County Board Actions: Money for Pediatric ICU and Cancer Clinic

(The following news release came from Hennepin County.)

County Board Actions includes summaries of only a portion of the total actions of the board, selected for general news interest. For complete information on all resolutions and actions by the board, see the information on the last page.

Board approves $9.85 million in improvements for HCMC Pediatric ICU and Cancer Clinic

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners approved $9.85 million in capital improvements for Hennepin County Medical Center’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and the Cancer Clinic.

While HCMC is independently governed by Hennepin Healthcare System, Inc., HHS bylaws require board approval of capital expenditures when a project cost is greater than 1 percent of budgeted health system revenues.

The improvements include:

• $6.9 million to remodel the PICU – the last in a series of upgrades for all of the hospital’s ICUs. HCMC is a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center and the new PICU will be a state-of-the-art facility with space for patients and their families to heal together. The new ICU will include nine private rooms with space to meet the complex critical care needs of patients, with plenty of room for the equipment and staff support needed to provide care in a healing environment.
• $2.95 million in improvements to expand the Cancer Center and relieve capacity constraints at one of the hospital’s busiest clinics. The new space will almost double the number of exam rooms and add patient and family counseling rooms for the many support programs available to patients and their families. The new design will allow for interdisciplinary care teams to respond to the needs of patients. Expansion will improve surroundings for current patients, and allow new patient growth.

The funding for the improvements will come from HHS’ operating budget and no county financing is required. The $9.85-million capital request is part of the overall 2012 budget approved by the HHS and County Board last fall.

Project aimed at expanding job opportunities, reducing dependency on county services  

To expand economic opportunities for residents of north Minneapolis and reduce dependency on county services, the board authorized $150,000 for Sanctuary Community Development Corporation to act as fiscal agent for a Dependency Reduction Project.

Sanctuary participates in the Northside Community Response Team, which was created to provide tornado relief to northside residents after the May 22 tornado and is now expanding its work to address the area’s long-term challenges of poverty and dependency. Sixty-eight percent of the residents in north Minneapolis receive financial, social service or child support services through the county. The Dependency Reduction Project will plan for strategies to reduce dependency of North Minneapolis households on county services through expansion of economic opportunity.

The project will:

• Assess and collect data to identify entry points into accessible industries.
• Determine recipients' readiness to gainful employment and identify institutional, operational and environmental barriers to the same.
• Identify career paths that are most accessible to the pool of clients most likely to succeed in such career paths.

The project will bring a plan back to the board for discussion and consideration of possible action.

Program provides job training to County Home School residents

The board approved an agreement with East Side Neighborhood Services (ESNS) to provide job training for up to 32 residents of the Hennepin County Home School – the county’s residential treatment center for juveniles.

CHS provides job training to help residents find jobs when they leave CHS. The vocational programs are just one component of the treatment plan for residents.

ESNS provides training programs in safe food handling certification and forklift/bobcat operator certification. Both programs meet industry standards. Residents must be 18 years old to participate in the forklift training; the food service program is open to younger residents. The training gives participants a better chance of finding employment in the food service industry; and in warehousing, construction, landscaping/grounds-keeping and related fields.

Over the past two years, 22 CHS residents completed classes and received certification in the two programs. In 2012, some 20 residents will participate in safe food handling certification, and 10 in forklift/bobcat operator certification.

Funding will provide wheelchair ramps and lead abatement

The board, acting as the county Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HCHRA), approved an agreement with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency for $150,000 in funding for modular ramps and steps for people who use wheelchairs; and $160,720 for lead-based-paint abatement.

The county’s Home Accessibility Ramp Program will use the funds to build approximately 37 modular ramps or low-riser steps (average cost of $4,000) for low-to-moderate-income homeowners. The program has been a cost-effective way to help people with disabilities in wheelchairs get to work and be able to stay in their homes, which are made more accessible by adding the ramps and stairs.  

The Lead-Safe Rehabilitation Assistance Project provides deferred loans to remove lead-based- paint hazards. Lead poisoning is the No. 1 environmental health threat to children and is entirely preventable. Hennepin has the largest number of children with elevated blood lead levels among all Minnesota counties. The funding will help up to 20 low-to-middle-income homeowners remove lead from their homes.  Funding will be available to all of Hennepin, but is targeted at areas in north and south Minneapolis that have a high history of elevated blood lead levels, poverty and older housing stock.

Volunteers appointed to citizen advisory boards

The board appointed or reappointed the following residents to citizen advisory boards:

• Sandy Johnson of St. Louis Park and Therese VanBlarcom of Rogers were  reappointed to the Library Board.
• Orin Scandrett of Minneapolis, Martha Lantz of Bloomington, Robert Reedy of Farmington, and Sharon Witt of Lakeland were reappointed; and Gregory Truchinski of Wayzata, Barry Peterson, Patricia Coal and Susan O’Neill of Minneapolis, Atashi Acharya of Golden Valley, and Anissa Beasley of Brooklyn Park were appointed to the Adult Mental Health Local Advisory Board. Galen Johnson of Long Lake was appointed as alternate.

For more information on advisory boards and to apply online, go to the Hennepin County website – www.hennepin.us/volunteering.

Indicating a measure has passed the board does not imply a unanimous vote. The actions of the Hennepin County Board, including a record of how individual commissioners voted, are posted under “Hennepin County Board Meetings” on the front page of the Hennepin County website – www.hennepin.us. This portion of the site includes agendas, minutes and resolutions for all committee and full board meetings. Also, from time to time, individual commissioners may post their own viewpoints, news and information on their own websites.

If you’d like to watch committee and full board meetings, they are generally broadcast live on Tuesdays, beginning at 1:30 p.m., and rebroadcast the Friday following the meeting, beginning at 8 p.m., on Metro Cable Network/Channel 6.
Meetings also are streamed live on the Hennepin website. Look under “Hennepin County Board Meetings,” “Board meeting videos.” Archived videos of past meetings also are available on that site.