[3:12] Good afternoon. We'd like to call the September 2026 meeting of the McLean

[3:17] County Board of Health Committee to order.

[3:20] Taking a look at roll call, it looks as if all members are present except for

[3:24] member Tompkins.

[3:30] Giving us a quorum for today's meeting. Moving on to the consent agenda,

[3:35] we have two items, the minutes from last month and the payment of bills and

[3:38] transfers in the amount of $1,230,763.44.

[3:45] May I have a motion? Motion by Hanson, second by Farley.

[3:49] Those in favor? >> Aye.

[3:50] » Aye. >> Those

[3:53] Motion passes. Uh moving on to appearances by members of the public and

[3:56] county employees. Do we have anybody appearing today?

[3:59] » Chair Byrne, we've had no requests this evening.

[4:00] » Thank you very much. Moving on to item four, we have a guest today from Synergy

[4:05] Home Care. Uh thank you for coming out. Uh Kim

[4:09] Pallett, uh please let us know what your agency's about.

[4:12] » Absolutely. Thanks for inviting us. So, I'm Kim Pallett with Synergy Home Care.

[4:17] If you aren't familiar with us, we provide home care services wherever

[4:20] people call home and people of any age. Um I always like

[4:24] to say that we're most associated with senior care. We actually take care of

[4:29] people from birth through end of life. Um and then wherever they call home is

[4:34] because most people want to age in place in their home. However, we know that um

[4:39] that's not always possible for safety reasons and maybe just declining health

[4:43] reasons. And so, we do go into facilities and care for people there as

[4:47] well. So, um what we can provide. We provide

[4:51] everything from companion care to homemaker care all the way up to

[4:56] personalized care. Just to give some examples of that,

[5:00] um our companion care might be coming and playing a game with someone, um

[5:05] visiting with them. You know, we we only really require one

[5:09] 3-hour shift a week. A lot of people are lonely. So, we can

[5:13] come out, sit with them, tidy up their house a little bit, um visit with them,

[5:18] play a game, do a puzzle, challenge them a little bit, maybe take them outside,

[5:22] do a walk. Uh the homemaker care is going to be

[5:26] more of maybe meal prep. We can go out and get the groceries or take the client

[5:30] with us. Um do a little more light housekeeping

[5:33] around the house, do their laundry, take their garbage cans to the curb, bring

[5:38] them back up. Just things so that we can allow them to remain independent in

[5:42] their home. And then that personalized care is going

[5:45] to be more of your full-full on they need help um um bathing, toileting,

[5:51] maybe feeding, um hospice end-of-life care. We work in

[5:55] conjunction with hospice and home health. Um and so those are kind of the

[5:59] levels of care that we we provide. I like to tell people though we don't have

[6:05] contracts. It's an agreement. So maybe somebody had knee replacement surgery

[6:10] and they need help for 6 to 8 weeks. That's something we can absolutely do.

[6:14] Come into the home, help them get back on their feet, go through their PT

[6:18] exercises, and recover a little bit quicker so that then we can move on and

[6:23] they're happy that they they can go about their life. Um we do medical

[6:27] transportation as well. So if somebody needs to have their eyes dilated and

[6:31] can't drive home, it's just a one-time visit and we'll take them to their

[6:35] appointment, wait, bring them back home, make sure they're settled. Um

[6:39] colonoscopies, you know, I think most of us in the room are at that age. Uh and

[6:43] so if you need a driver for that, things that would be out outpatient surgery, we

[6:48] can help with those as well. So I think, you know, sometimes people don't realize

[6:52] that if you're by yourself, you might just need um somebody to help you out

[6:56] for a little bit while you recover from that surgery you had. Um

[7:01] we do accept private pay. We are in-network credentialed with the

[7:06] VA and we work with long-term care insurance. So those are our main um

[7:11] sources of payment. Um we we don't accept Medicare, but there are other

[7:16] places in town who do. And so we encourage people to give us a call. We

[7:21] have a resource book at our office. Uh we've been here in Bloomington for 13

[7:25] years. Um I know overall our Bloomington office is our largest of the four

[7:30] offices that we serve between Bloomington, Normal, Champaign, Decatur,

[7:33] and Springfield. Um we serve about 3,000 hours a week just in Bloomington-Normal

