Joint Board of Health and Hospitals Meeting – September 22, 2025

Note: The meeting transcript indicates a meeting date of September 18, 2025, while the provided timestamp is September 22, 2025. This discrepancy is noted here; the summary uses the September 22 date as instructed.

The Joint Board of Health and Hospitals convened at 8:03 AM, chaired by April, with most members present. The meeting covered updates on the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), a quarterly departmental report, committee updates, the introduction of a new board member, and planning for a future visit by Mayor Spencer.

Consent Calendar

• Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve the August 21, 2025 Zoom video as the meeting minutes passed unanimously with no nays or abstentions.

Discussion Items

CHIP (Community Health Improvement Plan) Update

Presented by Kat Pittman, CHIP Coordinator. The update covered five priority areas:

• Intersection of Health and Economic Mobility: Actions include state Representative Kimberly Ann Collins advocating for renovating tornado-displaced apartment buildings; a bill proposed to use Rams funding for housing; and an effort to fine absentee property owners.
• Chronic Disease: Hospitals are now using the SDOH nutrition screening tool; the “Food is Medicine” initiative is progressing; five strategic priority areas were identified; and Operation Food Search is a key partner.
• Maternal and Child Health: A first community listening session with about seven mothers revealed concerns about rushed prenatal visits and transportation barriers. Subgroups focus on doula/CHW navigation, policy advocacy, and health literacy. Diapers are being distributed post-tornado, and postpartum emergency kits are being developed.
• Violence Prevention: 27 youth events served approximately 1,700 youth over the summer. The “Black Healers Collective” is launching. The “Handle with Care” trauma-informed system is fully launched in schools (noted as important but unclear if extended to charter/private schools).
• Behavioral Health: Priority areas include Medicaid policy, community education, and systems navigation. Teams are working on Medicaid enrollment and re-enrollment challenges.
• Mini Grants: $74,000 in LPHA accreditation funds will go toward mini grants supporting action teams, administered by the Mental Health Board.

Board members requested: sending slides before future meetings, a membership list of action teams, and identifying stakeholder gaps. Dr. Tepi and others offered to leverage their networks. Kat Pittman will share slides and lists.

Quarterly Department Report

Presented by Victoria. Key points from the April–June 2025 quarter:

• Communicable Disease/HIV Prevention: Exceeded monthly goals for testing at health stops and via outreach vehicles.
• TB Monitoring: Wait times improved, within five minutes of target each month.
• Family/Community School Health: The health education team exceeded its goal of 18 men's health presentations annually; community health workers participated in over 100 outreach events.
• Women’s Health: Not meeting targets for Show Me Healthy Women and Wise Women programs; inconsistent community partnerships.
• Lead Remediation: Exceeded monthly referral targets for home lead remediation.
• Childhood Vaccinations (with Affinia Healthcare): Goal of 20,000 school-age vaccinations per year was exceeded in 2022 and 2025 (so far), but not in 2023; only about 500 vaccinations as of June 2025, short of the yearly target.
• Environmental Health: Restaurant inspection completion challenged by a vacant supervisor position and software issues with seasonal establishments; a QI project is underway.
• Animal Care & Control: Exceeded monthly target of closing 90% of requests within 14 days despite additional tornado-related duties.
• Outreach: Focused on Public Health Week in April and tornado response in May/June.

Discussion included barriers in women’s health programs (paperwork, clinical breast exam requirement) and childhood vaccination challenges (hesitancy, confusing COVID vaccine access rules in Missouri, where healthy individuals may not qualify). Board members suggested community education and using professional society resources.

Board Committee Updates

• Governance: Working on bylaw amendments to comply with ordinance 71994; plans to bring proposed changes to October meeting. Sunshine training required by October 31; date will be set via Doodle poll. Roberts Rules training also needed.
• Community Engagement: Committee met and identified action items: clarify city partnerships for vaccine campaigns, investigate capacity for wellness checks, direct care during outreach, support for individuals in unsafe housing, and request details on education programs and outreach team composition.
• Academic Partnerships: Internship best practices discussed; Lyndon Wood University joining partnership; exploring a joint convening of academic partners and health departments (funding opportunity through PCORI Engagement Award, about $125,000).

New Member Introduction

Nabu Colin Sherry introduced himself. He has 10 years of public health experience, including CDC and county health department roles (led MPOX response), and now works on data modernization with AI. He expressed excitement to serve.

Planning for Mayor Spencer Visit

April announced that Mayor Spencer will attend the October 16 meeting for 30–40 minutes. Board members will be asked to submit questions via a Google Doc, which will be prioritized. A list of board member affiliations will also be shared with the Mayor’s office to provide context.

Key Outcomes

• Unanimous approval of August meeting minutes.
• CHIP slides and membership lists to be circulated; board members to be used for their networks.
• A shared Google Drive folder for board documents was created; links will be emailed after the meeting.
• Sunshine training, Roberts Rules training, and a joint committee meeting (to clarify advisory vs. governing role) will be scheduled via Doodle polls.
• Advocacy letter read at a September 4 budget committee meeting; no health department support noted; board to continue advocating.
• Next meeting: October 16, 2025, with Mayor Spencer attending.