MN HIV Services Planning Council
Meeting Minutes for January 14, 2003
Division of Indian Work

 

 

I.       Welcome and introductions; lighting of the candle

Sarah called the meeting to order at 12:40.  Introductions were made.

 

II.     Review the minutes and proposed agenda

Sarah R. shared that this meeting will be streamlined a bit.  At its most recent meeting the Executive Committee decide that committee reports could be written and distributed before the Executive Committee meetings.  Then, if a participant had questions about a committee report they could ask their question at the meeting.  If the committee had an action item or wanted to discuss the committee’s work they could schedule time on the agenda.  This process will also be used for the Planning Council meeting today due to time constraints. 

The minutes from the December meeting were passed by unanimous consent.  Today we are discussing the statewide plan – we will be spending about two hours on this issue.  If we don’t have consensus at this meeting we will open the discussion up for further consideration at our February 11^th meeting.  A joint meeting with the Task Force will be held on February 26^th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at All God’s Children.  The Planning Council will ask the Executive Committee to attend, but any Planning Council member with an interest is also invited. Sarah R. then reviewed the process for discussing the statewide plan.  The proposed agenda was approved by unanimous consensus.

 

III.   Open forum

Roger Ernst from RAAN introduced guests:  Steve from southeastern Minnesota, Marlin from southwestern Minnesota and Jerry from southeastern Minnesota.  Steve began by sharing that he was a former member of the Planning Council.  He wanted to assure the Planning Council that there are people living with HIV/AIDS in greater Minnesota and he is disappointed that we haven’t done more about getting to know that.  He would like to encourage us to regionalize because he feels it would be helpful for those living in greater Minnesota.  Marlin then spoke – he expressed his concerns about the difficulty he has getting case management and transportation services.  He feels it would be nice if PLWH/A in Greater MN were recognized and their needs better understood.  Jerry then echoed the words of the others who spoke.  He said there were many hurdles that he had to cross to find the services available. 

 

Bob Tracy then introduced himself as a forum participant and said he was also one of the three chairs of the group that worked on the statewide plan.  He began by giving a bit of background to the project.  About half of the current Planning Council members participated in the retreat in which the issue of a statewide work group was developed. The statewide and linkage work groups took on bigger mandates than could be handled in regular PC committees.  The statewide work group didn’t reach a point where they had unanimous approval of the plan, but there was a lot of hard work done.  He asked that we honor what got us to this point and to honor the work that was done.  He encouraged the conversation and said it was now the Planning Council’s job to consider the recommendations.  He said that from his perspective the worse case scenario was not to do anything.

 

Jim Huber then began by introducing himself as the Director of DHS.  He feels the work the statewide group has done is incredible.  He added that many of DHS’ services are statewide.  He stated that DHS’ main concern is to make sure insurance and drugs are provided to all in the state.

 

Coral then spoke - she is from northern Minnesota.  She reiterated much of what the others speakers from southern Minnesota have said.  She added that she appreciates the work of the workgroup.

 

IV.             Co-chair update

Sarah R. said that at the request of some Planning Council members we would now use a visual as well as verbal vote.  She reminded the group that they are open to any and all input about ways to make meetings more efficient.  She requested that members please keep the Co-chairs informed by filling out the meeting evaluations saying the evaluations are considered very seriously.

 

Today the Planning Council is going to discuss planning for service availability and delivery in Greater MN.  It will continue to discuss this until the membership is comfortable with it – regardless of how long it takes.  If that means it is necessary to continue the discussion to another meeting that can be done.

 

V.       Legislative update - Bob Tracy, MAP

Sarah R. said it was a difficult decision to make time on the agenda for the legislative update but the Executive Committee decided it was worth it.

 

Bob passed out goody bags for everyone.   He began by reviewing the legislative action agenda that MAP has developed for this year.  He continued by sharing the activities that MAP is involved in.  He said he didn’t think there was going to be a tremendous impact on currently funded HIV specific programs – but clarified that newly elected officials are working on the changes to larger systems, like general medical assistance, which will have a huge impact on those who are infected/affected.  We need to use this opportunity to point out our public opinion about reducing health and social service programs.  He then said there would also be an attack on basic state laws regarding the human rights act.  MAP will be working to protect those rights.  Another area in which MAP will be proactive is health data privacy.  There are no health data privacy protections in place in the workplace situations for example, when an individual must tell an employer about necessary accommodation, etc., unlike in medical data records.

 

He then passed out sign up sheets for MAP advocate and encouraged people to sign up.  He then asked for questions and/or comments.  Jonathan said it is important for everyone, especially those in greater Minnesota, talk to your legislators to let them know what the needs are for PLWH/A.  Bob added that we need to be clear about our statewide goals because we are talking about state funding – we need to deliver a clear, concise message about the goals that have been established for the whole community.  If those in greater Minnesota don’t make their voices heard then legislators won’t vote for the needs of those they represent.  AIDS Action Day is February 24^th – a great opportunity to go to the Capitol and talk to the legislators.  We don’t have many people from the suburbs going – 30% of new cases are from the western metro area.

 

VI.     Title I update - Jonathan Hanft

Jonathan passed out a written update.  As he’s said in the past, we probably won’t get the funding we hope for, but will receive flat funding.  Since the award will be late he is going forward with the figures from last year.  The Title I staff is currently working on revising contracts.  Contracts for carryover funds have been done – the community should be seeing the fruits of those efforts soon.  Tomorrow Title I will be releasing an RFP for the corrections systems development that was prioritized by the Planning Council.  A position is open for the Title II contract manager, which closes on January 19th so hopefully the position, will be filled soon.

 

VII.   Title II update - Jeff Buckles  

Jeff shared that Project Ujima, formerly known as the ORR (Office of Refugee Resettlement) grant, will focus on the Oromo, Somali and Ethiopian communities.  Lori Lippert is currently writing the Title II grant application.  Information about upcoming case management training and HIV/HEP C training will be distributed when it's available.  Mary Halvorson has moved into the position of eligibility specialist.  He then passed out a NASTAD report, which is an ADAP funding alert report for people to review on their own time.  The good news is that our state is not listed on this report – our goal is to stay off the list.

 

VIII.    Statewide plan discussion process

Paul then asked members to go around the table and mention their current thoughts about the plan.  Mary Doyle passed out criteria that we will be using for decision making as the discussion progresses.  Members then gave their feedback and added several criteria to the list. Planning Council members then prioritized the criteria as A, B or C.

 

All participants broke into four small groups to have further discussion about the plan.  At the end of the small group discussion each groups’ recorder shared some of the results of their discussion.  There was not enough time to do this for each group, so Paul said we would compile the information, send it out to everyone and bring it back to the February meeting for discussion.  Dave asked that the results be sent out as soon as possible so members could review them and have a chance for dialogue.  Sarah said this could be considered a practice run.  The Planning Council will reconvene next month for full discussion and a decision making process.

 

IX.     Meeting Evaluation

Sarah asked everyone to fill out meeting evaluation forms.

 

X.                Announcements, next agenda

Tracy Sides said there will be a mailing with information about small pox, information will also be available on the website.

 

Documents distributed at or before the meeting:

·        Agenda

·        December 10, 2002 meeting minutes

·        Task Force and Planning Council Reaction to Statewide Recommendations

·        Statewide discussion components and small group discussion sheet for consensus

·        MAP goody bag

·        Title I update outline

·        NASTAD ADAP funding watch

·        Criteria for decision making for the Planning Council’s statewide plan discussion process

 

MOTION:  David moved Linda seconded adjournment of the meeting.

 

Adjourned at 3:30 p.m.