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Commissioners Hear Staff Reports; ARC Awards Mtn. Laurel $250,000

courtesy Republican News


Aug. 28, 2008

The Garrett County commissioners held their monthly staff meeting on Tuesday, hearing reports from 10 departments and agencies. Topics discussed this month included Mountain Laurel Medical Center, Technical Training Center, Health Department grant awards, and Ruth Enlow Library donations.
Community Action

Garrett County Community Action Committee president Duane Yoder announced that the Mountain Laurel Medical Center has been awarded a $250,000 Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant. The funding will be used to purchase equipment.

Yoder called the grant "a great boost" for the project as capital funding had been a little short.

The center's staff is currently working at its tentative location at the Regional Eye Associates building, located along Memorial Drive, Oakland. The Mtn. Laurel Medical Center is being constructed across the road near the Garrett County Health Department.

Yoder noted that the new center was about 50 percent completed and may be finished sometime in January.

"The plan is when we get it built, we'll turn it over in a turnkey fashion to Mtn. Laurel," Yoder said.

The center is a federally qualified facility that provides health services to area residents regardless of their ability to pay.

The ARC grant will assist in the acquisition of telemedicine equipment that will be used in diagnostic services. Equipment will include work stations, computer software, white boards, monitors, X-ray displays, exam room equipment and telephone upgrades. The new equipment will be used in diagnostic applications for approximately 40 patients in the first year of operation. The health center will create one new position to manage the diagnostic services and patient records, according to Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin.

Yoder also told the commissioners that construction of the Grantsville Center is on schedule and that Community Action hoped to open it in January. Construction of the Liberty Square housing project in Oakland for senior citizens, however, has been delayed because of rain.

"So, we're a couple months behind with that," Yoder said.

Economic Development

Assistant director Frank Shap, Economic Development, reported that a bid award would be presented in late September or early October to an architectural/engineering company to design the Technical Training Center. The educational facility will be located in the old Phenix Technologies facility in Accident.

Shap noted that his department is managing the initiative, but the Board of Education and Garrett College are its determining bodies.

Commissioner Fred Holliday asked what types of vocational training would take place in the center.

Shap indicated that the Board of Education and Garrett College would decide the curriculum, based on the immediate and future needs of students and businesses. Initial plans, however, call for Garrett College to move its welding program into the center.

Other classes have not yet been determined, but could include nursing, automotive, and machine tool, the assistant director noted.

He said the winning architect will be instructed to design the facility in such a way as to allow for a wide range of trades to be taught at the facility, along with classrooms.

Health Department

Health officer Rodney Glotfelty, Garrett County Health Department, reported that Maryland's TMHAR (Trauma, Mental Health, Addiction, and Recovery) program had received a national award from the Federal Agency for Drug and Alcohol Addictions. The GC Health Department is one of only seven sites in Maryland that participates in the program, which works in conjunction with the Maryland Parole and Probation Office.

There are currently 33 clients in the local program, but up to 53 persons may participate each year. The purpose of the initiative is to link addicts with treatment and mental health services to try to cut back on the numbers of persons who return to jail after they have served their sentences.

"We've been really successful with that program in Garrett County," Glotfelty said. He noted that of the clients who go through the local program, 60 percent do not return to jail. The state average of people in this category, he said, is about 20 percent.

Glotfelty also reported that the Health Department had received a Maryland Victims of Crime Grant from the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention. The funds will be used for a forensic nurse examination program.

The health officer noted that prior to this grant being awarded, women who had been raped had to travel to Cumberland to be examined. But now, through a partnership with Garrett County Memorial Hospital, the Health Department will be able to provide examines in Oakland for sexual assault victims.

He said two Health Department nurses, Christy Cameron and Heather Cooper, have completed the necessary training and are credentialed by the Maryland Board of Nursing to conduct the examinations.

"The grant will also enable these two individuals to become certified to perform pediatric examinations," Glotfelty noted.

The health officer also reported that the governor has allocated $15 million in the state budget for a local Small Business Insurance Program, which targets businesses that employ between two and nine individuals.

The funding will pay 50 percent of the health insurance costs for those companies if they currently do not provide it for their employees. The remaining 50 percent of the cost would be the responsibility of the companies and/or their employees.

Glotfelty said the program will go through the Maryland Insurance Commission and insurance brokers. He added that the Health Department and Chamber of Commerce would have more information about the initiative next week.

Because of the limited amount of funding, the health officer noted, sign up for the insurance program will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Ruth Enlow Library

Director Cathy Ashby reported that the Ruth Enlow Library has received donations in memory of Barbara McIntyre. As a result, a new bench for the outside of the library will purchased, Ashby said, and possibly some large-print books.

The library has also received a donation from the John Martin estate. That money will be used for outside repairs at the Oakland library and entryway improvements at the Accident branch, Ashby noted.

The director also noted that the terms of two library board members would soon expire.

"So, we'll be looking for new members for the Oakland and Kitzmiller areas," she said.

At the conclusion of her report, Ashby presented the commissioners with budgetary information from the state librarian and the director of the state library agency. Libraries across Maryland have suffered about $7 million in cuts during the last couple of years, Ashby said.

She also presented a news article from last week's Daily Record, projecting a large state budget deficit.

"But we're keeping our fingers crossed at the state level," Ashby said about funding.


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Posted by Cute at 8:10 PM

Labels: Appalachian Regional Commission, mountain laurel medical center, ruth enlow library