DVIP helping those in need

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program (DVIP) in Henry County is already providing services to those in need.

During the Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday morning, Center Point of Coordination Sarah Berndt informed the board of the services and information the program has already offered in the county.

?I?m very impressed with the work they have done already,? said Berndt. ?We had two clients already who were served in the county and the information that they (DVIP) provides us is detailed and it?s just really good information.?

The Domestic Violence Intervention Program serves Iowa, Cedar, Washington, Henry, Des Moines and Lee counties for both sheltering services and domestic violence. The program looks for motels and apartments to help victims get out of bad situations.

During one of the April supervisor meetings, the board agreed to pay $250 a month to the DVIP in order to assist with housing needs.

?We received a list of data from the program and it was seven pages long,? said Berndt. ?They served for April through May and served two people. They tell us their race, gender, adult/child, program accessed, type of victim, where they live, marital status, dependents, disabled, service history within the program, background and so much more.?

Vice-Chairman Greg Moeller agreed with Berndt, saying that the information that was provided from the DVIP was very thorough.

?I?m just very impressed with this information and I wanted to share that,? said Berndt. ?It?s just really great to have.?

In other discussion, Berndt mentioned that she signed a memorandum of understanding with Hillcrest for the integrated health home program.

?Part of the expectation of Magellan or whoever is the overseer of the program, is to make sure the home integrated home has ties to county or community place that would help catch people that should be referred to integrated home services,? explained Berndt. ?Our expectation is that we refer Medicaid patients to care coordinators when appropriate and if we have information about those patients we need to share in order to better serve the person.

?We just act a resource for the health home team. Also, if we see a service the integrated health home should or could be taking care of, we should be having those conversations with them as well. We just want to make sure it?s comprehensive, rich and as serviceable as possible in order to better care for our patients,? said Berndt.

According to Berndt, having the service here in Henry County doesn?t cost anything because Medicaid pays for it, so it?s a good service to have.

In other board news, Moeller discussed his sub-committee report with the board, which included a meeting with the executive board of Healthy Henry County Communities (HHCC).

?We discussed during the meeting,? began Moeller, ?a code of conduct for board members. This discussion came about because we, HHCC Coordinator Kelly Carr and I, attended a Stewards of Children program. The program made us think about how we have kids involved in our activities and we needed to make sure they were protected throughout those activities.

?It was a concern for having kids involved, the child abuse portion. She (Carr) was going to check with the insurance company and see what is covered between members and volunteers. We have volunteers, a lot, would they have to go through background checks and what not. What level do you stop or start? It evolved because we attend this meeting and we thought it may be good. There were no decisions made during the meeting, but we discussed it and thought about what we could do,? said Moeller.

According to Moeller, Carr presented a copy of a code of ethics/conduct from a non-profit organization in Colorado, just as a sample to see what other organizations do in order to protect themselves and others involved.

The Henry County Board of Supervisors will meet again in regular session on Tuesday, July 1, at 9 a.m. in the board room at the courthouse.