September 8, 2021 Meeting Minutes

Members Present:      

Stephanie Evans, Danielle Frazier, Rachel Goodman, Donny King, Jennifer Sanchez, Candice Tillman, Asailio Timmermeier, Maria Smith, Lynn Wood

Members Absent:      

Anne Marie Bryant, Tony Cowan, Matt Driscoll, Brad Edwards, Kelley Harris, Crystal Lemus, Ryan Martin, Johnny Norton, Jackie Rawls, Jim Ring

Staff:                           Shirley Corker (Community Development Coordinator)

Guests:                       

Michelle Adcock (Stokes Brown Public Library), Erin Cobb (Shine Pediatric Therapy), Susan Cope (TCCY), David Long (TN Dept. of Health), Ray Render (Congressman John Rose’s Office), Oliva Seay (Step Ahead)

Opening Remarks:

• Welcome was extended. Next meeting date was announced as October 13, 2021 at 12:30 pm. All future meetings will be virtual until further notice.  
• The minutes for the August 11, 2021 meeting were approved with a motion from Lynn Wood and a second from Stephanie Evans.
• Roll call was taken for members and guests. The meeting was turned over to Chair Ace Timmermeier to facilitate the rest of the agenda.   

New Business:

• Erin Cobb reported on the recently held RAM clinic. Sixteen clinics based out of Knoxville arrived at noon on Friday. They saw 233 people that could choose one service, doctor, vision or dental. The medical number was 157. Glasses were made on site. One man who could not see to read a book rode his bike starting at 2:30 in the morning to get there. Oral surgery cards were given to those who could not be seen. She thanked everyone involved for helping make the clinic possible. This is the 4^th year they have held the clinic and plan to make it an annual event. The next clinic is planned for August 2022.
• Stephanie Evans shared a PowerPoint about suicide prevention awareness. Ms. Evans shared statistics regarding 2019 suicides. She noted that 90% of suicide deaths had a diagnoseable mental health condition. She stated suicide is the 3^rd leading cause of death in the 10-24 age group. In 2019 in Robertson County 17 individuals lost their lives to suicide. She feels people need to start talking about mental health and look at it on a continuum. She listed ways Covid has had a negative impact on individuals and how it has impacted behavioral health services. She stressed suicide is preventable and we need to learn how to recognize risk factors and symptoms. Recovery is possible through treatment and education. There are lots of resources and trainings available and most of them are free. Ace Timmermeier will email the PowerPoint so it can be shared with members.
• Brittany Willis, Suicide Prevention Program Director with the Division of Family Health and Wellness, presented a PowerPoint on the Essence Alerts. Essence Alerts stands for: Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Epidemics. Their goal is to help CDC improve data quality, efficiency and usefulness of data collected as part of the National Syndromic Surveillance Program. The program was established in 2018 under Governor Haslam and epidemiologists were hired in 2019 through a CDC grant. They began looking at suicidal ideation from Saturday to Sunday for a 28-day period by Counties and Regions and sharing the data collected, supplying only age, race, gender, and county specific risk factors to show who is being impacted. All of this is being done to keep counties informed. Rural counties are one of their focus areas. The PowerPoint will be shared with members.
• Community announcements were shared by members and guests.
• The meeting was adjourned.