[7:38] territorial alone with our clients. Give us a call. We'll be your resource. If we

[7:43] cannot help you, we promise we will guide you in the right direction so

[7:46] you're not making 50 calls to try and figure out the best way to go. Um if you

[7:51] are interested or know somebody who needs help, call us. Uh we'll talk it

[7:57] through on the phone and then what we'll do is come into your home and do a no

[8:01] obligation free assessment. And that's where we kind of meet the client and or

[8:05] family members if they need to be there and then um we do a safety check of the

[8:10] home. A safety check means do we have thick rugs that somebody could trip over

[8:15] maybe when they're recovering for surgery or they have a walker and

[8:18] shouldn't have thick rugs in their home. Maybe they need grab bars installed so

[8:23] that they can safely use their restroom and things like that. That's what a

[8:27] safety check is. Um just to make sure that we're all on the same page getting

[8:31] through that. And if they want to start service, then

[8:34] we go ahead and and get a schedule signed up at that point. We ask for 48

[8:39] hours to get a schedule started, but we're pretty good and so typically we

[8:44] can get going on services same day. Um it's pretty common we get a call from

[8:48] the hospital, we need somebody discharged out of here today and uh can

[8:53] you can you take care of this? So we'll send somebody to the hospital, uh do

[8:56] that that assessment with the client at that point, do the home assessment um a

[9:01] little bit later in the afternoon and we can get services started immediately.

[9:06] The last thing I'll kind of touch on cuz you guys have a lot of work to do I can

[9:09] see on your agenda um is something we're pretty excited about we've started

[9:14] within the last year is that we are embracing technology. We do have a moni-

[9:20] monitoring system that if clients are interested, um we can put in the home

[9:25] and it it actually just develops and monitors patterns. So when I say this,

[9:32] it's not a wearable. There are no cameras and it works off sound waves. It

[9:36] is HIPAA compliant. And um it's pretty incredible what it can notice. Um

[9:42] we don't hear normal conversation in the home. It only picks up conversations

[9:48] that would include activities of daily living

[9:51] and safety risks. So, as an example, if Mrs. Smith generally walks to the

[9:57] bathroom two times overnight to use the restroom,

[10:01] the system will pick it will it will pick up now she's walking five times

[10:06] during the night to the restroom. Maybe she's in there a little bit longer to go

[10:09] and come back. All we get is a notification on the

[10:12] dashboard, might want to talk to the family or the client about a possible

[10:16] UTI. Um let's say Mrs. Smith had a cough last

[10:20] week. This week she has a cough, we'll get a

[10:23] report her cough has increased 68% from where it was last week. It might be a

[10:28] good time for her to see a doctor to see if she has a respiratory infection.

[10:32] Majority of what we are seeing um since we implemented this in January, people

[10:37] are falling a lot more frequently than they will ever tell you. Um clients of

[10:43] ours that we've had for a long time, "Oh, no, I never fall." Um and we get

[10:47] those those alerts pretty quickly. And then we have a obviously forms that

[10:53] we follow as far as who we're contacting first and if we need to reach out to

[10:58] 911. Um it's not Life Alert and so Life Alert is fantastic if they have it. It's

[11:04] trying to be more proactive. It will never replace a caregiver because human

[11:08] touch is what we all need, especially for people who are living at home by

[11:11] themselves. Um but it is actually a a great extra

[11:15] layer. We actually had a client uh not too long ago about 11:00 at night fell

[11:21] and and when I say it's like sound waves, we get an audio clip that's about

[11:25] 10 seconds and you could tell it was a a terrible fall. And um we couldn't

[11:30] reach him. We had a staff member at 11:00 at night

[11:34] who lived close enough decided just I'm just going to run over there and see. He

[11:37] actually cares for his wife who is bed bound.

[11:40] And she could see him laying on the floor, called 911. We get into the

[11:45] house. He was actually conscious. He but he had decided and he was wearing his

[11:49] life alert. But he decided he would just lay there until we got there at 9:00

[11:53] a.m. in the morning. Uh, he had a gash on his head and needed stitches and off

[11:58] to the hospital he went. So, those are just some examples of what we found to

[12:02] be um, a pretty cool program. If people

[12:05] have at least 12 hours of service a week with us, it's actually free of charge.

