At the May 19 meeting, the Nodaway County Health Center Board of Trustees agreed to waive the food ordinance permit fees for the upcoming year from October 1 to September 30, 2022.

Administrator Tom Patterson gave the board copies of the food ordinance booklet which explains the provisions and details the fees and annual operating permit. In August, Environmental Public Health Specialist Jack Hunsucker will mail information to food establishments to apply for the annual operating permit, at which time he will tell them about the waiving of fees.

One of the two vaccine coolers which have been taken out of service will be donated to Dr. Dallas Mullock, if he is still interested. It may need minor repairs. 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 estimated it needed $2,500 for service.

The MERIL and Randolph County Developmental Disability Services lease information was reviewed. The utilities and maintenance costs were reviewed for the past three years. The board elected to keep the lease rates the same for the upcoming year.

The board was questioned if it would like to review health insurance alternatives for employees for the 2022 year. The board expressed interest in getting more information about the current traditional grandfathered plan, self-funded plans, HSAs and talking to staff to assess their needs. Patterson will gather the information for the June 16 meeting.

Board President Marlin Kinman suggested the health department put a small ad in each of the newspapers weekly with COVID numbers updated. Patterson will put the information in the papers for eight weeks.

The health center is currently running mini vaccination clinics every two weeks. Patterson said demand has tapered off and suspects will remain low into the summer.

“We are anticipating when information might develop about how long the vaccines are effective or when booster vaccinations might be recommended,” Patterson said. “Current estimates are about six months but I expect that to get stretched out to closer to a year.”

He is working on getting the concrete area to the west of the health center measured, drawn and estimated to give to the board in June.

Nate Blackford of Mosaic Medical Center wrote the health center a thank you for its leadership and partnership throughout the COVID pandemic. He also thanked Patterson for helping Mosaic with a COVID-positive patient who was moving through the community. Patterson drove the individual home to Arkansas, a seven-and-a-half hour one-way journey.