The October 21 meeting of the Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department Board meeting marked tattoo and body artist Micah Ortega’s first meeting as a newly elected Health Board member.
Due to concerns about the government shutdown in early October, WIC program Director Tina Picman updated the board regarding the local WIC program’s services. Due to the national coverage of the government shutdown, the WIC programs in Mansfield and Ashland received numerous phone calls from participants wondering if they should keep their appointments and/or redeem their WIC coupons.
“During the government shutdown, we were able to function ‘business as usual’,” explained Picman. “On October 16 Congress passed the continuing resolution to keep the government in business through January, with another resolution to increase the debt ceiling through February. So right now we’re OK until January,” reported Picman.
Also at the meeting, Director of Nursing Amy Schmidt reported on the lack of influenza cases so far this season. “We have not had any flu reported to us and there have been no flu hospitalizations,” reported Schmidt. “Last year we had hospitalizations by mid-October.”
So far the Health Department has given over 1900 flu shots. However, Schmidt said because the retail and big box stores do not offer the flu vaccines to children, there is a need to target the child population. This is something her department is currently working on.
“We do have an extra clinic scheduled for November 6 up at Shelby at their Health Department,” Picman wanted to point out and make sure people were aware of it.
Schmidt also asked for the board’s support of a special grant geared toward the local Amish communities. “We’d like to apply for a general community grant to provide education services to the Amish community.” This would give them CPR mannequins and masks and possibly carbon monoxide detectors.
“This would be a multi-focused approach to preventative measures and clearly make a difference in the quality of life to a substantial number of people,” said Schmidt. They would be targeting the Amish community due to their own request.
“We’d like to provide the children with bike helmets, but also the parents with information and education on symptoms of concussive injuries,” explained Schmidt. “Injury is a big part of their active, outdoor farming life.”
Director of Human Resources Rick Grega requested permission from the board to accept the resignation of clinic Bachelor of Science Nurse Lisa Baker and asked to recruit and fill the vacancy. The item was approved by all board members.
“We have not had any flu reported to us and there have been no flu hospitalizations,” reported Amy Schmidt. “Last year we had hospitalizations by mid-October.”
