Health Committee Meeting – December 15th, 2020
The notes to the Health Committee’s December meeting. Hosted on Zoom, 23 participants attended this meeting which lasted from 11am- 11:40am on Tuesday, December 15th.
- Announcements
- Sarah is reassigned for 6 months to help the state with CoVid relief
- Sarah may not be able to join the Health Committee meetings and functions as per usual during this 6-month term
- Sarah will return to her normal capacity in the Health Committee after the completion of this reassignment
- Sarah is reassigned for 6 months to help the state with CoVid relief
- Community Health Needs Assessment Update
- It’s clear that Rutland county statistics have been some of the most helpful and viewed components of past reports and health needs assessment
- Yet, in past reports, these statistics have not been fully unpacked and tended to be relegated to the appendix
- It is the aim of this current assessment to make these statistics easily viewable and accessible to the community, with ample graphics
- Previous community and organizational survey responses have definitely helped the hospital prioritize which directions to take the assessment
- Additional surveys may be distributed in the future
- Collectively, the members of this committee offer a unique perspective on how the health of many community groups are impacted by the needs assessment priority areas
- Additional surveys may be distributed in the future
- It’s clear that Rutland county statistics have been some of the most helpful and viewed components of past reports and health needs assessment
- Updates on upcoming programs or assistance needs from PV partners
- Building Bright Futures has several large reports, 2 already published and 1 coming in January
- VT Early Childhood Needs Assessment 2020
- VT Early Childhood Action Plan 2020
- In January, the report ‘How Are Vermont’s Young Children and Families’ will be released. In this report, data will be broken down by county.
- Request a free hard-copy of the report. Digital copies will also be available like the two previous reports of this year
- Zoom for the Holidays
- A venue to help members of our community who wish to virtually connect with their families but don’t have the means to on their own
- Event is hosted at Evergreen and will be December 24th, 3pm – 8pm
- There will be 4 rooms available for 30-minute appointments
- 2 appointments at a time for a rotating cleaning schedule
- The Evergreen company van will be able to offer transport for those who need it with a roughly 20 minute travel radius from the Evergreen center
- Equipment is ready to go and volunteers are lined up
- Depending on demand, another time slot may be added
- We are all encouraged to spread information on this event to clients who may be interested
- Mentor Connector is partnering with United Way to start a transitional living program for youth aged 16-22 in Rutland County
- Aim is to offer 3 residencies for three individual youths
- One location is secured so far
- The Mentor Connector will start to build a referral network among other area organizations and agencies to support this program
- Program may start as early as January
- Aim is to offer 3 residencies for three individual youths
- Evergeen Center has 10 wifi routers and 10 boosters that they are able to distribute to clients
- There is a rough list of clients in need of this assistance
- United Way received a grant to support those suffering from substance abuse disorder – 175k this year and 125k each following year of the contract
- Assistance will be offered to the Rutland Dismas House
- United Way will increase collaboration with the Turning Point Center
- Stigma training will be provided to first responders throughout the county, and then community-wide trainings will be offered
- All trainings will present the same unified language
- United Way ‘Invoice for Community Relief’ funds are finalized
- 50k will be distributed among the Open Door Mission, 00000, and Troll House to help them continue to provide homemade meals and offer marketing support
- Turning Point Center was awarded the 2020 Bowse Health Trust fund, along with Mentor Connector and Homeless Prevention Center
- Turning Point will run a peer recovery outreach program with the funds
- There will be weekly program sites at Brandon, Rutland Free Library, Castleton University, Fair Haven, Benson, and Mount Tabor
- In addition to these weekly in-person services at multiple locations, remote service will be offered
- Building Bright Futures has several large reports, 2 already published and 1 coming in January
- Faith Stone, West Ridge, Rapid Access to Medication (RAM)
- RAM is a project to address shortcoming in how patients are referred to substance recovery program after an initial treatment
- For opioids, people are commonly treated for an issue and then referred to the next specialist, which may constitute a time gap of a few days. This current method leaves people vulnerable and at risk.
- All about getting people into the right door that they need and to get medication to the individual as quickly as possible
- 3 major goals of RAM
- Get people into receiving treatment in 3 days or less, or same day treatment when appropriate
- Increase points of access and address barriers on the path towards treatment
- Ensure people don’t have gaps in treatment as they transition from provider to provider, in-patient to out-patient services, ect.
- If individuals enter an emergency department, a medication assisted treatment starter pack can be distributed once the given substance is identified, meeting with a recovery coach is scheduled, referrals for treatment programs are given, and the programs will start within 72 hours
- Recovery coaches follow-up for a minimum of 10 days and help stop substance abuse, develop a recovery wellness plan, and connect the individual to other resources
- If an individual makes initial contact through one of the numerous non-emergency providers, this block schedule outlines which other providers are currently available to provide walk-in help and rapid access to medication referral
- A total award of 20k will be shared with RAM partners and put towards prevention, with a specific focus targeting youth substance abuse prevention
- RAM is a project to address shortcoming in how patients are referred to substance recovery program after an initial treatment
- Discussion on welcoming Mark Stockton
- A meeting will be scheduled with all the chairs and co-chairs to hold with Mark
- See you all in our January 19th meeting