Robertson County Health Council
Members Present: Anne Marie Bryant, Stephanie Evans, Jennifer Dusky, Johnny Norton, Lauren Patterson, Jennifer Sanchez, Asailio Timmermeier, Maria Smith, Lynn Wood
Members Absent: Tony Cowan, Matt Driscoll, Brad Edwards, Rachell Ellis, Danielle Frazier, Rachel Goodman, Kelley Harris, Donny King, Crystal Lemus, Misty Leitsch, Ryan Martin, Jackie Pipes, Jackie Rawls, Jim Ring, Candace Tillman
Staff: Shirley Corker (Community Development Coordinator)
Guests: Michell Adcock (Stokes Brown Public Library), Krystin Baker (Centerstone), Jaimie Block (WIC Supervisor), Leah Blocker (CASA), Erin Cobb (Shine Pediatric Therapy), Brenda Oldham (My Father’s House Mission), Jennifer Evangelist (NorthCrest Wound Center), Jacob Goings (HomeSafe), Karol Howard (HomeSafe), Adrianne Medlock (TN Voices), Penny Paparteys (HomeSafe), Donna Ross (Center of Hope for Behavioral Health), Meaghan Williams (Stephen A. Cohen Center)
Opening Remarks: Community Development Coordinator Shirley Corker welcomed members and guests. She announced the next meeting as Wednesday, December 8.
- Roll Call was taken.
- The minutes from the September 8 meeting and the notes from the October 13 meeting were approved with a motion from Stephanie Evans and a second from Maria Smith.
New Business:
- Ace Timmermeier requested to make some quick announcements as she has to leave the meeting early and turn facilitation over to Lauren Patterson. She announced they had 1500 Give Thanks Meal Kits to distribute to families who sign-up. The meal kits feed a family of 4 and includes a $25 gift card. There are no qualifications to receive the meal kits. Volunteers are needed to pack and distribute the kits. Dates and times were listed for when people can sign up to volunteer.
- The Christmas Assistance program is open to receive applications for families in need. Any families who are receiving benefits automatically qualify.
- Ace Timmermeier introduced speaker Jenny Evangelist from TriStar NorthCrest Wound Center to provide diabetes information in honor of American Diabetes month. Ms. Evangelist covered the topics she would be speaking on. She listed them as covering general diabetic information, the complications of diabetes, treatment diet and exercise, and prevention of complications. She presented statistics from 2020 from CDC based on 2018 data. There are 34 million diabetics in the United States that is 10% of the population. Seven million of those were not aware they had diabetes until they were tested for something else. Eighty-eight million, 18 and older, have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a great time to target interventions. She discussed Type I and Type II diabetes. Hispanic populations are showing the greatest increase in Type I diabetes. Type II diabetes, the most common, is on the rise in children from all backgrounds due to diet, exercise, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Diabetes is a disease that is affected by your lifestyle. Normal blood sugar is 77-99. A good marker for diabetes is an A1-C which is a measurement over a 2–3-month period. Normal range should be around 4% to 5.7. Anything over 6.5 is diabetes. Prediabetes should not be over 5.5. Risk factors for having diabetes are a BMI over 25, genetics, sedentary lifestyle, and ethnicity. Reducing your weight and eating a variety of healthy foods in moderation can be a big factor in preventing the disease. She discussed the 3 types of healthy diets. She stated people with A1-C’s over 7 are the most at risk for complications. She stressed diet and exercise are the 2 things that can make the most changes in controlling your diabetes and realize the most benefits. Lauren stressed the tips and information offered by Ms. Evangelist were good for all adults. She thanked Ms. Evangelist for taking the time to share the information.
- Brenda Oldham presented a report on My Father’s House. The shelter opens on November 15, nightly, regardless of temperature. It will be open for 4 months and can be extended if needed depending on the weather. A training session will be offered November 13 at the Armory from 9-10 am. The training session will be for people to become familiar with the program. The shelter is totally a volunteer effort on the part of churches. They are dependent on donations from the community. The shelter served over 45 people last year. Staff is available at the shelter from 5:00-8:00 pm. Guests can come in at 5:00 pm and must leave at 7:00 am. Guests must register, 15-minute devotionals are offered, prepared meals are served, and showers and laundry are available. They are given fruit and dry cereal to take with them. A lot go the library during the day to stay warm and some have jobs they go to. The shelter phone number is 615-992-1547. Potential volunteers can visit the shelter any time to see if they would like to help. They are located at 4635 Highway 41 North. They can be reached by email at myfathershousemission2@gmail.com. They use mostly paper products if anyone would like to donate. They usually have between 8-12 guests per night. No transportation is provided for those who wish to stay at the shelter.
- Lauren Patterson stated they had several volunteers who had agreed to help update the Robertson County Resource Directory. She asked if there were others who would like to work on the project and if so to contact her. She explained the process that had been used in the past to update the directory.
- Erin Cobb announced the Christmas Parade on November 20 would have a section blocked off for special needs children and their families.
- Meghan Williams announced they were increasing their program for military youth by offering some unique services to include youth mental health first aide
- The Davidson County NAMI is sharing their resources with Springfield and is helping Springfield to establish their own chapter.
- Lynn Wood announced her organization has information available for Holidays with Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
Next meeting will be held virtually on Wednesday, December 8, 2021 at 12:30pm. Meeting access information will be sent via email by Shirley and added to a calendar invite from Ace.
Adjournment: The meeting was closed with no further business.