• On 1 and 6 December, provided orientation on Points of Dispensing (POD) to home health emergency preparedness leaders and planners. Summit Home Health Care has volunteered to be “the point” for the home health industry in Colorado Springs to work with us in emergency preparedness. They are calling their group HELP (Home Health Emergency Leaders and Planners), and their goal is to address the needs of homebound individuals during an emergency.
• Provided a staff member to be an auditor for Denver City-County’s submittal of the FDA Voluntary National Standards’ Standard #7, Industry and Community Relations. As each registered health agency meets all of the criteria of one of the 9 FDA Voluntary National Standards, an audit is conducted by an outside agency (who is also enrolled in the Voluntary National Standards) to ensure that the audited agency has met the particular standard as designated by the FDA.
• Holding focus group meetings with local area body artists to look at new and innovative ways to gain ideas and improve collaborative efforts with this group, and to improve body art regulations and inspections.
• In December, TEPP staff trained an employee from Harrison School District to be a trainer for the American Cancer Society You Can Quit Program, which will be incorporated into Harrison’s employee wellness program.
• In December, TEPP staff trained nine Nurse Family Partnership employees about local cessation class opportunities for their clients.
• In December, TEPP distributed 2,750 pieces of educational materials to school faculty and individuals requesting them.
• In December, TEPP distributed 204 Youth Quit Smoking Kits, 387 Quit Kits for English-speaking adults, 115 Quit Kits for Spanish-speaking adults, and 200 Smoke Free Restaurant Guides.
• In the Month of December, three new restaurants opened smoke free. TEPP visited these restaurants and provided decals and quit materials to employees.
• The Break Time Program was presented with a donation of $5000 from Nursing Therapies Services of Colorado, a nonprofit pediatric home health agency. There is currently over $11,500 left from a HealthOne grant to combine with the $5000 donation. This should sustain Break Time at least until the fall of 2006, even with 2 sessions some months. The new Children’s Hospital at Memorial Hospital Developmental and Behavioral Committee encouraged Break Time to seek funding from the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
• The Nurse Family Partnership Program hosted its annual holiday party in December. Approximately 25 children and parents attended. First Visitor staff was a great help in organizing and assisting with the event. Department of Human Services Medicaid and Food Stamp Office staff once again donated gifts for the moms and their infants and toddlers.

5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.

• Met with Colorado’s Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) Program and Military Immunization Partnership Committee to begin the development of plans to address the needs of our military communities in a large-scale emergency or disaster.

6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.

7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable.

• Enrolled 95 women in CMP/CWCCI programs to assure annual exams and imaging. To date (six months of CWCCI contract) we have enrolled 214 women of our contracted 450, so we are on target to meet that goal. During 2005, ten women were diagnosed with breast or cervical cancer through CWCCI; no cancers were identified in women younger than 40 years of age (CMP clients).
• Care managed six of 25 women whose results came back needing follow-up after imaging.
• Enrolled two women for gynecological exams through GAPS, the Penrose Grant dollars. During the year, one person (38 years old) was diagnosed with cervical cancer through GAPS.

8. Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce.

• Don Mydlowski, Environmental Quality Program Manager, was 1of 40 environmental health professionals in the United States accepted into the Class of 2006 CDC Environmental Public Health Leadership Institute (EPHLI) program.
• It has been a successful first year for the Office of Workforce Development (OWD). The final report for its first year of operation showed that employees received 1,786 hours of internal training on topics ranging from Supervision Competencies to Safety in the Workplace to Communication Skills. The final report is available on the Intranet under "Training."
• OWD has moved to a new home in Building 305. There will be an open house for the new facility soon.
• There have been 2 recent EpiTeam trainings: In December, Ethics of Survey Research; January, Study Design and Sampling Part 1.
• Our MCH Epidemiologist position has been filled. Deniz Kitchen is a physician who trained in Turkey, got her M.S. in London , worked for the Ministry of Health in Turkey for 8 years on a wide variety of projects and subsequently on a Health Information Systems project for 3 years prior to coming to Colorado.

