TO:                              HIS BRANCHES BOARD OF DIRECTORS                         July 27, 2008

FROM:                        EUGENE YOUNG

SUBJECT:                  MINUTES OF THE HIS BRANCHES JULY 22, 2008 BOARD MEETING

PRESENT:                  T. SMITH, W. WALENCE, A. GEYER, R. W. KING, D. BEINETTI, A. MARTORANA, AND E. YOUNG

ABSENT:                    W. LIGHTFOOT,

EXE. DIRECTOR       W. MOREHOUSE

GUESTS:                    SUSAN. MOREHOUSE, WANDA MILLER, AND TRUDY JANSEN

 

The meeting opened with prayer.

 

Secretary’s Report:

The minutes of the June 10, 2008 meeting were accepted unanimously on a motion by R. W. King and seconded by A. Martorana.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

The billing process has improved to the point that it has not been necessary to use the line of credit and payment has started on the provider loans. Past due accounts are being received. There is $153,000 in accounts receivable with $43,000 as private pay and the rest from insurance companies. Of the total amount there is $53,000 that is greater than 120 days old. Back insurance claims have been resubmitted. There is $25,000 that should arrive this summer. T. Smith recommended that a budget be developed to pay back the line of credit and the provider loans.

 

Intercessors/Neighborhood Association Report:

A meeting was held and 15 attended. There were two police officers were present. The police are following up on a shooting, drugs and empty houses.

 

A group from Pennsylvania will do a Bible Club the week of July 28, and on August 2 the Block Party will be held. The street outside the office will be closed and there will be many attractions: horse rides, juggler, etc. Getting a sound system may be a problem. W. Lightfoot will by the MC. Susan requested prayer for the event.

 

Executive Director’s Report:

The Article 28 project is stymied by architectural problems. The handicap ramp is still not up to code. The City health department inspected the handicap toilet and passed it. This information was given to the architect. The architect must generate paperwork to be sent to Albany. A checklist of 28 items to complete the Article 28 process was obtained and T. Janssen will process it.

 

The Policies and Procedures Manual is not quite in its final form, but a draft was available at the meeting. T. Jansen gave a summary covering the following headings in the Manual:

1. Employment Law

2. Benefits

3. Record keeping

4. Employee development

5. Employee relations

            a. Hiring

            b. Training

            c. Separation

            d. Employee handbook

After a discussion about the manual it was moved by E. Young to implement the Policy and Procedures Manual with the provision that the Executive Direction can make changes that are not substantive to the spirit of the current polices. Changes of a substantive nature to the spirit of any portion of the manual would require Board approval. This was seconded by W. Walence and passed by a unanimous vote.

 

Grace Family Medicine has a new nurse and a new billing team. This has slowed the work process due to inexperience. Two of the staff are pregnant. Dr Morehouse remarked that there is a need for team building and he requested prayer for the staff.

 

Joy Family Medicine has picked up since the PA, Alicea Reeves, returned from maternity leave. There may be a need for more provider time in the fall.

 

EO at Bay and Goodman and at His Branches are seeing many clients. Prayer was requested for the finances of EO and the medical groups, especially the insurance problems.

 

Dr. Morehouse introduced Wanda Miller from Home Care of Rochester. Dr. Morehouse and W. Miller are working on developing community-based programs. W. Miller is working on an African American Initiative similar to one previously done for the Hispanic community. The idea is to find culturally relevant means to address health care problems. African Americans are not accessing the health care that is available. They are held back by barriers such as transport, family issues, etc. There is a need for collaboration with an organization like Grace Family Medicine. Her organization provides nurses, home health aids to help people. There is a need to address nutrition. This could be done on a group basis to teach good nutrition and its role in good health. The desire is to have a continuous presence of Health Care Rochester at the His Branches Facility to facilitate the health care programs. What is needed is a facilitator (navigator) to direct people to available services and to help people with problems such as dealing with RG&E and social services. The key is culturally based to better reach clients. The idea is to develop a program that could operate out of the His Branches Building. This would provide things like home care, financial counseling, dealing with the legal system, etc. The collaboration gives continuity of care. Clients in need of health care can be referred to Grace Family Medicine.

 

As an example of this program a draft of a diabetic training program has been produced. The next step would be to screen the Grace Family Medicine patient list to find people who could use this training. The training would be done in a group setting. Dr. Morehouse pointed out that Grace Family Medicine is not currently equipped to support such an enterprise due to staff issues. The question was raised are there community people who could help get this straightened out? Health Care Rochester has people who could help with this. The problem is finding someone with the requisite skills to do this project. W. Miller is available to do this kind of thing. Wanda and her team will do this project. It has been found that a spiritual element is an important part of the health education process. This would say it would be good to involve churches in this process. Wanda was invited to consider becoming a member of the Board.

 

President’s Report

A suggestion was raised to have Board meetings every other month. On a motion by A. Geyer and seconded by R. W. King this was approved unanimously. A follow up motion by E. Young and seconded by D. Beinetti that the meetings will be held on the third Tuesday also passed unanimously.

 

Officer Elections:

On a unanimous vote the following officers were elected for a one-year term starting retroactively in June 2008:

President R. W. King, Vice President W. Walence, Treasurer T. Smith, Secretary E. Young.

                       

The meeting closed with prayer.

 

The next Board meeting is September 16, 2008 at 7:30 am at the His Branches Conference Room.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 Eugene F. Young