County begins preparing for flu vaccination season

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Although the calendar still reads August, Henry County Public Health already is eyeing flu vaccination season.

?Tension is starting to get higher,? Community Health Director Travis Johnson told the Henry County Board of Health during its monthly meeting Tuesday.

?That (tension) is because flu season is coming,? he continued.

Johnson said he talked with one of the agency?s vaccine suppliers recently and there was no delay expected in receiving the vaccination serum. Henry County, as well as other locations throughout the U.S., was met with influenza vaccine shortages last year.

The flu vaccines should start arriving in the next couple of weeks and Johnson said the clinics would start advertising their abundance the last week of September.

Though most people wait until early fall to be vaccinated, Johnson said there is nothing wrong with receiving the shot early.

?The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says as soon as we get the flu vaccine, we should start giving it, but some people want to hold off because of fear it (the vaccine) won?t last,? Johnson commented.

However, that is a myth, Johnson said, as being vaccinated in early September will carry throughout the flu season.

Board Chair Rose Lauer asked Johnson whether the department makes any money on vaccines. He replied that the department does make money on influenza vaccinations, but the software is still being developed to track the profit/loss on other vaccinations.

Johnson also told the board that county health is looking into the public health accreditation program. The program is rather new and Linn is the only county in Iowa to have accreditation. There are 80 county health departments in the United States, Johnson added, that have received the designation.

The accreditation is voluntary, but funding can come through national as well as state level entities.

Along with some other county/community health directors, Johnson went to Cedar Rapids recently to learn more about the program.

?I think it is fantastic and the right thing to do,? he said. ?It would be a different animal for us. We are still looking at it and it?s early in the game.?

The accreditation process takes about 18 months from start to finish, but receiving accreditation would be like setting a gold standard for various divisions of public health.

Jodi Sutter, county environmental health specialist, updated the board on fiscal-year grants dealing with wells and cisterns.

Some of the grants have increased and are as follows:

Training ? actual costs related to training event, including registration, per diem and lodging, $1,000 (increase of $500);

Supplies ? actual cost, $500 (increase of $250);

Promotional ? actual cost, $1,000 (increase of $500);

Well testing ? actual cost of nitrate/bacteria/arsenic tests, actual cost plus $60 for administrative fee (no change);

Well plugging ? actual cost, up to $575, including $75 for administrative fee (increase of $100);

Cistern plugging ? actual cost, up to $375, including $75 for administrative fee (no change);

Well reconstruction ? actual cost, up to $1,000, plus 33 percent administrative fee (increase of $200).

Four other grants and Ebola response money also received board approval.

Johnson said the grant amounts were tardy this year ?because of a delay in the Legislature getting the appropriations bill approved and the governor signing it.?

The four fiscal-year grants are all renewals. The grants, a brief description and amounts are a follows:

? Local public health services grant ? provides funding for the county homemaker health aide program, $65,825;

? Care For Yourself grant contract ? includes funding for mammograms and other women?s health issues. Currently 19 women are involved in the program, Johnson said, $4,850;

? Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention program ? the county has had three cases of lead-poisoning in youngsters in the last couple of months, he said, $5,423;

? Ebola response amendment 1, $8,396.

The Ebola response grant, Johnson said, provides funding for protective equipment and training to combat Ebola and other highly affective diseases. He noted that larger hospitals received Ebola response grants last year, and now smaller hospitals are being funded.

Members of the board of health will meet again Tuesday, Sept. 22.