[12:09] We just do it as an added layer of protection.

[12:13] But for those people who are like, "I don't need anybody in my home. I'm just

[12:16] fine." This is a great way for family members to say, "Why don't we put this

[12:20] in the home and see see how you're doing and if we think after 30 days you don't

[12:24] need it, then we won't worry about it." There's no cords. It's as It looks like

[12:29] an iPhone charger plug. There's three of them that just go into the main parts of

[12:33] the home. That's it. You don't need Wi-Fi. There's

[12:36] a router that goes along with it. So, we just like to tell people about it

[12:39] because it's pretty pretty cool technology. Um, again, if they don't

[12:43] want it, we're not going to put it in their home, but it has proven to be

[12:47] pretty successful. So, that's kind of all I had unless anybody

[12:52] has anything for me. I just appreciate your time.

[12:54] » Oh, absolutely. We do appreciate you coming out. Uh, any questions, comments,

[12:58] thoughts? >> Uh, more of a comment. Um, prior to my

[13:03] dad entering hospice and after, uh, we used Synergy and you all were absolutely

[13:09] fantastic and I can't thank you enough for all the hard work that you do.

[13:13] » Thank you. >> Good to know.

[13:16] Uh, this uh, program you mentioned you mentioned the name of it or like can you

[13:19] remind me the name of it? >> So, we It's called Synergy Connects

[13:22] powered by Sensei. Sensei is a worldwide um, they they are worldwide at this

[13:26] point. Uh, it's been kind of cool. So, we are the

[13:30] largest Synergy franchise in the United States.

[13:33] We kind of decided to jump in on this because a lot of people around the

[13:38] country are already using different monitoring devices of of different

[13:41] sorts. Um, and so we we actually kind of tested

[13:45] three of them before we landed with Sensity and we've been um, very pleased

[13:49] with it. >> Yeah, excellent. Excellent. All right.

[13:52] Well, yeah, pleased to uh, to bring you all out here. Uh, pleased to see

[13:56] everything. Uh, we have such a wide variety of uh, healthcare partners in

[14:00] our community that covers every aspect of community healthcare needs and to be

[14:05] able to say, yeah, we serve everybody from birth to end of life. That's pretty

[14:08] comprehensive and we're fortunate to have you here and thank you so much for

[14:11] coming by. >> Thanks, everybody. Enjoy the rest of

[14:13] your meeting. >> All right. Moving on to departmental

[14:17] matters. Uh, number 5A, playing the part of Jessica McKnight tonight will be

[14:22] Tearing Brooks tonight. So, we have one item for action tonight,

[14:27] item 5A1A, request approval of an emergency appropriation ordinance

[14:31] amending the McLean County fiscal year 2026 combined annual appropriation

[14:34] budget ordinance for health department fund 2105.

[14:38] May I have a motion? Motion by Farley. Second by Bangert.

[14:42] Uh, Ms. Brooks.

[14:48] Um, you see all the details of the why and

[14:51] the how. Um, so if you have questions beyond

[14:55] that, I can try to answer those. >> For sure. Any questions?

[14:59] All right, thank you. Those in favor of item 5A1A, please say I.

[15:03] » I. >> Those opposed?

[15:05] Thank you very much. Motion passes. Uh, Ms. Brooks, anything to add from the

[15:08] report? >> Um, if I can comment something that's

[15:13] not on the report. >> Sure.

[15:15] » Um, Jessica sent me along with um, some notes that she wanted um, me to share in

[15:19] regard to um, the emergency weather situation that we faced

[15:24] um, on August 13th that caused us to have to evacuate the building.

[15:29] Um, so from her she says, "I want to take a minute to recognize all health

[15:33] department staff for their response during the recent emergency weather

[15:36] situation on 8/13. They demonstrated exceptional professionalism, resilience,

[15:41] and leadership during rapidly changing circumstances and impacts to our

[15:45] building. Their readiness and action helped to

[15:48] ensure that everyone, including our clients and participants remained safe."

[15:53] And I would add also thank you to um, others who supported us during those few

[15:57] days, um, county admin, L&J staff that let us kind of invade their space as we

[16:02] evacuated. Um, and also support we received from EMA.

