Galion Board of Health Meeting

See attached Health Commissioner Report.

See attached Environmental Health Team report.

See attached Nursing Team report.

See attached Reproductive Health & Wellness Team report.

See attached contract that was entered into by the Health Commissioner.

Reminder to BOH members that two (2) hours of continuing education are required to be completed each calendar year, per ORC 3701.342.
Verification sheets (attached), and copies of certificates (if applicable) need to be submitted to Health Commissioner.  There is an applicable training on Sunshine Laws (very good for new members) available virtually at the following link: 
https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Legal/Sunshine-Laws/Sunshine-Law-Training
Kent State College of Public Health has created additional learning modules to assist local boards of health meet their two-hour annual continuing education requirements. Access all of the learning modules here: https://www.kent.edu/publichealth/local-boards-health-continuing-education-lectures

Jason and Lisa are meeting bi-weekly to continue working on accreditation requirements. Jason also spoke with Sara for more than two hours about remaining requirements. She said most of the requirements are relatively superficial fixes that won't take too long.

After the November 2022 BOH meeting, Jason continued to work on the survey and significantly improved it. Andy also provided valuable feedback and guidance on that, too. It was sent out successfully in the utility bills, Galion Inquirer (print and digital) Chamber of Commerce, GCHD social media and website, and patrons are also invited to complete the survey during the month of December.
 

A nurse practitioner from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center spoke with Jason about coming to Galion to establish a free health clinic and/or put together a free health fair day in Galion in April 2023. She said, "I feel that the community would highly benefit from the services that we could provide and improve patients' quality of life...I can rally some medical staff including nurses, students and practitioners that would be able to volunteer their time. Some things we could provide: basic health screenings, cancer surveillance, smoking cessation, simple wound care, diabetic education, an exercise class as well as nutrition education, etc. We could also utilize this time to establish relationships and connect patients to appropriate resources and referrals for your Health Department. I have also reached out to several grocery stores to ask for a partnership to offer free vegetables/groceries to patrons that decide to come to the proposed health fair..."

Jason responded to express interest and to schedule a time to discuss this further.

In November 2022, the BOH approved a request for staff to apply for $6,200 of grant funding to help with lead poisoning prevention activities. We applied but were not awarded that grant.

During the weekly ODH call on 12/7/22, it was announced that grant funding was officially approved by CDC for the Workforce Development grant through June 2027. More details are expected in January.

As discussed at the June 2022 BOH meeting, this item will remain on the agenda and revisited monthly to discuss updates and what can be done so GCHD can be in a place where we are ready for the Galion City School District contract again.
Since the last BOH meeting, we continued working with the Galion Primary School and St. Joe's for the Come Home to Galion coloring page contest. A boy and girl from grades pre-K to 2nd grade from both schools were chosen as winners to ride in the carriage during the Come Home to Galion parade. Staff members chose winners during the November staff meeting.