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The Council for Allied Health in North Carolina
November 2nd, 2005
9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
UNC General Administration Board Room, Chapel Hill

Council Member Attendees:
Judi Ashbaugh - NC Dept. of Health & Human Services, Office of Research, Demo., & Rural Health Dev.
 Diane Groff, Allied Health Professional Rep. Group 1, Dept. of Recreation and Leisure Studies
Thomas Bacon, Chair; Director, NC Area Health Education Kathryn Heilig, Chair, NC Hospital Association
Allison Bordeaux, Assoc. Direct., NC AHEC Allied Health Representative, Wake AHEC Karen Luken, Vice Chair, NC Office on Disability and Health
Alan Brown, Data Committee Chair; NC AHEC Program Martha Taylor, Allied Health Prof. Rep., NC Dental Hygiene Association
Rebecca Bullock, Allied Health Professional Rep, Group 3; NC Association of Blood Bankers Steve Thomas, UNC Systems Allied Health Programs Rep.
Wayne Foster, Allied Health Professional Rep, Group 2, NC Speech, Hearing and Language Association Vickie Whitaker, Dept. of Health and Human Services
Ned Fowler, Community College Allied Health Programs Rep., Asheville-Buncombe Tech. Community College Edna Williams, State Education Assistance Authority
Chastity Glover, NC Association of Health Care Recruiters  
Guests:
Diena Burton, Wake Med Health and Hospitals Brenda Mitchell, Carolinas College of Health Sciences
Rees Jenkins, Former Council Chair John Smith, NC Academy of Physicians Assistants
Lee McLean, Professor and Chair, UNC Allied Health Sciences Everette L. Witherspoon, Winston Salem State University
Page Michie, Carolinas Healthcare Systems  
I. Welcome & Introductions

Kathy Heilig, Chair of the Council, began the meeting. by welcoming participants to the annual Presidents’ Meeting.

II. Approval of September 7, 2005 Council Minutes

A motion was made and seconded to approve the September 7th Council Minutes. A voice vote was taken. The minutes were approved by voice vote.
III. Presentation

A presentation was made by Rene Sterling of the UNC Sheps Center entitled “Growth in Marketing and Sale of Genetic Services: Consumers, Regulations and Allied Health.” The presentation focused on the rise of the number of genetic tests and genetic related products in the wake of advances in genetic science. Sterling outlined the quality, utility, and regulation of genetic services and examined consumer interest in these services. The presentation was interspersed with considerations of the moral and ethical issues raised as a result of the availability of genetic services. It concluded with a consideration of how the rise in genetic services could impact allied health science professions.
IV. Business of the Council: Discussion and Action

Following the presentation, Chair Heilig proceeded with the business of the Council.

  1. Approve Guideline change to include representation of a “Professional Representative” to serve on the Council Executive Committee

    Heilig said that the current definition of the Executive Committee in the Council guidelines did not guarantee that all three constituents of the Council would be represented in the Executive Committee. She said that it was important that the Executive Committee have representation of the three core constituents of the Council, namely employers, educators and professional associations.

    Heilig then read the proposed change to the Council Guidelines:

    "Executive Committee: The Executive Committee membership consists of representatives from the three core constituents of the Council, namely employers, educators and professional associations. This representation may be through elected officers of the Council, who are members of the Executive Committee and or appointed At-Large members who will represent the three major constituents. Additionally, the Council's Government Liaison and Data Task Force Chair are members. An AHEC member shall be on the Executive Committee, but in cases where such a member is also an officer there will not be an additional representative. The Executive Director is an ex officio member."

    The motion to accept the change was put forward and seconded.
  2. Approve Professional Representative to the Executive Committee – Luken

    In light of the new definition of the constitution of the Executive Committee, Luken recommended Wayne Foster to the Executive Committee as the Professional Association Representative.

    A motion was then made to elect Wayne Foster the Professional Representative on the Executive Committee. The motion was seconded.
  3. Recognition of Allison Bordeaux’s service to the Council

    Heilig presented a certificate of appreciation to Allison Bordeaux for her two years of service to the Council as the Allied Health Representative for the AHEC Allied Health Directors.

    Before the break, Diane Groff asked for a point of procedure. She asked whether it was necessary to vote on the previously made motions so that they are actually approved. An actual vote on the motions had not taken place prior to this.

    Wayne Foster asked if a quorum was present in order to take a vote.

