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Minutes for the Meeting of March 14, 2003

Present

Pat Fanning, Karen Scott Statser, Joan Gancarski, Sue Sterrett, Bea Medeiros, Jeff Sypek, Robert Oliveira, Billie Jane Valente, Marcia Picard, Dr. David Weed

A meeting of Partners for a Healthier Community was held on Friday, March 14, 2003 at South Coast Hospital. Chairperson Karen Scott Statser called the meeting to order at 8:45 AM.

The minutes of the February 14, 2003 Steering Committee were circulated in advance.

VOTED to approve the Minutes of the February 14, 2003 meeting of Partners for a Healthier Community as circulated.

Financial report for February 2003 was not available. We believe there was no expenses accrued since last month. Vote will be deterred to next month.

REPORT OF WORK GROUPS

Access presented their budget of $3,000. This will cover expenses for the barriers to healthcare survey and related expenses such as printing, supermarket gift cards for participants, and other miscellaneous costs. The group will also be focusing on support for access to sterile injection. The remainder of the budget will cover administrative costs. Motion to approve the budget as presented as accepted. The next meeting for Access to Health Care will be March 19^th from 8:45-10:00 at SSTAR.

The group will be meeting next week. Discussion will focus on school lunch menu, the proposed General Mills grant and the establishment of a walking program.

Healthy Youth

Healthy Youth will meet on March 26^th at 3:00. The group is working on the upcoming Youth Summit on May 17^th. This will be a full day of fun and getting youth together to discuss issues. There is a core group of about 9 Durfee students and we have been getting some excellent input that we did not have before. We have received money from the work force group, so the budget for the youth summit will not be as high as projected. CHNA is planning to have a table there. The group will also be planning the upcoming poster contest. We are still looking to secure space and the theme of the contest.

The visioning session on February 27^th went very well. The session had a great turnout with over 100 people attending. Those attending represented a diverse population, not just service providers and many that have not been involved with Partner’s in the past. The next meetings will be a much smaller one. The key point at this time is to keep people engaged. People want to see action, not just talking. Simple, short-term, visible projects will need to put into process soon. There was also some discussion about integrating some of the key people into the Steering Committee. A summary of what we are doing with an open invitation to join is a possibility. Some may not be interested in joining, but can be put on a mailing only list just to keep in touch with what we are doing. The Partner’s brochure also needs to be revamped. Dr. Weed has announced that he will be volunteering for the Healthy City Initiative two afternoons per week.

Nothing to report from the Center this month. The library has been moved to the DA’s office in New Bedford, and some are attending today’s open house. It will be proposed to have a local drop off site for materials that need to be returned.

There is space available at Howland Mills where the Prevention Center was previously located. It is a nice space with a conference room and private offices.

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services has posted its regional schedule. There will be a meeting on April 2^nd from 2:00 – 3:30 at BCC.

The final report has been received from MassCall.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 am. The next meeting for the Partners for a Healthier Community will be held on Friday, April 11, 2003 at the Charlton site of Southcoast Hospitals Group, in the Jackson Conference Room.