San Francisco Board of Supervisors Asthma Task Force Monthly Meeting
September 24, 2007, 2-4pm
San Francisco City Hall, Room 278
MINUTES
Welcome and Introductions—sign in & request time keeper (5 mins)
Present: Gloria Thornton, Anjali Nath, Stephanie Manfre, Vince Fabris (DBI), Neil Gendel, Nadia Thind, Sean Pritchard, Betty McGee (HERC), Rose Toney, Tatanesha Lee, Sarah Shatt, Joana Allis, Kristina Melendez, Amy Dietz, Nan Madden, Karen Cohn, Sarah Saavedra, Ray Manion, Peg Strub, Ben Heckman, and 2 guests from Breathe CA - promoting “Breathe of Life Walk”
Breathe California - Promoting “Breath of Life Walk,” on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. The proceeds are to help fund and educate Breathe California’s local programs and services that assist those suffering from lung disease. The walk is 5K (3.3 Mile), and participants can visit exhibits hosted by local health, environmental and non-profit agencies. The event is sponsored by Genentech, Novartis, Kaiser Permanente, Toyota, and CBS Eyewitness News. There will be music and sample food and drinks donated by event sponsors such as Café Nightingale, EHS Pilates, Fresh Choice, Noah’s Bagels, 0 Water, Starbucks, and Straus Family Creamery.
Grants Update - Gloria reported that she is currently working on the CPMC grant and Haroon from CEHP will be assisting her with data capturing and data analysis for an asthma family survey.
Sustainability Update - Anjali mentioned that she performed a series of interviews for the sustainability of the task force with member s and community stakeholders of the Asthma Task Force. She talked about the outcome of the interviews and mentioned that people felt the task force is effective in bringing people together and creates effective collaboration, and that people still want to stay involved. She also mentioned that the purpose of the meeting today was to talk about the structure of the ATF and potential viable option of areas that need focus for the committee to effectively continue.
Anjali went over the Organizational Structure and Function Scenarios handout as follows:
1. It was recommended to hire a person responsible for providing leadership in accomplishing recommendations/objectives/deliverables outlined in the strategic plan including coordinating advocacy and educational efforts, maintaining communication networks, and developing future strategic planning activities.
There was a discussion about options for sharing staffing with DPH and Breathe California.
Karen mentioned that CEHP has seen a reduction in staff. Current staff has assisted with the ATF in various ways including translation, outreach, data, purchasing, administrative, mailings, etc. She also mentioned that there is a need for a DPH staff person with environmental / housing expertise.
2. Funding - (Who fundraises for staff and functioning, for projects and activities). There was discussion regarding looking for funding to hire staff at Breathe California or at DPH. However, it was mentioned that fundraising committee may not be the way to go.
3. Governance (how are decisions made about structure functioning) - It was recommended that a Steering Committee consist of chairperson from each committee (Schools, Clinical, Environmental) and staff person. Proposed Steering Committee would meet monthly or by conference call. It was also mentioned that oversight needs to be better defined – lack of oversight has been an issue in the past. The proposal to eliminate Chairperson was discussed.
4. Membership (what does it mean to be a member, participation, responsibilities, commitment) A discussion was held whether meeting quarterly versus monthly would be easier for people, and that the meetings should focus on legislative, policy, and budget. Also, US citizenship status requirements need to be researched since the board is not able to appoint anyone that is not a citizen.
Announcements:
Karen announced that there is a fact sheet from the Health Director regarding the construction of Hunter’s Point Shipyard that will be posted on Environmental Health website along with all other health code Article 31 violations related to shipyard construction.
Karen also announced that David Lo of CEHP staff helped the Environmental Health Code Enforcement Unit to market the “Non-Code Enforcement Home-Based Environmental Services for People with Asthma”, which will also be posted on Environmental Health website. This service is based on medical provider referral of their patients for a non-code enforcement visit by EH Code Enforcement Unit staff, who will include environmental assessment, education, and bed covers provided by Environmental Health.
