April 7, 2009

Galveston County and Cities – Members of the Galveston County United Board of Health, and the 4C’s Governing Board recently approved the Galveston County Health District’s (GCHD) 2008 annual progress report. The report includes an executive summary, an evaluation of progress in accomplishing the strategic health plan for 2004- 2010, special reports on access to care, EMS, animal services, and an extensive report on the Health District’s response to Hurricane Ike.

According to Dr. Mark Guidry the District’s Chief Executive Officer, “the Strategic Health Plan has been an effective tool for focusing our efforts and for transforming the organization to better serve the residents of Galveston County." Since the plan was adopted, a majority of the goals have been accomplished.

In 2008, Hurricane Ike ended up being the greatest challenge faced by the Galveston County Health District in many years. The annual report provides details on actions taken by District staff responding to the public health needs of Galveston County and cities residents following Hurricane Ike.

There is also information on some of the longer-term consequences such as loss of access to healthcare for the uninsured. The GCHD 4C's clinic's, which see a large number of uninsured, have achieved a medical productivity that exceeds state and national averages for federally-qualified health centers, but challenges remain in obtaining specialty care referrals for indigent and uninsured patients who may no longer access such care at UTMB.

Finally, the annual report identifies the Health District's focus areas for 2009 and beyond. Some key areas which district staff will focus on include:

• Uninsured access to specialty care
• A changing EMS environment that has seen many impacts including fiscal deficits and other operations impacts as a result of Hurricane Ike
• Addressing new and emerging health threats through training and improving and modernizing Health District data systems
• Improve district facilities including animal shelter, Texas City 4C’s clinics, WIC clinics and others which hopefully will be addressed with funds from the passage of a bond issue in November 2008
• Recruit and retain qualified, competent staff for all District operations and programs
• Making local restaurant inspection scores available to the public on the District web site.

The first GCHD Strategic Health Plan was adopted in 2004 and provides specific priorities and goals in eight different areas. The eight priorities adopted in 2004 include: (1) public awareness, (2) access to care and health disparities, (3) business improvement, (4) healthcare financing, (5) management of chronic diseases, (6) environmental health, (7) senior health, and (8) immunization awareness. By 2010, the District will initiate a new strategic planning process, involving community stakeholders, to develop a second plan for the next decade, 2010-2020.

The complete 2008 report will be distributed to Galveston county and city elected officials as well as to health partners in the county. The report can also be found at www.gchd.org/admin/strattoc.htm. A copy of the Galveston Daily News story can be found here.

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