Polk County Public Health provided an update to the County Commissioners that they have completed their Tuberculosis Risk Assessment and updated the Infection Control Plan. The Minnesota Department of Health recommended the County update their risk assessment said Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese. “We work closely with our local and regional medical providers, our clients and patients as well as the tuberculosis unit at the Minnesota Department of Health,” said Reese. “As part of that partnership, we have updated our risk assessment and infection control plan.”
Polk County is considered at low-risk for tuberculosis according to the risk assessment says, Reese. “The risk assessment is based on active tuberculosis, which is cases that are symptomatic,” said Reese. “There are two types, active and latent tuberculosis. We had two cases of active tuberculosis in 2017, so our county is considered at low-risk. As a result, we reviewed and updated our internal infection control plan in terms of our preparedness to respond to active tuberculosis. That includes staff training, education and how we do our work around tuberculosis.”
Polk County’s two cases represent 1.1 percent of the 178 reported cases statewide. Minnesota had an average of 3.2 cases per 100,000 population, while the national average is 2.8 cases per 100,000 population.
Polk County Commissioners heard a proposal for service from Jean McGann with Abdo, Eick & Meyers LLLP on Financial Solutions to upgrade and possibly simplify the county’s accounting structure by integrating on enterprise-wide system explains County Administrator Chuck Whiting. “We’re talking with a consultant evaluating our financial systems, software and some of our processes working with staff and the board. We’ll follow up in February with some action options and see where we go from there.” The County is considering a change in their current processes to make sure they set themselves up with an up to date system. “We are always looking to improve and better the work that we do,” said Whiting. “We have a good staff in place right now that I think we can capitalize on by improving some our systems and set the county up well for a couple of decades to come.”
The County also set the annual County Board of Appeal and Equalization hearing for Tuesday, June 18 at 6:00 p.m. and approved contracts for Social Services with Northwest Mental Health Center for $470,000 paid through grants and with Altru Health System on a 72-hour Interstate Hold Agreement for treatment of mental illness.
The Polk County Sheriff’s office also submitted their November and December incident logs. In November the sheriff’s office recorded 2,918 logged incidents, with the most common being traffic stops (555), civil process, serving court documents, (266) and medical calls (117). In December they logged 2,769 incidents with the most common being traffic stops (551), civil process (210) and medical calls (112).
