kerin Milesky
Local Health Meeting
1.Coalition Updates:
Regarding Concurrence: Kevin Sweet presented to the group that their Region did not concur due to previous practice issues with EPB. No contentious vote among the region. See attached letter sent to EPB regarding this issue.
Sandy Collins reports that she has heard issues from additional coalitions. 1)MDPH sending multiple documents out on Fridays is difficult for everyone to have read them for the Monday LSAC meeting. 2) Request to see a greater commitment to discuss what has been done previous year and to tie capabilities to deliverables for upcoming year. 3) Request to see more detailed line by line itemization budget to better discuss funding with coalitions during concurrence. Sandy shared that all items on the list of concerns generated by LSAC last year, have been addressed on and all but one was resolved. On the remaining item, progress continues to be made.
Mike Colanti reports that Boston MRC Coordinator position available
Tom Carbone that 3B loosing Part Time Regional Planner 25-30hr and looking to fill
2.Subcommittee Reports:
Final draft of Principles of Operations presented. Discussion regarding voting options presented.
A) 2/3 vote at meeting
B) Weigh votes at properly called meeting
Vote: Option B unanimous decision and information will now go back to Sandra Martin to make final adjustments in Principles of Operation document.
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3.Other Local Info
Phil reports that at a recent Regional Update with Commissioner there was discussion and agreement about potential mini grants being available to communities. This would/should not be a cumbersome grant process but a quick online application. Ideas for grant money include Sharps kiosk, Sunscreen, Public Health education or services. This would not be anything that exceeded $10,000.00 total dollar amount. This funding opportunity may come up and be over quickly so be on the lookout. Feel free to contact Phil Leger with any other ideas that you may have for funding.
Ruth Mori and Karen Rose reported on the meeting held with Donna Lazorik from the immunization program and Bob Morrison from the Vaccine Unit. Overall there is limited money in regards to Adult Vaccine. All money is appropriated by legislature and continues to dwindle in regards to funding. Therefore Adult Vaccine availability continues to diminish. Reality is that as funding continues to be minimal, that communities need to figure out reimbursement or other ways to obtain funding for Adult Vaccinations. Donna and Bob admitted that there is no way to allocate money as is done by EPB and therefore at this time they do not foresee the ability to allocate funding or accept requests for other vaccines other than Flu/Pneumo. All MDPH Adult Vaccine Allocations are planned to be provided to communities by the end of May to assist communities with vaccine planning.
Upcoming trainings mentioned regarding:
Mema Hurricane Conference
Devalle Institute Trainings
4.LSAC Leadership Transition Plan
Sandy Collins presented the following individuals who are interested in LSAC Leadership.
Dawn Silbor Chair
Sandra Martin Vice Chair
Tom Carbone Secretary
CLPH will add LSAC Chair report/discussion on at least quarterly CLPH agendas, to receive LSAC updates and tie into their strategic planning and objectives.
Sandy Collins discussed planning going forward for leadership change. Next month LSAC will take vote and have one month transition so that new leaders can start beginning of next fiscal year. She reports that it is important that the various working groups continue to speak with MDPH.
5. Sheltering/Emergency Planning Training-Shriver Center Nancy Shea
Good training for sheltering with communities coming together. No backfill for Fire/Police who would come. The hope is that there will be a standardization of
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regional response. Lexington has piloted this and Anne Marie Fleming states that her coalition may be interested in this. Nancy Shea was unable to attend this meeting today. Sandy will reschedule her.
Meeting with MDPH:
1.Concurrence Discussion:
Mary Clark reports that PHEP Application submitted April 27th ahead of schedule due to various concerns including the site being down.
Region 4A did not concur with this Application. There has been contact made with CDC Branch Chief and MA should still be fine as CDC has been provided a memo regarding lack of full concurrence but it is a small amount of the overall population. Mary requests that if LSAC members still have questions to please let her know.
Mary reports that May 7th-8th is the initial application review by CDC. Will plan to have the small LSAC group to review the draft now to June with full deliverables presented at June meeting and finalize at July meeting. Difficult to have LPH involved/reviewing information while application process is going through due to the time component involved with the grant. Mary reports that one deliverable may be taken off the table except in the pilot area. Rest of the states to take a hazard vulnerability performance criteria. If anyone has questions that they can contact members of the Policies and Procedures subcommittee: Sandy Collins, Mary Kersell, Phil Leger, Dawn Sibor and Mike Colanti. Mary will work with the group to craft some of the questions regarding deliverables to be discussed.
Frank S brought up the frustration regarding TAR audits with Mary who acknowledges that there are challenges with TAR development and has been push back from MDPH regarding additional SNS deliverables and PODS.
Discussion regarding Sheltering Project and John Grieb is involved with Project Management Team from MDPH. General Feedback is that a lot of people are unaware and Regions weren’t adequately represented at the Sheltering project feedback meetings..
2. MEMA Sheltering Project- Christine Packard
While going through the process, Christine shared that MEMA realized they needed to fold in more stakeholder groups. Had assumed that Homeland Security Council would be dissemination of information but that did not happen as planned. They are interested in public health input and feedback. One big area is statewide communication system managing statewide operation and streamlining processes.
Regional planning has an increased cost benefit to maximize resources and may be good solution.
Easiest task for sheltering is to find a building. Harder is to find stuff needed for shelter and even harder is to find the people to staff the shelters. Basically this will be a plan to establish a tool kit for resources to help facilitate shelter operations at local
level. Christine reports that they are not tackling who is the governing body in regards to sheltering. SOP’s developed regarding coordination rather than how to run a shelter. Discussion among LSAC members regarding not getting into the operational level and we could still be left with a gap. This MEMA tool kit is not a cut and paste of information but will provide resources for MA Sheltering and generic guidelines at local level to enhance discussions. Power Point provided and discussed.
3. Minutes from April 9th Approved Unanimously.
4. General EPB and MDPH Updates:
Mary Clark reports that Mike Coughlin will be going to the Commissioner’s office with Geoff Wilkinson. Areas of focus to include Regionalization and assisting MDPH with Accreditation. This will be effective May 28th after the Integrated Training Summit. Mary Clark and John Grieb will look at who will be the designated contacts for the various duties to be managed internally as they review what is needed going forward.
Mary also introduced Kerin Milesky who has been hired as a Senior Planner and Logistics Coordinator. She is coming from the MA Medical Society and came aboard April 24th.
5. Next Meeting scheduled Monday June 18th at MEMA.
6. Adjourn Meeting
Respectfully Submitted
Ruth Mori