• PERSONNEL ACTIVITY:

Comings:
Program Name Position
NFP Stephanie Sanden PHN
CD/TB Anne Dennis PHN

Transfers/Promotions:
Program Name Position
WIC Sherry Hart Educator II

Goings: NO ACTIVITY
Program Name Position

Employee Count (Payroll 12/31/2005)
Total Employees Paid: 206

Tuition Reimbursement
Budgeted: $30,000 Reimbursed: $14,563.08 Remaining: $15,436.92

• VACANCY REPORT:
Division Program Title FTE Status
HP WIC WIC Supervisor 1.0 Two offers declined
Re-advertising
HP DACCP Counselor 1.0 Interviewing
PS Various PHN 5.0 Interviewing
Epi Office EPI Epidemiologist 2.0 Offers Accepted
HP New Grant–CCPD Community Health Planner 2.0 Offers Pending
HP New Grant-CCPD Admin Coordinator 1.0 Interviewing
HP New Grant-CCPD Program Director 1.0 Offer Accepted
EHS EHS Environmentalist 2.0 Screening applications

• VOLUNTEER SERVICES:
Number Programs Utilizing Volunteers 9
Total Number of Active Volunteers** 29
Total Volunteer Hours 499.25
Estimated worth of volunteer hours (calculated @ $14.30)* $7139.28
*Our local Volunteer Center and the Independent Sector recommend this figure.
**This figure does not include all of TEPP, Safe Kids and Immunization Forum coalition members.

• INFORMATION RESOURCES LIBRARY:
Brochures/Pamphlets Distribution
Health Department Brochures (English) 30
Tobacco 13
Direct Contacts 43
Total Printed Information Outreach 300

Video Checkout:
Diseases/Disorders 1
Hepatitis 1
Injury Prevention 1
Personal Health 1
Sexuality 3
STDs 6
Suicide 1
Increase in checkout for the month of December 29%
Direct Contacts 14
Total Video Outreach 177

9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.

• A new plan review team is now in place to better handle the increase of plan reviews for retail food establishments seen in El Paso County. Plan reviews for new and/or extensively remodeled retail food facilities have increased in El Paso County from 221 plan reviews conducted in 2004 to 311 plan reviews completed in 2005.
• Static inventory inspectional workload (of 2,400 RFE facilities in El Paso County in 2005) will be redistributed among the environmentalists to assure a more equitable workload for each individual. It is the goal to inspect each retail food facility (with the exception of school kitchens and convenience stores) at least two times a year. School kitchens and convenience store facilities will be inspected once a year.
• Ninety families completed a state WIC customer survey in November 2005. The survey was conducted at all four clinic sites. Some highlights include:

88% reported having short waiting times for the WIC appointments.
97% reported that the WIC staff was pleasant and listened to their concerns.
Large numbers of clients reported learning to eat better, eating and drinking more dairy foods, and eating more fruits and vegetables.

10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.

• Provided a letter of support and offered in-kind services to the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments (PPACG) for grant funding through the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to complete a 3-year scientific study of the sources of E. coli in Fountain Creek. Fountain Creek may be listed in the near future as being impaired based on the high levels of E. coli found in the creek for the past few years. Tracking E. coli sources (stormwater, sewage, septic systems, different animal species, etc.) and determining methods to control E. coli levels that bounce to very high levels during storm events would be valuable tools for agencies to protect public health, control erosion, and improve land use plans.
• Collaborating with other health departments and the El Paso County Solid Waste Management Department on the 2006 Mercury Thermometer Collection Project, an initiative of the Colorado "Mercury-Free Colorado" campaign.
• Submitted the Senate Bill 94 grant for $106,479. This funding supports drug and alcohol counseling to reduce placement of delinquent youth in state operated detention centers.
• EPCDHE continued to work with state health on the intervention phase of a CDC funded study to increase booster seat use among 4-8 year olds. In December, 1,102 tote bags promoting booster seat use and containing information about the booster seat law were distributed to parents of 4-8 year olds at the intervention centers. Fifty-four booster seats were also distributed to parents who requested them.
• Staff prepared two grants for the December 30, 2005, deadline to the Office of Health Disparities for Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and Chronic Pulmonary Disease. The GAPS grant for select gynecological services for low-income women screened through other programs for $11,476 was resubmitted as it was not funded during the first round of CCPD. In addition, an application for $172,801 was submitted to develop an understanding of the context and causes of health disparities in low-income and minority neighborhoods and to bridge gaps in services.
• Nurse Family Partnership Program (NFP) has been approached by Teller County Department of Human Services to discuss an expansion of NFP services into their county. Additional discussions are planned for later in January. The NFP expansion grant is due to the State in early March.
• Maternal Child Health (MCH) staff is participating in the community School Readiness and Quality Child Care grant discussions. These grants will look at the early childhood system and incorporate the four domains: health, mental health, family support and early care and education. This new approach will be a major shift for the grants development process for the Alliance, since previous efforts have focused primarily on the early childhood education area.