Health board postpones concrete improvements

At the June 16 Nodaway County Health Center Board of Trustees meeting, the decision was made to postpone concrete work at the health center until 2022.

The center had undertaken a five-year plan to replace the concrete parking lot surrounding the building. Instead the board has instructed Administrator Tom Patterson to explore fixing or replacing windows which are leaking or not operating correctly. Patterson will have information available at the July 21 meeting.

One of the two vaccine coolers which have been taken out of service was donated to Dr. Dallas Mullock, a local physician. Patterson will continue to look to see if there is interest in the other cooler with the last option of sending it to be recycled. He had previously estimated it needed $2,500 for service.

Patterson said the budget will be reviewed and possible adjustments made at the September meeting.

The income year-to-date of $311,402.11 is on track and comparable to previous years. Because contracts have different fiscal years, payments are made at different times.

Under expenses year-to-date of $215,826.08, the program expenses of $14,344.18 include $12,731.25 for extra COVID personnel. Patterson said the health center had last used extra people on May 12. Currently, just the staff are handling the COVID duties.

The board reviewed comparisons of health insurance plans. This has been a goal of the board for the past two years when the board asked Patterson to get other quotes to compare.

“This is broad information today to determine if we want to look at those self-funded plans in more detail,” he said.

The board reviewed the current insurance plan through Blue Cross Blue Shield, a PPO; Affordable Care Art (ACA) plans on the insurance marketplace; and the self-funded PPO, Level Funded Plan. All were similar in premium costs.

After review, the board decided to stay with the current plan.

Health Educator Suzanne Von Behren reported the Maternal Child Health annual review was completed via Zoom. The five-year plan was submitted in April and approved without any recommended changes by an MCH official.

“She stated it was an ‘ambitious plan’ that was created but feels it is critical to our communities and is excited to see the changes over the next five years,” Von Behren said. “The overall target goal is to ‘increase protective factors in families.’ The heavy focus will be on mental health, support systems, community resources, etc.”

Environmental Public Health Specialist Jack Hunsucker had inspected a tattoo parlor along with Larry Wickersham, a state inspector. Normally, tattoo parlors don’t fall under health department jurisdiction, but the City of Maryville has an ordinance that states “inspections of establishments at which tattoos, body piercing and/or brandings, shall be performed by the Nodaway County Health Department no less than two times each calendar year.”