AHEC/RHEP Joint Meeting

Braxton Learning Center

May 9, 2006

(Approved 8/8/06)

 

Present:  Vanessa Linger, Sonnie Strader, Debbie Curry, Anna Reno, Penny Asbury, Carla Campbell, Chuck Conner, Amber Crist, Hilda Heady, Kathryn Greenlief, April Vestal, Elizabeth Richmond, Malinda Turner, Haylee Heinsberg, Sharon Giles, Sandra Pope, Patty Crawford, Lew Holloway, Crystal Welch

 

The meeting was co-facilitated by Chuck Conner and Amber Crist. Minutes by Rhonda Carpenter.

 

Introductions and Welcome

Chuck called the meeting to order at 10:00am.  Introductions were made. Carla reviewed the group agreements that were established at the recent RHEP/AHEC Retreat.

 

Minutes

The minutes of the February 21, 2006 meeting were presented for comments and approval. Lew moved to approve the minutes. The group voted by Fist or Five to approve the minutes with the correction stated by Sandra Pope that Carmella Walker will be available to take minutes in the event that Rhonda is not available (page 3).

Approved minutes will be posted on the WVRHEP website under AHEC/RHEP Committee and should be forwarded to Derrick Day for posting by the meeting facilitator.

 

Review of Next Steps

Lew provided a brief review of the next steps from the February 9 meeting. The Site Capacity Form has been distributed to all coordinators via e-mail. The deadline for completion is May 15, 2006.

 

Retreat Evaluations and Discussion

Elizabeth provided typed notes from the retreat. The notes were reviewed and discussed. Retreat objectives were reviewed and outcomes were discussed. Advisory Panel representation was discussed and it was clarified that there are 8 consortia but 11 advisory boards. Each board will have one advisory panel member (and one alternate if possible). Both the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health and Office of Community and Rural Health Systems hold ex-officio positions. The evaluations of the Support Staff meeting were reviewed. A request was presented from the Support Staff for annual or bi-annual meetings. This request will be discussed at the next meeting. April recommended that the Retreat Committee set their parameters, such as giving authority to sub-committees to make decisions, etc. Members of the next Retreat Committee are April Vestal, Sharon Giles, Malinda Turner, Dalena Riggs, Vanessa Linger, Debbie Curry, and Margaret Novacich. Hilda requested that the committee remember when setting the date for the next retreat, not to plan it during the week of April 11-14, 2007 which is the CCPH Conference in Toronto, ONT. Lew distributed a summary of the retreat evaluations. The summary will be used by the committee when planning the next retreat.

 

Office of Rural Health Update

April reported there will be a 1-day Faculty Development event held at WVSOM on Saturday, September 30, 2006. More information will be sent out after June 1, 2006. There will be a limited number of people invited to attend the conference. Each site will have 3 slots to invite preceptors to fill. There will not be a fall Faculty Development Conference. The coordinators asked what their role in this conference would be. April stated that this conference would be geared toward clinical issues and that the SC’s would not be invited to attend. Elizabeth suggested an alternate training that the SC group might be interested in called LeadershipPlenty, which is available through the Greater Kanawha Foundation. She will send out information about the training and all members of the group will let her know by May 21 if they are interested in scheduling this training.  

 

 Sandra reported on the Federal Performance Review. The review is data driven but some of the anecdotal stories and examples that were submitted had a great impact on the report. RHEP received much praise. Positive feedback was received on the goal setting for placement of physicians in rural settings. Regarding the retreat report, it was felt that the RHEP and AHEC programs need to promote each other more. Sandra also gave kudos to Patti Crawford for the SHEC Conference. Sharon stated that the ad is ready to be placed for the Director of Development position.

 

Hilda gave an update on national budget issues. Senators Harkin and Specter got the Senate to approve an amendment to the Senate budget to increase the amount that goes into the Labor/HHS line item by 7.5 billion dollars. The House is fighting this and has not passed their resolution yet. Hilda is expecting an NAO or NRHA Alert today or tomorrow, when she receives it she will forward it to all. Hilda urged everyone to contact Senator Capito for support in this funding. Hilda is planning something different with our legislative advocacy and education plan this year. She is creating a work plan and will ask for input from this group for that document. She also asked for input on the Strategic Plan. A conference call is scheduled for May 22 with the Strategic Planning Committee. One objective needs to be added concerning the federal AHEC grant moving from basic core support to model state support and timing of the conversion.

