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Board of Supervisors Asthma Task Force
Minutes of Meeting held on September 25, 2006
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA
Members In Attendance: Karen Cohn, Neil Gendel, Mary Higgins, Gloria Thornton, Anjali Nath, Lee Samson (for Louise Kimbell), Nadia Thind*, Marie Hoemke, Peg Strub, Natasha Madaris, Marlo Simmons and Benjamin Heckman.
Absent Members: Julie McKown, Meyla Ruwin, Rose Toney, MariaElena Alioto, Raymond Manion, Kimberley Knox, and Louise Hill.
Guests and Staff: Tirtza Rosenberg, Elizabeth Smith, Gail Herrick, Kate Lorenzen, Jessica Bazyl Bowen, Tiffany Sutter, Krista Ward, and Sean Pritchard.
(* = pending appointment)
1. Introductions, Agenda Revisions, Approval of Minutes
August minutes were corrected to read Nadia Thind will be representing Department of Children, Youth and Families. The August minutes were accepted as corrected. The agenda was revised to show that Karen Cohn will give an update on Article 11 as part of the CAFA report.
2. Calendar for the Remainder of 2006
Gloria Thornton stated the next meeting will be held October 23, 2006. Gloria proposed that the November and December meetings be combined. The combined meeting will be held on December 4. Anjali Nath stated the room will be unavailable for the usual amount of time needed for Clinical, the General meeting and Schools Committee on December 4 and suggested revising the times or location. Marie Hoemke stated the Schools Committee may not need its usual two hours. Karen Cohn moved the meeting be combined. Peg Strub seconded. The motion passed. The November/December meeting will be held at 2:00 Monday, December 2, 2006.
3. Updates
a. Anjali’s process to outline plan for San Francisco Asthma Task Force work from September – February to prepare for her vacation (mid December to the end of January
Anjali Nath reported the San Francisco Asthma Task Force has been selected to present a paper at the American Public Health Association conference in Boston. Anjali will be on a CAFA panel. Highlighted will be the work of the Environmental Committee with the Housing Authority. Gloria Thornton will also be attending.
Neil Gendel asked that Anjali meet with Karen Cohn and him before she goes to talk about the Boston school system and what they are doing regarding upkeep and repairs.
Anjali will also be going to India for a month and a half, from mid December to the end of January.
b. ATF vacancies
Nadia Thind has applied for the Child Care Seat about three weeks ago. Through a glitch at the Clerk’s office, they do not have Gretchen Skagg’s resignation letter. Anjali will write a letter today and hand deliver it.
c. ATF website
Anjali Nath reported the website is live. There is no new information. It has the asthma management fliers in Spanish and English. The Chinese one is in development. It also has the asthma emergency care plan forms in English, Spanish and Chinese. The form is in English. The signature part has been translated.
Anjali stated people are finding out about the Task Force through the flier. The contact information is the website. The webmaster will be putting everyone’s contact information up at one time. What is on now is Tirtza and Anjali’s contact information. The current contact information for Tirtza is to a desk where she no longer sits. The information systems person is working on installing a number at Tirtza’s new desk.
d. Communications Plan
Asthma Management Flyers/Posters Distribution and Environmentally Healthy Schools Tool
Neil Gendel stated there is a need to develop something to capture who these people are in order to give them a quick answer to any questions and to be able to contact them in the future. Gloria Thornton suggested a form on the website. This discussion will be carried on to the Planning Committee.
Karen Cohn reported over 2500 fliers and posters have been printed. They have been distributed at health fairs, meetings and trainings of school district staff, etc.
Anjali Nath and Neil Gendel have met with Public Media Center to develop a poster regarding Tools for Schools. The first draft has been developed.
e. Childcare Workgroup Meeting
The Childcare Workgroup met on September 22. Anjali Nath, Marlo Simmons, Maria Luz-Torres and Mardi Lucich met to discuss the Board of Supervisors resolution which states that if the city finances child care providers the providers will receive asthma training. The group is currently gathering information regarding the various organizations and resources that is currently available to the various childcare organizations.
Karen Cohn spoke about some of the training currently available and reviewed the many groups of registered Child Care providers.
Karen pointed out that DCYF can carry out a sustainable way to make sure all the different target groups of the Child Care Network have a way to access the trainings. The next step would be marketing.
Neil Gendel stating what also needs to be addressed is that in San Francisco a plan is being developed to provide child care for all people. The group is working to acquire funds to create environmentally healthy child care centers. Some are also working with family resource centers and networks to help the parents learn how to clean their homes, including child care homes.
Gloria Thornton suggested checking on the state website to find the private, licensed child care centers.
f. CAFA Policy and other Updates
Anjali Nath reported there will be a two-day meeting in Los Angeles for CAFA coalitions. The main focus of the meeting will be to talk about state wide initiatives that CAFA would like to support.
Karen Cohn distributed and reviewed a summary of the parts of Article 11 that would be relevant to the Task Force members. The article was originally titled “Nuisance”. Its new title is Neighborhood Sanitation and Housing Habitability Ordinance”.
Karen originally presented Article 11 to the Task Force before it went to the Board of Supervisors to urge Supervisor Merkerini to have it go to hearing. The Task Force declined. It went to hearing last Monday, and Karen testified on behalf of the Department of Public Health. Other groups testifying included a tenant group and an apartment association. It was continued for further discussion until October 2. Karen requested an Action Item for next month’s meeting to take a vote to see if particular sections of Article 11 should be supported.
4. Report Back on ATF Member Check-in Calls
Karen Cohn and Anjali Nath both learned that people were happy to be a member of the Asthma Task Force. Kimberly Knox suggested having a mechanism for taking the initiatives and learning from the people affected at a more aggressive level, whether the initiatives are meeting their needs.
Anjali also received feedback that it would be good to have the individual committees give in depth reports occasionally at the general meetings to make the entire Task Force aware of what they are doing.
A printed report will be made available of the findings.
5. ACTION ITEM: Weighing in on State Strategic Plan on Asthma
Karen Cohn and Anjali Nath have been asked to comment on the California State Asthma Strategic Plan. Karen has given a personal interview. The Plan is written with input from Environmental Health Investigations and Chronic Disease branches of the Health Department, with input from other branches. The State revises its plan every five years. There have not been Outcome or Workplans available from the state. So, the San Francisco Asthma Task Force has mostly been focused on the Strategic Plan developed here.
A phone conference will be held. Anjali Nath will send everyone the link to the Strategic Plan and the invitation to the phone conference.
6. Brainstorming for focus groups for CPMC hospitalization grant.
Karen Cohn divided those attending into three groups to brainstorm ideas regarding the CPMC grant, titled “Identifying Causal Factors for Pediatric Asthma Hospitalizations in San Francisco to Propose Appropriate Interventions.”
See attachment for discussion notes.
Meeting Adjourned (4:00p.m.)
The next meeting will be October 23, 2006 at 2:00.
