To view graphic version of this page, refresh this page (F5)

Skip to page body

Meeting Information



fullTF

2009 2008 2007 2006 

 

 

                                                                                         Board of Supervisors Asthma Task Force

 Minutes of Meeting held on April 23, 2007

 City Hall

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place

 San Francisco, CA

 

Members In Attendance:    Karen Cohn, Neil Gendel, Anjali Nath, Gloria Thornton, Peg Strub Raymond Manion, Benjamin Heckman, Tiffany Sutter, * Nan Madden and Nadia Thind. 

Absent Members:  Mary Higgins, Lee Samson (for Louise Kimbell), Marie Hoemke,   Rose Toney, Marlo Simmons Kimberley Knox, Meyla Ruwin, Natasha Madaris and Louise Hill.

Guests and Staff:   Tirtza Pearl, Sean Pritchard, Stephanie Manfre and Nsoah Chioney.

 (* = pending appointment)      

 

1.  Introductions, Agenda Revisions, Approval of Minutes

 

The March minutes were corrected to read: Stephanie’s last name is “Manfre”; Page 1, Item c, the requisition is for Turn Here; Page 1, Item 3 World Asthma Day.  Kaiser Permanente will be hosting an event on May 1 at 2238 Geary in the lobby.  The minutes for March were accepted as corrected.  The agenda was modified to discuss the World Asthma Day/Media Planning before Sustainability Planning. 

 

The next meeting of the Asthma Task Force will be moved to May 21 due to the conflict with Memorial Day.

 

2.  Updates

 

a. Fiscal Report

Karen Cohn shared a draft of a letter she will be distributing at a Health Commission Joint Conference Committee this afternoon.  The departments have been told to cut back their budgets by 3%.  One of the maneuvers has been to reclassify the “add backs” so they can possibly be touched by the cut backs.  The allocation for the Asthma Task Force has been reclassified.

 

Karen will explain to the Committee that last year’s budget was spent on mold in Public Housing and outreach to places where people are the highest risk, following the directions given by the board.  The recommendations for this year consist of:  Asthma management and environmental risk factors at schools; improvement of asthma care in clinical settings; controlling risk factors in San Francisco Housing Authority and asthma-related public awareness and resources. 

 

 

b.  ATF Staffing Update

Anjali Nath asked Nan Madden if she is officially a member now.  Nan is still unsure.  Tirtza Pearl will check with the Clerk’s office. 

 

Anjali reported the Task Force will be officially ending in June 2008.  At this time the individual terms have different expiration dates.  The Task Force can either: 1.  Do nothing; 2.  Amend the Ordinance or 3.  Submit a Resolution requesting all the memberships be extended until June, 2008.  Anjali will work with Connie Chun on a resolution. 

 

 

c.  SFGOV Website Training

Tirtza Pearl reported she attended the SFGOV Website Training in April to learn how to post to the website.  Karen Cohn will be attending the training in May. 

 

d. Environmentally Healthy Schools Flyers

Neil Gendel reported he has developed a booklet which describes actions that can be taken to improve the environmental health of schools.  He has also developed a flier aimed at the parents, to enable them to aid in cleaning up the schools.  

 

e. ATF support for Coleman Advocates’ New Agenda

Anjali Nath reported the Coleman Advocates will be having a rally on May 12.  Coleman advocates for many issues including affordable housing.  They are asking for community support.  Due to the timely nature of the request, the Planning Committee decided to submit a pledge form of support.   

 

3.  World Asthma Day/Media Planning

Karen Cohn is still working on approval of a purchase requisition for Turn Here for World Asthma Day. 

 

The RAMP Alert has instructions to log onto a national phone call.  Thursday, May 3, from 10   Noon. The topic is “Leveraging Asthma Awareness in Our Communities – Making a Difference. 

 

4.  Committee Milestones

 

a. Environmental Committee

Karen Cohn reported Connie Chan, from Supervisor Maxwell’s office, attended the last Environmental Committee meeting and stated a plan to write a healthy housing legislation as soon as possible with the input of the Environmental Committee.  The committee will be finalizing the policy proposal next week and will then being working with an attorney.

 

Karen reported Article 11 of the Health Code didn’t pass.  Dr. Bhatia decided to create Rules and Regulations about rodent and vector control.  This will determine who is responsible for rodent and vector control.  This will include a mandate to use the least toxic and most IPM strategies possible. 

 

Karen is waiting to hear if her office will be allotted funds to hire a health educator to work in the Housing Authority. 

 

Anjali Nath, Neil Gendel and ___________ went to a DCYF Summit.  Neil and Anjali went to the Housing Authority presentation.  Mr. Fortner requested the community to support the needs of the tenants of the Housing Authority. 

 

b.  Clinical Committee

Peg Strub reported there will be an Asthma Network Meeting at Kaiser on May 4 from 8 – 4.  There will be many speakers on topics including:  environment; allergic rhinitis;  exercise and rehabilitation and more.  

 

The committee will soon be publishing a newsletter.

5.  Sustainability Planning

 

Anjali Nath, Stephanie Renfre and Kate Lorenzen met to work out a timeline for the sustainability planning.  The discussion revolved around:  Should an entity like the Task Force be maintained and what will it look like?  How will the work be done?

 

The plan consists of four parts:

Part I – April – August - Stakeholder interviews

Part II – September – December – Structure Discussion

Part III – January – March – Projects criteria/resources

Part IV – April – June – Next Steps

 

Gloria Thornton suggested that April – June may not be enough time for the “next steps”.  She suggested that period be used to finalize the plans.

 

Neil Gendel pointed out that serious funding applications need to be in by March, 2008.  Anjali stated that the CAFA funding will be gone after June, 2008.  After some discussion, it was determined that there needs to be two timelines that run parallel to each other.  One is for the sustainability process.  The other is looking at funding for whatever entity the Task Force becomes.

 

Karen Cohn stated that if the Task Force is to become a new Public Health Program, this would have to be proposed by December. 

 

Stephanie Renfre reviewed the proposed questions to be used in the interviews. 

 

A discussion was held regarding who to interview.  All the members of the Task Force will be interviewed.  Gloria Thornton suggested reviewing the list of the original stakeholders.  Benjamin Heckman suggested the committees could choose five stakeholders each.  Tiffany Sutter suggested having parents of asthmatics interviewed.  (This may require changing the questions a little.)  Tirtza Pearl suggested talking to some of the members of Parents Voices.

 

Meeting Adjourned (4:00p.m.)

 

The next meeting will be May 21, 2007 at 2:00.