Health board to cut back on COVID ads

At the April 20 Nodaway County Health Center Board of Trustees meeting, it was decided to refrain from posting about COVID-19 in the newspapers unless numbers significantly increase and instead just post to social media.

“COVID-19 cases are holding down,” Director Tom Patterson said. “We have not seen the spike discussed in the news. We should be in better shape and I don’t anticipate a spike having the same impact now as before. Time will tell.”

Auditors from the new audit company, Stopp and VanHoy, St. Louis, were completing the biannual audit. One auditor dropped into the meeting to tell the board the audit was progressing.

The election results were discussed with Marlin Kinman being sworn in. It was decided to reinstall the current board officers to their posts. They are Chairperson Kinman, Vice Chairperson Debi Derr, Secretary Charlotte Knorr and Treasurer Bridget Kenny.

It was decided to add all five board members as signees on the health center’s checking account.

The health center ended its contract in March with Agile Government Services which was contacting and tracing COVID contacts. The March payment of $15,381 was the last, Patterson said. The health center used COVID contract funds to pay for the service.

The health center will continue to provide COVID vaccinations to the public.

Flu cases are dropping in the county. WIC visit numbers are holding.

Mental health and mental illness are areas to focus on in Nodaway County. One of the contracts, MCH, has switched its focus to “promote protective factors for families and youth. Focus is on overall metal health and decreasing suicide rate.”

Jack Hunsucker, environmental public health specialist, stated in his report about a nationwide scam where two of the Nodaway County food establishments were contacted. Claiming to be from the health department, the callers said because of complaints, the health inspector would be coming out. However, they needed to collect a fee in advance and requested credit card information.

The two establishments didn’t give out the information. Hunsucker proceeded to contact all the food establishments, Maryville Public Safety, Nodaway County Sheriff and Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney to alert them of the scam.

Patterson wants to purchase two shirts for each staff member to wear to activities.

He distributed information from Governmental Services Group with information on the bills being considered by both Missouri houses.

He also gave a packet of information on Contained Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs. The health board had been considering changes to the current county’s CAFO ordinance in early 2020 which was side-tracked due to the COVID pandemic.