[16:07] » Excellent. Well, thank you very much. But yes, would absolutely like to echo

[16:10] that. That was certainly a situation that required some uh, last minute

[16:14] scrambling and shuffling and it is good that we have such an awesome team all

[16:19] over the place. You mentioned L&J and everywhere else that jumped in to help

[16:22] us out because that was a certainly a harrowing day for our community. And I

[16:26] imagine it was a little scary for y'all in in the building there as well. So,

[16:30] uh, thank you all for that. Any questions, comments from members of the

[16:33] committee? All right. Thank you so much, Tammy.

[16:36] Moving on to item 5A1C. Uh, Tim Wiley, nursing home

[16:41] administrator. We have one item for action today. Did I skip something? I

[16:44] skipped something. Sorry, Diane. 5A1B.

[16:48] Diane Hughes, jail superintendent. No items for action today. Anything you'd

[16:52] like to share with us? >> Good afternoon. No, Ms. Drummond

[16:54] couldn't be here today due to a family commitment, but if you have any

[16:57] questions, I'll try and answer them uh, from the report.

[17:00] » Thank you. Sorry, I didn't mean to skip over there. Any Any questions for uh,

[17:04] for Diane? All right. Thank you so much. Now moving on to 5A1C. Mr. Wiley, we

[17:10] have one item for action today. Item 5C1A, request approval of an affiliation

[17:15] agreement for allied health externship Site. May I have a motion?

[17:19] Motion by Bell, second by Farley. Mr. Wylie.

[17:23] » This is an affiliation agreement with another CNA class that would like to

[17:27] conduct their clinicals at our building. >> Cool.

[17:31] Questions? Those in favor?

[17:34] » Aye. >> Those opposed?

[17:36] Motion passes. All right. Thank you, Mr. Wylie. Anything else to add?

[17:40] » The big headline, we're back in the building.

[17:43] All right. We're we're very excited about it and the residents are thrilled.

[17:49] We're already seeing census growth since being back in the building and

[17:54] opening up the other wing. And relative to the storm that we just

[17:58] previously discussed, at that point we were not back in the

[18:02] building and I turned to my colleagues and I said, "It's we'll be okay. We're

[18:07] in a trailer." We may end up in Hayworth, but we'll be

[18:13] okay.

[18:16] But the team's done amazingly and um again, thank you to the city of

[18:23] Bloomington and thank you, Diane and the team at the

[18:26] county jail. We wouldn't have been able to do that without the assistance of

[18:30] those two organizations. You have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer.

[18:35] » That is good news. Can you share anything about residents'

[18:39] reaction to the new paint on the walls and everything? What's what's been the

[18:42] response? >> Well, it's mostly the

[18:46] from the ceiling up and the lighting, but there there's just a different vibe.

[18:52] » Sure. >> And a new appreciation for what we've

[18:56] had when you had half of it taken away and you get that half back, suddenly

[19:01] it it feels good to have room to move, especially for the residents.

[19:07] » Oh, for sure. For sure. Well, excellent. Well, very exciting news. Glad we're

[19:10] able to see that come to completion. Anything else for Mr. Wiley from members

[19:13] of the committee? All right, moving on to 5D1A, Mr. Tab,

[19:18] JDC Superintendent. No items presented for action tonight. Mr. Tab, anything to

[19:22] add? >> Uh nothing to add or highlight. I'd be

[19:24] happy to answer any questions if you have them.

[19:26] » All right, thank you. Anything from members of the committee?

[19:29] All right, thank you very much, Mr. Tab. Moving on to 5D

[19:33] Excuse me, 5E, Cassie Taylor, County Administrator. No items for action.

[19:37] Anything to add? >> I have nothing to present to this

[19:39] committee. >> All right, thank you very much, Cassie.

[19:41] Moving on to other items of business. Our next committee committee meeting

[19:44] date will be Tuesday, October 6th, 4:00 p.m.

[19:47] We will be discussing budgets then, so we will not be having a 12-minute

[19:51] meeting next time. So, yes, happy budget season to all who celebrate. Anything

[19:55] else from members of the committee? All right, thank you all very much for

[19:59] your service to the committee. We are adjourned.

Health Committee 9/8/26

Transcript