Robertson County Health Council
June 12, 2019
Members Present: Tony Cowan, Kathy Finley, Rachel Goodman, Donny King, Jackie Pipes, Rachel Wright (*Non-Voting)
Members Absent: Anne Marie Bryant, Lisa Cobb, Deshnell Cobbin, Brad Edwards, Stephanie Evans, Kelley Harris, Rebecca Macfarlane, Ryan Martin, Kelly Miller, Johnny Norton, Lauren Patterson, Jackie Rawls
Staff: Shirley Corker (Community Development Coordinator)
Guests: Deb Flowers, Milagros Gonzales, Ashley Green, Celeste Jackson, Nicole Martin, Lorena Tello, (RCHD), Gloria Morrison, Gloria Morrison, Amanda Peltz (Nurses for Newborns), Maria Smith (TAADAS), Jana Tolleson (Mid-Cumberland Health Department)
Business: The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Rachel Goodman.
Housekeeping/Announcements:
- Welcome was extended and introductions were made.
- The May 8 minutes were approved with one correction with a motion from Donny King and a second from Ann Marie Bryant. Lisa Cobb was listed as absent and was present.
New Business:
- Amanda Peltz, Executive Director for Nurses for Newborns, presented a PowerPoint presentation encouraging those present to ask questions as the material was presented. The program is a non-profit designed to prevent child abuse, neglect and infant mortality. It was started in 1991 in St. Louis, Missouri by a nurse who saw infants dying from preventable diseases. Nurses must have 3-5 years of experience. The local chapter has 8 staff. They serve the most at risk and fragile populations, a lot of which have had drug and alcohol exposure. They also serve the moms who have problems. They serve 8 counties, recently having expanded into Robertson County. They are eager to have people understand their service and what their clients look like. There is no socio economic requirement to receive service. The service is free but clients must have a referral to verify their issues and they must voluntarily agree to participate in the program. Once they are in the program they can stay until their child turns two but have to have a referral before the age of one. The program has an on-call nurse and provides education to prevent participants from using the ER as their medical home. Counselors are on staff and do bonding assessments, reports to pediatricians, medical assessments, depression, drug and nutritional screenings, teach CPR and provide safe sleep education. Presenters touched on ACES, outcome expectations for their program and clients, and what the criteria is for a referral. They have been in Robertson for 6 months and want referrals from the community. Any professional in the community can make a referral but clients cannot refer themselves.
- RCHD Nursing Supervisor Ashley Green talked about the services provided through the local health department. Listed and discussed were: immunizations, well child physicals, services to uninsured and TennCare, developmental behavioral screenings and referrals, dental varnish up to age 21, TB screenings, head lice and scabies treatment, birth control, family planning, breast and cervical program for 40 and up, birth and death certificates, CHANT, environmentalist, pregnancy testing and the WIC program. They also have a DIS nurse in Robertson and Cheatham County that investigates infectious and communicable disease and STD’s and provides education in all these areas.
Old Business:
- Back to School Bash is scheduled for July 27 from 9-11 am.
- Resource Directory is complete and posted on the Robertson County Health Council website. The website has a place for changes and additions. Plans are to work on a document that identifies support groups. Tony Cowan stated he thought there were about 20 support groups in the county. He stated a lot of people were not aware of these groups.
- Susan Cope from TCCY distributed two handouts. One was on training for Trauma Informed Approach on Friday, July 26 at APSU from 8:30 – 12:30 pm and the other was on What You Need to Know About Tenncare Connect.
- Flyers were also distributed about the Laundry
Love program scheduled for the third Friday of every month from 8:15 to 11:30
at Sisters Coin Laundry (in the Big Lots/ Belk Plaza).
Adjournment
- The meeting was adjourned at 1:30 pm.