Human Services Advisory Commission

 Meeting Minutes
December 13, 2005
7:40 - 9:10 PM
Glenview Mansion

Re:  Call Meeting to Order /Introductions

Tim Stranges called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.

Re: Approve November 8 Meeting Minutes

The minutes were amended to show that Ann Reiss had been absent. David L'Heureux then moved that the minutes be approved as amended. Tom Lawrey seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Re: Presentation on Mansfield Kaseman Health Program
Presenter:  Michelle Beadle, Program Director

Michelle Beadle explained that she had started work as Program Director of the Mansfield Kaseman Health Program the last week in August. The Health Program was developed to address the needs of the underinsured and uninsured residents of Rockville. Currently, it is estimated that there are 5,000 residents of Rockville that lack medical insurance.

Community Ministries of Rockville (CMR) is now running the Health Program in partnership with Mobile Medical Care (MobileMed). Previously the City had provided funding to MobileMed directly starting in 2001 at two city locations, Twinbrook Community Recreation Center and the Lincoln Park Community Center. On May 19, 2004, the CMR program started at Crusader Lutheran Church for four hours/week. On July 1, 2005 CMR and MobileMed, in their new partnership, expanded to two sites with more hours. They are now at Lincoln Park every Friday morning from 9 a.m. to 12 Noon. Every Wednesday they are at Crusader Lutheran from 12:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Both sites are by appointment only, which helps them track their patients. Michelle then handed out a table she had developed which she said showed the increase in the number of people being seen in Rockville.

Michelle explained that the County is working to establish the number of uninsured. As part of this process, the Primary Care Coalition has a database for the entire county, which CMR hopes to eventually join. MobileMed advises that patients often choose to follow their physician from one site to another. Michelle assumes that many Rockville residents may follow their physicians to sites outside of Rockville. Potentially, MobileMed has information on the number of Rockville residents seen at all of their sites in the county, which would provide some insight into the number of uninsured Rockville residents.

CMR always provides translation services (primarily Spanish) for patients in the Mansfield Kaseman Health Program. Michelle feels this goes a long way toward helping people feel more comfortable. Funds received from the City also help to provide waiting space, restrooms and a higher degree of care. For example, the Patient Coordinator has personal contact with everyone who calls which results in more personal service. Currently, the waiting time for an appointment is about 1½ months. However, because the Patient Coordinator has contact with each caller, she can try to squeeze people in where the need is greatest. Emergencies are sent to the emergency room. Staff also assists each patient with filling out any necessary medical forms, as often they may not understand the language on the form. As part of this process, staff learns of other needs and is able to refer the patient to additional resources. The program treats Rockville residents as a priority.

Additional clinic hours will require additional funds. Michelle thinks that, with time, they will learn the extent of the need in Rockville. Currently the advisory council for the program is in touch with Shady Grove Adventist Hospital and the University of Maryland trying to get an inventory of available doctors, nurse practitioners and other staff.

CMR has not yet broken out the demographics of their users. Michelle believes that, anecdotally, there is a high percentage of Spanish-speaking patients being served. This would correspond with the information she has heard at the county level, specifically that 60% of all Latinos in Montgomery County across all income levels do not have health insurance. At the last census, there were approximately 100,000 Latinos in the county. Michelle does not have numbers for no-shows.  She understands from MobileMed that scheduling is improving. Follow-up appointments (to other sites) are made on-site before the patient leaves. That way the paperwork is always in the chart. Their patient advocacy also includes assisting the client in handling medical bills for other health providers.

Regarding development and outreach, Michelle said that the Health Program is a member of Community Healthlink.  They have recently been approved for a grant from the National Library of Medicine, which will provide two laptop computers and software so that they can link to the National Library database. This should be launched in the spring. Also, recently, CMR has located a podiatrist who will volunteer his time at the Lincoln Park location. On January 11, 2006 they will be providing training on colorectal cancer. And they are making plans for the "Mammovan" to visit Rockville in order to provide mammograms to twenty patients. Michelle herself recently wrote an article about the Health Program for the Twinbrook Association's newsletter, copies of which she passed out to Commission members.

Re: Updates from Chair

Tim congratulated Agnes Saenz, David L'Heureux, and Deborah Hopson for their recent reappointments to the Commission. Tim said that his own term is due to expire in January 2006 and he thinks he was just reappointed.

Regarding the Commission's recent work on the Rockville Emergency Assistance Program (REAP), Tim wanted members to know that he had received a Christmas card with a donation from Anne Robbins. He liked the article about REAP that appeared in the Caregiver insert to Rockville Reports in December.  He would also like to see a flyer in the City's water bills regarding donations to REAP.

Regarding the Commission's schedule for the coming year, Tim said that the next meeting on January 10, 2006 would be dedicated to having Fran Lochte share the report from Metis Associates with a focus on needs assessment and the future role of the Commission.

After additional discussion it was agreed that the February meeting would be rescheduled for February 7, 2006 at which time the subcommittees will be expected to report back on their findings. The meeting on March 14, 2006 will be the annual potluck dinner and, then, starting with the April 11, 2006 meeting, the Commission will return to meeting on the second Tuesday of every month, excluding August.

With respect to the reports of the subcommittees, Tim asked each one to report back at the February 7th meeting on the following:

• An identification of issues critical to their subject areas that need to be addressed, e.g., the subcommittee dealing with Rockville residents with disabilities should focus on determining the needs of this group.
• A statement of the problem with specific suggestions as to how the Human Services Advisory Commission can address the problem.

Michelle Beadle volunteered to work with the subcommittee on affordable housing.

Mary Lou Jacobs told Commission members that the Mayor frequently receives inquiries from local businesses on areas in the city that may need financial support. She wanted members to know that, as a result of the letter they had written to the Mayor and Council, the Mayor recently suggested to a local business that a donation be made to the Rockville Emergency Assistance Program.

Re: Adjourn

Ann Reiss then moved to adjourn to subcommittees. Agnes Saenz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. The next meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held Tuesday, January 10, 2006, from 7:30 9:30 p.m. in the Glenview Mansion Conservatory.