 

Parking Lot

Core Values and Group Agreements were open for discussions. The importance of confidentiality was discussed. April discussed the core values: honesty, respect, diversity, unity, trust and accountability. The Core Values and Group Agreements that were agreed upon at the retreat will be sent out to the group.

 

Possibility of name change for the Site Coordinator position was discussed. Hilda asked for something in writing on the rationale for the change. Lew stated that the Coordinators in the NWVRHEC have already debated this and settled on the title of Coordinator. Job descriptions for the position have been revised accordingly within the NWVRHEC. After more discussion Hilda asked the group to define the root of the desire for change. By agreement from the group no action was taken and the issue was dropped.

 

Site Coordinator and AHEC representatives for the Advisory Panel. The positions need to be elected and the representatives need to be included as elected positions. The deadline is May 15, 2006. Chuck called for nominations for the Advisory Panel position and the alternate. Nominations put forth and the election was done by ballot. The Site Coordinators elected Penny Asbury as the representative to the Advisory Panel and Anna Reno as the alternate.  The AHEC representative is Patricia Crawford and the alternate is Deborah Curry.

TRACKER/AHEC Reports - Haylee Heinsberg reported that the AHEC Directors will meet on June 5 to discuss what areas of reporting need improvement. They will then  bring this as a completed list to the RHEP/AHEC group. Hilda reminded the group that there is no funding available to support any requests for major changes.

 

Next Steps

Amber reviewed the next steps from today’s meeting.

 

• v     Amber will send Derrick the approved minutes from the Feb. 23, 2006 with Sandra’s amendments regarding sharing Carmella.
• v     Hilda has developed a Level 2 and 3 Training Site Capacity form and made the form available to Site Coordinators and Center Directors. The form is to be completed and sent to Hilda and Jodie by May 15, 2006.
• v     Support Staff issues, how to resolve issues, how to get support staff more involved, etc. was tabled and moved to next steps.
• v     Carla will send group agreements and ground rules as a document out to all Site Coordinators and Center Directors.
• v     The Retreat Committee (Malinda, Sharon, April, Crystal, Dalena, Vanessa, Debbie and Margaret) will set perimeters and send those to Carla and Patty and bring those to the next joint meeting.
• v     Elizabeth will e-mail the group the LeadershipPlenty website address. The group will review the site and give her feedback by May 31.
• v     Hilda has requested the group make calls to Shelly Moore Capito regarding the Title VII funding.
• v     Amber will e-mail to the group the list of next steps by tomorrow, May 10, 2006.
• v     Send agenda items out for the next joint meeting scheduled for August 8, 2006.
• v     Amber will send out contact information about Chronic Kidney Disease CME presentation.

 

Wrap Up/Evaluations

Roundtable: Crystal - pleased that their housing is full for the summer and she feels like she is getting the hang of the job. Amber – CME event last Tuesday on Chronic Kidney Disease with Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Pellagrino. They are willing to do this CME event for anyone who is interested. Kathryn – thanks everyone for coming. Malinda – AHEC Team out this month. Interested to find out what other AHEC Teams are working on. Haylee – thanks Kathryn and Rhonda for hosting meeting. New administrative assistant started yesterday, Joyce Hardman. Patti – will be attending the NAO Conference. Dean Redding will be having a poster session at the conference. Vanessa – thank you to Malinda for work at Legislative Day. Invited everyone to come see their new building. Sonnie – AHEC Team in Buckhannon that is working on a documentary on tobacco cessation. Debbie – CME activities on Cardio-Pulmonary disease going on in McDowell County and on June 1 VBLS in Wyoming and Cabell counties. They just finished up their 4th IDT Team in April with CARDIAC. Thanks to coordinators Penny, Carla, Georgianna and Chrystal. Anna – support staff is leaving on Friday, new staff has been hired Rhonda Miller. Penny – thanks Amber and Chuck for facilitating and her support staff, Jennifer, is off. She had a baby boy last Friday. Hilda – The governor has announced that WV was approved for a redesign of the Medicaid program to be piloted in 3 counties (Clay, Upshur, Lincoln) looking at lifestyle promotion concepts. This is an excellent opportunity for AHEC Teams to become involved working with these issues. Hilda will not be here for the June 5 Advisory Panel meeting. Sandra – asked who would be attending the NRHA Conference.

 

Next meeting is scheduled for August 8, 2006 at the Braxton Learning Resource Center from 10:00am – 2:00pm. Meeting adjourned 1:00pm.