    Tom Bacon said that a quorum could be declared if there were no objections.

    Heilig then asked if there were any objections to declaring a quorum. There were none; a quorum was declared.

    Heilig then returned to the vote on the previously introduced change to the Guidelines regarding the Executive Committee. The measure to change the Guidelines was passed by a voice vote.

    Heilig then returned to the vote on accepting Wayne Foster as the Professional Association Representative on the Executive Committee. This motion passed by voice vote and Foster was approved to the position.

    The Council then took a fifteen minute break.
V. Reports

Upon returning from the break, Heilig said that Erin Fraher had made a presentation at the ASAHP National Conference in Houston, TX and that she would like to add Fraher to the Council reports list if there was no objection.

There was no objection and Heilig turned the floor over to Fraher.

Fraher said that she had attended the Associations of Allied Health Professions Meeting in Houston, TX. The Meeting is one of all the deans and directors of allied health programs from around the country and in Canada.

Fraher reported that at the first session panel that she attemded the chair held up a copy of the “State of Allied Health Report” and told panel members the web site they could go to get it. This made her realize that the Report had made quite a big impact nationally. Fraher said that she gave a talk on the State of Allied Health Report with a focus on how it had been made. She said that people at the conference were looking to the Council as a template and a model for local efforts they might make back home to form their own allied health council. Several conference members approached her and asked her to develop a primer on how The State Allied Health Report was made. Fraher said that her “pitch” was that you can not convince legislators to provide money in the state budget on allied health development unless you link allied health to economics and development. Fraher stated that the next step for the Council was the need to link the efforts of the Council to workforce economic development in these tight budgetary times. She said that this would be a way to show legislators that the Council was not asking for a handout but for an investment; an investment that will pay off.

Fraher said that she wanted to develop a primer that illustrates how to collect data about ones own professional association to produce workforce data. She said that such a primer could be put up on the Internet where links could be found to download data and instructions.

Steve Thomas commented that it might be useful to illustrate the economic development piece with data showing the economic impact of patients returning to work, the reduction in worker compensation benefits and the advantages of those who have been injured returning to work. Such a report could show the significant impact health care has on when people are reliant on care, not only in terms of work but in terms of independent living , recreation and so forth. Thomas suggested that a major component of what the Council does should be to show the overall economic impact of keeping people healthy and working and living independently. He said that the data relating high quality health care to time of employee absence and loss of productivity was out there.

Fraher agreed that data of this sort was available. She also said, however, that it is beyond the Sheps Center to pull together data like this currently. A bolstered research team, comprised of able masters or doctoral students would be able to pull data like this together and that it was all a question of getting the resources in place to hire such people.

Council Financial Statement – Alan Brown / Thomas Bacon

Brown stated that financially nothing had changed much since the last meeting. The Council has requested from Duke Endowment continuation funds and hopefully it would be able to get those in place by January 1st, 2006. A budget had been presented and matching funds had been asked for. Several organizations have contributed funds. Organizations that have not contributed but still want to can still do so. Such organizations are encouraged to speak to either Brown or Bacon to discuss how such contributions could be made.

Bacon said that the grant from the Duke Endowment will be substantially less than it had been in the past. This fact makes matching funds really essential for the ability of the Council to continue.

Bacon said that one of the areas that the Council did have to cut back on was some of its investment in workforce analysis. There is a small amount set aside for this but the amount we have to spend in this area will really be an issue as we go forward because of the importance of continuing some of these studies and being able to leverage other funds so that we can do them because we do not have as much money in the new Duke Endowment grant. Bacon said that when they seek new AHEC funding from the general assembly they will try to set aside some funds for the Council. Right now, however, these funds are not available so any additional matching funds that could be gained would be a great help.

Bacon continued by saying that our request for the Duke Endowment is for two years, with each year costing $70,000. He said that it was not clear whether the Council could make another run at state funding next summer with the short session or whether the Council would have to wait until the summer of 2007. In any event, he said, the Duke Endowment funding will carry the Council through this time. Hopefully in one of the next two years the Council will be successful in gaining some support from the General Assembly and find permanent funding for the Council; or money could continue to be put into the AHEC budget request.

Lee McLean, Chair of the Allied Health Science Department at UNC, commented that the current Duke Endowment money ran out sometime in the middle of April and that the Council could have been out of business. She said that the Council owed a lot to Tom Bacon and AHEC for finding some funds to keep the Council staffed.

