HomeMy WebLinkAbout200624 - Minutes, Mental Health AuthWashington County Mental Health Authority Board of Director’s Meeting Minutes Date: June 24, 2020 @ 12:00 p.m. Location: The meeting was held via Google Meets due to the COVID 19 pandemic Board Members: Present: E. Branthaver, R. Bratcher, R. Clutz, Jr., C. Pauley, J. Lowery, K. Mollo, J. Matheny, Planned Absence: Absent: C. Munson, T. Ryan Guests:
Quorum present: Yes WCMHA Staff Present: R. Rock, S. Norberg, B. Kerbs, M. Jackson
Ex-Officio Member: Jeff Kline Proceedings: Board President Jennifer Lowery called meeting to order at 12:08 PM. Approval of Minutes:
The members present reviewed the February meeting minutes. A motion was made by R. Clutz to approve the minutes and C. Pauley seconded it. All members present approved the motion. Finance Committee Report – R. Bratcher:
We do not expect any of the grants will be overspent this fiscal year. Due to the pandemic there are several grants that maybe underspent. Staff will work with agencies to identify other projects where they might be able to use the funds prior to June 30, 2020. The administrative budget is on track, with the possibility that a few categories may be underspent due to staff not traveling to meetings or trainings due to the pandemic.
Executive Director Report by R. Rock:
Our staff have been working remotely since mid-March due to the COVID pandemic. We have provided staff with the technology they need to access their work computer/files remotely. Marcie is working in the office on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, I work in the office on Wednesday’s and Sha-ron and Brooke are in and out as needed. Linda’s position allows her to work remotely. This al-
lows us to social distance by not all being in the office location at the same time.
I have been working with BHA during the outset as the whole system shifted to a telehealth format. That is both tele video and/or telephonic services. This has been very effective in maintaining con-tact and continuing to provide services to consumers. They are looking to sunset these services by
July 25, 2020. The Behavioral Health Association directors are advocating to keep these services in
place. Providers report that a greater percentage of the appointments are being kept.
We have available personal protection equipment from BHA for providers. I went down to Mont-gomery County’s office and brought gloves and face masks back for our providers. We also re-ceived some gowns and face shields as well. There has been only one case of COVID positive re-ported in the RRP program at Turning Point and they were able to isolate that case and prevented
any spread.
I continue to keep the providers aware of any regulation changes related to telehealth.
Our FY 2021 contracts have been signed and returned to our office. There had been a couple of small changes in our grants for FY 2021. Some of our Special Needs projects will no longer be
needed in FY 2021. We are using some of those funds to help enhance the case management for the Level E program.
We have contracted with Potomac Case Management Services to conduct Continuum of Care HQS inspections for FY 2021. This will give Marcie more time to focus on administrative duties.
The Behavioral Health Integration status has stalled due to the focus on the pandemic. Now that the
commissioners have resumed their meetings, I have contacted Earl Stoner (WCHD) to get this mov-ing forward again.
Our FY 2020 grant monitoring is in process. There have been challenges due to trying to change to an electronic review rather than going on site to the provider locations. BHA will allow 30 days af-ter the State of Emergency is lifted to complete the monitoring.
Our FY 2021 Behavioral Health Plan was reviewed by BHA and they have requested some revi-sions. I will be completing that and returning it to BHA as a final document.
We were approached to participate in a Comprehensive Suicide Prevention program in Washington County. This is a national grant and we were selected to participate in this grant due the large sui-
cide capita in our county. The start date for this grant is October 1, 2020.
Director of Children & Adolescents – Brooke Kerbs
The Suicide Prevention workgroup has continued to push forward. We are working on our survey that we put out to the general community. We have been approached by the School Health Council with a request to put together a Suicide Prevention campaign for the schools. We have been offered some updated data regarding suicides. This will come directly from the medical examiner’s office
and will provide us access to more recent data. This will be very helpful. There is also a new ana-
lyst at the state that has offered their assistance.
We have reallocated some unspent funds to the ECMH grant. This allowed us to expand the ca-pacity of individuals being serviced by providing additional staff.
Jefferson Schools will be closing 8/31/20. We have lead agency responsibilities for one youth and
there are 2 more, one through Dept of Social Services and Department of Juvenile Justice. BHA has reached out and offered some support to find other placements for these individuals. Unfortu-nately, there is a shortage of beds in the state.
The need continues to rise for Residential Treatment Center beds. We have been invited to partici-pate and help advocate for Western Md. We will be sharing the information about what families go
through to place their child, with limited local resources, and how they remain connected when
their child is 1 – 2 hours away.
Meeting adjourned at 12:40 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for August 26, 2020. Minutes submitted by:
Marcie Jackson 08/13/2020
___________________________________________________________________
Marcie Jackson, Secretary Date