DeKalb County Community Mental Health Board
245 West Exchange Street, Sycamore, Illinois 60178

May 18, 2009

                                Approved

Board Members Present: Cynthia Luxton, Eileen Dubin, Bob Krogman,

                                             Donna Schoenfeld, Doug Fraley, Thomas Kirts, John Rogalin                        

Board Members -Excused Absence: Charles Rose

Board Members - Absent:  None

Other Persons Present:  Barry Schrader

Office Staff Present:  Kathy Ostdick                                                                          

1.  CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Kirts, at 7:02 p.m.

2.  AGENDA

Ms. Dubin moved to approve the agenda; seconded by Mr. Rogalin. 
The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

3.  INTRODUCTIONS

There were no introductions at this time.

4.  MINUTES 

Mr. Krogman moved to approve the amended minutes of the April 2009 Board meeting; seconded by Ms. Schoenfeld. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

5.  COMMUNITY INPUT

Barry Schrader passed out a copy of the Daily Chronicle picture of Dr. Kirts.  Mr. Schrader reported that he was invited to the May 11^th NAMI-DKK board meeting.  Mr. Schrader said the NAMI board asked him to attend to explain what was happening in our county.  The NAMI board told him that if the Community Mental Health Board doesn’t support in-patient mental health services in DeKalb County, Barry “is dead”.  NAMI said that the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board would look to the Community Mental Health Board to see what they have done.  Barry asked again for our Board to please take a stand.  Mr. Schrader also stated that the Planning Board may be getting some new appointees, but is concerned that if new people are appointed before July 15^th, that they will not have enough time to read all the material about the hospital closing.  NAMI said that the Planning Board usually goes along with staff recommendations.

Ms. Dubin added that it is important to take up this subject again because when she brought it up to the County Board, they said that the Mental Health Board should be making a recommendation.  She will be asking the Board for a vote to ask the Hospital to keep the unit open and at the same time to have a taskforce that will look at ways of resolving the problem.  Mr. Rogalin said that this subject is on the agenda under Old Business and will be discussed later.

Dr. Kirts believes that we should vote on a statement but we can talk about it later in the meeting.  

Mr. Fraley arrived at 7:10 and will take over the meeting.

The Community Assessment presentation by Joel Cowen and Jim Powers is being moved up to this position.  Mr. Cowen will discuss the community analysis section of the assessment.  This segment brings together available secondary information from a variety of sources describing the need for and use of mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability services.

Mr. Fraley pointed out that some of the in-patient discharge figures did not coincide with numbers that the public had been hearing from the hospital in discussions regarding the closing of the behavioral health care unit.  Mr. Cowen did point out that the numbers that he presented were from 2007.

Mr. Powers gave a presentation on focus group interviews that included homeless, mental health consumers, substance abusing persons, teens, veterans, and others.  Jim pointed out that several groups said that finding resources was difficult.  They knew that there were services out there, but did not know how to find them.  Groups rated cost and continuity as major concerns.  Even with sliding fee scales, cost is still an issue.  An immediate follow-up visit after an emergency room visit or in-patient visit is important and is not always available, especially for medication follow-up.  Teens felt that medication was used too often and that other interventions should be offered first.  Teens also pointed out that the side effects of medication were often not taken into consideration fully.  Groups stated that during an emergency situation they could see a psychiatrist, but during stressful situations or deep depression episodes, they were not able to see a psychiatrist in an appropriate time frame.  Groups also pointed out that they were able to see a counselor at the Gordon Center for a first visit in a short period of time, but that subsequent appointments were not readily available.

Ms. Luxton arrived at 7:30 and will take over the meeting.

6.  CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ms. Ostdick pointed out a letter from Jason Nicol of the Youth Service Bureau, thanking the Board for the opportunity to explain their new Alternative to School Suspension program at the last board meeting.

7.  FINANCE REPORTS

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the May2009 agency claims in the amount of $162,659.62; seconded by Mr. Krogman.  The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the May 2009 office claims in the amount of $11,580.72; seconded by Dr. Kirts. The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

8.  BOARD MEMBER ISSUES

There were no board member issues at this time.

9.  OFFICE REPORT

The request for $435 for support of a program from the Association for Individual Development that was approved at the April board meeting has been cancelled by AID.

10.  COMMITTEE REPORTS

Executive Committee: 

The Executive Committee did not meet.

Finance Committee:  Ms. Luxton stated that the Finance Committee discussed the Safe Passage funding request and will be recommending to the Board to fund this program but to send a letter to them stating that funding for GY11 may be in danger.  Also funding for psychiatry for the Gordon Center was also discussed.  The committee had asked for more information from BGC but that is still not as complete as was hoped. 

11.  OLD BUSINESS

A.  Gordon Center Psychiatry:  Included in the Board binder is a letter from Mr. Flora requesting funding for Dr. Mahmood, a letter from Dr. Mahmood stating that she would like to remain at BGC, the Gordon Center Financial Reduction Plan, the Gordon Center Retrenchment Plan, and the Gordon Center plans for 2009 and 2010 for Psychiatry and Advanced Practice Nurses.  Psychiatry retention at the Gordon Center is a concern for the Board.  After a lengthy discussion, the Board decided to approve up to $75,000 funding for Dr. Mahmood’s salary support, to be billed to the CMHB on a monthly basis.

B.  Safe Passage Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence program: The Board reviewed the supporting paperwork that was submitted after the April Board meeting.  Ms. Luxton said that the number of employees at Safe Passage concerns her.  After additional suggestions from Board members, it was decided to approve the request for the medical on-call program, but to include in a letter that funding for GY11 may need more data.

C.  Vote on GY10 Allocations:  The Board reviewed GY10 allocations.

Ms. Luxton moved to approve the GY10 Allocations as printed below to be taken out of line item 8201 and 8205; seconded by Mr. Fraley.  The motion passed on a roll call vote.

D.  Discussion of a resolution regarding the closing of the behavioral health unit: Mr. Fraley pointed out that support for the unit remaining open is overwhelming, but is wondering what can happen if the hospital does close.  Dr. Kirts said that it is confusing as to when the unit was closed and if it is still open.  Each board member was asked for his/her position on the closing of the health care unit.  All in attendance this evening are in favor of taking the position of asking the hospital to keep the behavioral health care unit open.

Mr. Fraley moved to send a letter to the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board to express our opposition to the closing of the Kishwaukee Community Hospital Behavioral Health Care Unit; seconded by Ms. Dubin.  The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

12.  NEW BUSINESS

There was no new business this month.

13.  NEXT BOARD MEETING:  6/15/09 in Sandwich at Open Door.

14.  CLOSED SESSION

There was no need for a closed session.

15.  ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. by consensus.

Respectfully submitted,

_____________________________________                 _________________________________

Cynthia Luxton, Vice President                                                Kathy Ostdick, Recording Secretary

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