Work Force Task Force Report – Alan Brown

Brown said that the operations of the Work Force Task Force is tied in with the budget, as has been stated. It is on hold until we find out about the funding. The model that the task force would like to continue with is the Job Vacancy Report.

Ned Fowler said that he wanted to strongly encourage increasing the number of disciplines and professions that are examined in the Vacancy Report. Some of these include the new disciplines that have been invited to the Council in the past year. Fowler said that the Council needed to show these new disciplines what the benefits of membership are.

Diane Groff said that she wanted to talk to the NC Recreational Therapy Association about including recreational therapy in the job analysis of the vacancy report. She also urged professional association Council members to go back to their associations and raise awareness of the fact that the Council is in need of money and to inform them how their association could contribute. Groff stated that she was just beginning to realize what she needed to do to be an advocate of the Council. She said that she was giving herself a mandate as a professional representative to get articles out in the newsletters about what the Council is doing and to inform her association of how they can benefit if they support the Council’s efforts. She concluded by saying that she appreciated Fowler’s comments about the Council be more inclusive to new disciplines in membership.

Erin Fraher said that the Sheps Center had added occupational therapists and recreational therapists to its health assessment data system. She cited this as an example of how the Sheps Center was expanding the number of health professions that they collect data on. She said that the Center’s research team was trying a multiple angled approach to tracking allied health professions.

Lee McLean posed the question of what kind of time frame would there have to be for next year’s [Vacancy] Report to add some other disciplines to the report. She also asked about the amount of money needed to produce next year’s report.

Brown responded that $25,000 had been allocated from the Duke Endowment per workforce study. He said that while this sounded good on paper, adding more disciplines could raise costs while the budget will be much less than it has been. In light of this, $20,000 to $25,000 per work force study was really cutting it close.

He added that it is not only expanding how many professions are covered but where the data is gathered from, whether it be from classified newspapers, web pages, or special journals. Here again, more expansive studies could translate into more expensive cost per study.

McLean commented that in understanding what it takes to get the necessary data, the professional associations and the University must all recognize how important these reports are and that the costs should be spread around.

Bacon said that the representatives of the Council could sit down with Fraher and her colleagues and talk about a time frame in which to have the [workforce] reports done, and get an estimate on what it would cost if the scope of these reports were to be expanded.

Bacon said that there was actually some other money available but that this was tricky because it is in the form of the Federal Workforce Grant that is in jeopardy with threats in Congress to cut funding for the program. Unfortunately, he concluded, the Council can not count on this federal funding to augment the work that the Sheps Center is doing.
VII. Round Robin
  • Martha Taylor of the NC Dental Hygiene Association said that the Association was concerned about the number of new dental hygiene programs in NC. Currently there are 11 programs operating in NC, 10 in community college settings and one at UNC-CH. In addition, one has been approved for Lee County and they have hired a director. It plans to accept its first class in the Fall of 2006. There is one additional program being discussed for Montgomery County.

    Taylor said that the Association had been hearing anecdotal accounts that many dental hygiene students upon graduating are unable to find part time or full time positions. She said the dental hygiene educators in North Carolina plan to meet with Martin Lancaster and discuss the situation.
  • Diane Groff, the Allied Health Professional Representative for Group 1, announced that the Therapeutic Recreation Licensing Board will be holding several town hall meetings to discuss the rules guiding the new legislation. The next meeting will be held at Dorthea Dix on Dec 8th from 6-8. She said that everyone is welcome to attend and to contact her if directions were needed.
  • Wayne Foster, of the NC Speech, Hearing and Language Association, reported that the Department of Public Instruction had provided him with data regarding the state's needs for speech/language pathologists. Foster said that there is a growing need for OTs, PTs, and SLPs in the public schools and that it appears as though the schools are almost in crisis mode yet again for these professionals. School systems are responding in a variety of ways to try and make the public schools more attractive. OTs, PTs and SLPs moving into the public schools are more than likely moving from health care settings. Thus, Foster said, the shortage seems to cycle back and forth from health care to schools to health care etc. Foster concluded by saying that he will be putting the data he received into an appropriate format and will ask to present the information to the Council.
  • Following these comments, Chair Heilig reminded the Council that their next meeting would be on January 4th, 2006 between 9:30am and 12:30pm at the UNC President’s Office Board Room.

With this, the meeting adjourned at 11:49am.

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