To see the healthcare providers survey, click here.

The Mayor’s Reviving The Renaissance Committee On Health & Human Services will meet at Biloxi Regional Medical Center on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 at noon.

The luncheon meeting will be held in the Nancy Harville Room located in the hospital cafeteria. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the committee you may contact Tim Mitchell at 436-1202 or 436-1104. Thank you. Please RSVP to Leslie.Johnson@brmc.hma-corp.com to confirm meeting attendance.

Mayor’s Reviving The Renaissance Committee

Health & Human Services

April 12, 2005

The Mayor’s Reviving The Renaissance Committee on Health & Human Services met on Wednesday, April 12, 2006, at Biloxi Regional Medical Center.  Mr. Tim Mitchell, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.  Present were:

Tim Mitchell, Chairman

Wallace Ann Austin

Robert Briscoe

Karen Brooks

Kelly Coleman

Lori Derouen

Suzette Duhe

Leslie Johnson

Pam McVey

Susan Morgan

David Morrow

Richard Schmidt, M.D.

Kathy Springer

Joan Strayham

Brenda Whitwell

Mr. Mitchell welcomed everyone to the meeting and self-introductions were made by all present.  Discussed were the following items:

I.                    Disaster Planning – Recommendations under consideration:

A. Designate a City representative to serve as liaison between Biloxi healthcare facilities and Mayor’s office.

B.  Before and during a disaster establish a Control Center at Biloxi Regional Medical Center manned by the City’s Medical Liaison and designated Biloxi Regional Medical Center personnel for coordinating citywide healthcare during disasters and to communicate needed medical information for the community to the media.   Prior to a known potential disaster the Control Center would be in contact with all healthcare entities in the City to obtain their contact and location information for during and after the disaster.  This Control Center, along with a designated satellite contact center outside the disaster affected area, would also act as a clearing-house for all healthcare volunteers coming into the community and coordinating assignment to the most appropriate areas.

C.     Establish two-way communication between healthcare facilities and Mayor’s Office during disasters.   Notation was made that most communication modalities failed during and immediately following Hurricane Katrina.  Recommendation was made to consider using ham radios which did function during the hurricane.

II.                  Special Needs Shelters – Recommendations under consideration:

A.     Approximately 10,000 special needs patients reside on the Gulf Coast.  To provide shelter for the special needs patients in Biloxi a special needs shelter should be established at Biloxi High School, staffed by an onsite manager and designated staff, including medical personnel.  Provisions should be made for better sanitary conditions and a generator and ample fuel should be onsite when shelter opens.

B.    Request special needs patients and their caretakers bring with them to the shelter their medications and medical supplies, food, water and bedding for at least three to five days.

Mayor’s Reviving The Renaissance Committee

Health & Human Services

April 12, 2005

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II.         Special Needs (Cont’d)

C.  Provide electrical access for medical equipment dependent special needs patients who can care for themselves but require electrical access for their medical equipment.

III.        Keesler Medical Center – Keesler Medical Center is scheduled to reopen tentatively by October 1, 2006.  Currently their outpatient clinics on base are open and operational.

IV.        Healthcare Workforce Retention

A.     Designate medical personnel as first responders following a disaster to insure that they receive needed support (temporary housing, gas, water, food) so that they may be available to staff medical facilities and provided needed medical care to the community.

B.    Have plan to provide childcare for healthcare workers following disaster.

V.        Healthcare Workforce Development

A.  Because the three colleges on the Coast providing nursing programs sustained various degrees of damage and may not be able to offer complete training programs until they can repair or relocate their facilities, establish a temporary nursing school on the Coast for a period of four years.  Other temporary training programs would also include training for physical therapists, pharmacists, and radiology, cardiopulmonary and lab technicians.  Investigate potential grants that may be available to help fund-training programs.

B.  Develop program to train people on unemployment rolls for non-medical positions in healthcare (housekeeping, maintenance, dietary, clerical).

C.  Biloxi Regional Medical Center currently offers twelve full nursing scholarships for students who contract to work at the hospital following graduation.  Encourage other medical facilities to establish like scholarship programs to help train qualified medical personnel who will stay in the area.

VI.               Healthcare Questionnaire – To assist the committee in their future discussions and recommendations, the committee devised a healthcare questionnaire that will be sent to all medical facilities/providers in the area.

The next committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 3, 2006, at 12:00 noon at Biloxi Regional Medical Center.

 

Timothy W. Mitchell

Chairman