Health Care Center Committee Meeting Minutes

DATE: September 2, 2004

PRESENT: Arthur Carlson; Larry Volz; Linda Borleske; Tom Bychinski, Paul Endres; Jeanne Leeck, Administrator; Lisa Buttonow, Business Manager; Ron Birdd, Environmental Services Manager was present for a portion of the meeting.

1. Called to order at 8:35a.m. by Art Carlson. The open meeting law requirements were met.
2. Motion by Borleske, second by Bychinski to adopt the agenda.
   Motion carried.
3. Motion by Bychinski, second by Borleske to approve the minutes of the previous two meetings. Motion carried.
4. Communications. Jeanne received a card from the Snyder Nursing Home congratulating us on our recent cite-free survey.
5. Public comment. Joel Gaalswyk spoke briefly to share and gather information regarding the HCC Building Project. State Senator Dale Schultz spoke on the important role that county nursing homes play in the lives of it's residents as well as the decreasing IGT funds and financial difficulties nursing homes will have in the near future. A guest spoke regarding the Tomorrow's World organization.
6. Update on history of the Health Care Center book. Mike Carignan updated the board on the book he is planning on writing on the history of the Health Care Center. The Health Care Center would receive a portion of the profits which could be put into the Benefit Fund Foundation for resident use. Jeanne will get back to Mr. Carignan to arrange another meeting.
7. Report on Laundry Worker's Recognition Week. Jeanne shared a written summary of the Laundry Department who will be honored the week of September 20. The laundry department has a total of 6 employees and is operational 7 days a week. They pick up soiled laundry from the floors, sort and wash it and then fold and hang it to return it to the floors. All personal clothing is marked to ensure that it is returned to the proper resident. Equipment and the work area also has to be kept clean. Linen is washed for other departments as well. A twice yearly linen inventory is done to maintain par levels of clean linen on each unit. In 2003 the department processed over 431,000 lbs. of laundry.

   Motion by Volz, second by Bychinski to approve Laundry Workers Recognition Week for the week of September 20.
   Motion Carried.

8. Discussion and Consideration of purchasing refrigerators. Ron discussed the need for the new refrigerators and reviewed the bids.

   Motion by Borleske second by Endres to accept the expenditure for purchase of new refrigerators.
   Motion carried.

9. Discussion and Consideration of purchasing beds. Ron discussed the bids for purchasing more hi low beds for the facility.

   Motion by Bychinski, second by Borleske to accept the expenditure for purchase of new hi low beds. Motion carried.

10. Discussion of future of Sauk County Health Care Center. General discussion of the recently defeated resolution and associated budget difficulties. Jeff Seering of the Reedsburg Independent indicated that he had contacted Corp. Counsel and was told that the resolution passed because the money was designated for this specific purpose. The Committee asked that a call be made to Corp. Counsel to clarify. Todd Liebman verified that it was his opinion that the resolution passed because the money was designated for a particular purpose. Committee felt that they should have been notified of this since it would impact their discussion at this meeting. Committee will compose a memo asking for specific questions from board members regarding the proposed building project which will be answered by the committee. Discussion of redoing the resolution and asking that less money be transferred. Clarification needs to be sent out that the resolution passed and copies of the Final Keefe Study shoud be made available to any board member who requests it.
11. Review and Consideration of increasing private pay rates for 2005. Jeanne explained that most nursing homes survey other area homes in October to gather rate information. Our rates are consistently lower than other local facilities.

    Motion by Endres, second by Borleske to increase private pay rates by 7% for 2005.
    Motion carried.

12. Review and consideration of recent donations. Jeanne read the donations received for last month.

    Motion by Bychinski, second by Borleske to approve the donations for August in the amount of $2,684.80.
    Motion carried.

13. Administrator's report. Jeanne indicated that we had a water problem in the building this past week and all staff worked together to clean up and solve the problem. Corn boil was held yesterday and was a great success. Residents and staff enjoyed the fresh sweet corn out on the patio. We are having Packer Days on a regular basis and staff are allowed to wear their packer shirts and jeans. Tailgate parties are also going on periodically with brat and hot dogs for sale for staff or provided for residents. Are doing more things as employee incentives such as arranging for discounted movie tickets (both adult and child) for staff to purchase.
14. Personnel Department Report. Katie reviewed the status of job vacancies and employee recruitment activities that have occurred over the past month. Proposed a market adjustment for RN staff to Personnel committee and it was approved. Also have agreed to adjust the supervisor differential upward. We are expecting that this will help with recruitment. We now have a full RN staff.
15. Review and Approval of Vouchers/Receipts Review. Lisa reviewed the invoices for this month. Items of interest were highlighted.

    Motion by Bychinski, second by Borleske to approve the invoices for the month in the amount of $144,377.11.
    Motion carried.

16. Review of Financial Statements. Lisa reviewed the financial statements for the month.
17. Business Office Report. Lisa reported that she has been focusing on AR for the past couple of weeks but expects to look more closely at the income statements for next month's meeting. Some billing problems still being corrected. The Melyx system is still not working for us and does not do what we need it to do. Ongoing difficulties which need to be addressed. May need to look into other options with MIS.
18. Next Meeting . October 7 at 8:30 a.m. and November 4 and December 2 at 9:00 a.m.

Motion by Bychinski, second by Volz to adjourn.
Motion carried.

Meeting was adjourned at 10:45
Repectfully Submitted: Linda Borleske, Secretary