TownTalk: Commissioners Debate Medical Co-Pay For Detainees

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners is considering putting a health copay in place for individuals detained in the Vance County Detention Center.

Finance Director Katherine Bigelow shared information with commissioners during their Monday, Nov. 20 work session.

Board Chair Yolanda Feimster sent the matter to the Public Safety Committee for further discussion and to work through details about how such a policy would work.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt was the sole member of the Public Safety Committee present at the work session; commissioners Sean Alston and Carolyn Faines were not present for the meeting.

Bigelow said she had spoken with officials in more than 25 counties as part of her research; “we are the only ones that do not do this,” she told commissioners.

Bigelow and County Manager Renee Perry said it would help curb costs for detainees who may make unnecessary trips to the health care provider – racking up a hefty fee for the county each time.

This would encourage inmates to take responsibility of their own health care, they noted. The basic idea is that the inmate may decide to lie down and rest instead of going to the infirmary to get pills for a headache, Perry said.

If the health care provider determines that the visit was not a medical necessity, the individual would be charged a copay; $20 is the allowable limit that can be charged.

“We will not make money on this by any means,” Bigelow noted, adding that $395,000 of the $550,000 budgeted for health care at the jail has already been spent.

In a follow-up statement to WIZS News, Perry said the jail is on track to have an overage of as much as $1 million by the end of fiscal year 2024 if no measures are taken to curb the spending.

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The Local Skinny! Maria Parham Health Receives Medicaid Expansion Funds

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Maria Parham Health joins more than 100 hospitals in the state’s 70 rural counties to share close to $2.6 billion federal funds that will be used to provide support as the state rolls out Medicaid expansion.

Friday, Dec. 1 marks the start date for NC DHHS to launch the Medicaid expansion across North Carolina, meaning an estimated 600,000 people will be eligible for full Medicaid coverage. Almost 300,000 people currently with limited Medicaid family planning benefits will automatically be enrolled.

In a statement to WIZS News, MPH Public Information Officer Donna Young said “Maria Parham Health is proud to join hospitals and health systems statewide in celebrating the launch of Medicaid expansion.” The Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP) funds enable hospitals to pay for the non-federal share costs of Medicaid expansion efforts, and will “strengthen the state’s healthcare delivery network and ensure greater access to healthcare, especially for those residing here in Vance County,” Young stated.

“These payments to hospitals are a lifeline and critical as we work to strengthen rural hospitals and health systems in North Carolina,” said NC HHS Secretary Kody H. Kinsley. “The money will ensure people covered by Medicaid and Medicaid expansion have access to comprehensive physical and behavioral health care services in the communities they live in.”

Gov. Roy Cooper called Medicaid expansion “a monumental achievement that will save lives and provide better health care while sending billions to our economy.” “We’re beginning to see the real-life impacts of this extraordinary win for North Carolinians through these first payments to our rural hospitals that have been struggling for years to keep their doors open,” Cooper stated.

Medicaid expansion and HASP will be financed through new assessments on North Carolina hospitals and will allow the state to draw down more than $8 billion each year from the federal government based on expected ultimate expansion enrollment. This will have a historic impact on individuals across the state, including the more than 4.6 million people living in one of the 70 rural counties across North Carolina.

The HASP payments are calculated based on in-network Medicaid managed care payments to acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, hospitals owned or controlled by the University of North Carolina Health Care System and ECU Health Medical Center.

To learn more about Medicaid enrollment and eligibility, call the MPH helpline at 252.923.3747 or visit www.mariaparham.com/medicaid.

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Vance County NC

Vance County Manager Thanks Staff Leadership Team

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The new county manager for Vance County, Renee Perry, started November 1, 2023, and on November 20 as a Board of Commissioners work session wrapped up, she gave thanks to county staff and named her leadership team.

“I’m coming up on week three, and I just wanted to sing high praises to staff. They’ve been wonderful with helping me get acclimated, and I would just say that Vance County has some jewels and especially in administration,” Perry said. Perry said her leadership team consists of the following:

  • Finance Director – Katherine S. Bigelow, CPA
  • Human Resources Director – Argretta Johen
  • Clerk to the Board/Executive Assistant – Kelly H. Grissom
  • Special Projects Coordinator – Frankie Nobles

In the mid-October announcement by the Board of Commissioners of Perry’s appointment, Board Chair Yolanda Feimster stated that a recruitment process over the summer resulted in Perry’s selection and that Perry “will assist the board in continuing to achieve its ongoing goals as well as execute major capital projects.”

TownTalk: Follow-Up On Report Of Elevated Lead Levels In Two County Locations

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At a work session last week, one of the items that Vance County commissioners discussed was a notice from the state’s division of water quality about two instances of excessive lead levels in county drinking water.

Although the source has not been determined to date, the county’s Special Projects Manager Frankie Nobles told the commissioners during that work session on Nov. 20 that proper notification about the lead levels is one point that the county must address by Wednesday, Nov. 29.

In addition to publishing and posting flyers, Nobles said additional information would be sent out in upcoming bills.

The county buys its water from the city, and Kerr Lake Regional Water System director Christy Lipscomb told WIZS News Monday by phone that she was unaware of the notice received by county staff.

Lipscomb said regulations state that water systems must perform 60 point of testing every three years to check lead and copper levels. And KLRWS is on what Lipscomb called a “diminished schedule” of only 30 tests every three years because there are so few problems with elevated levels.

The most recent testing took place in August, Lipscomb said. The result? Zero “hits,” or problems.

The two locations – one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road – showed twice the allowable levels of lead at .030 MG/L. The threshold is .015 MG/L.

“The local health department regularly tests for child lead exposure in our child health clinics (it’s a simple blood test),” said Granville Vance Public Health Director Lisa Harrison. “If any levels are elevated, we have a team of one environmental health specialist together with one nurse who go together into the home to do further environmental testing,” Harrison told WIZS News in an email Monday.

Child health appointments can be made by calling the health department for those who wish to have their children tested. This can also be done easily at a local doctor’s office or pediatrician’s office. The GVPH team is notified regardless if there are concerns for any child tested for lead exposure, Harrison explained.

To learn more, visit https://www.gvph.org/services/environmental-health-services/childrens-environmental-health/

The source of the lead most likely is not from the water supply itself, but from pipes or other sources at the two individual locations. No details about the two addresses were shared at the work session.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt noted during the work session that the water system specs provided for construction without use of materials that contain lead, including the use of solder.

Water doesn’t naturally contain lead, but water can be contaminated with lead through lead pipes and other infrastructure used to bring water to individual households. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most common sources of lead in drinking water are lead pipes, faucets and plumbing fixtures. Certain pipes that carry drinking water from the water source to the home may contain lead. Household plumbing fixtures, welding solder, and pipe fittings made before 1986 may also contain lead.

Find more information at https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/sources/water.htm

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Vance County Logo

Elevated Lead Levels Found In Two Recent County Water Samples

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Some county water customers may find some information in their upcoming water bills letting them know that some recent samples have tested high for lead.

The Vance County Board of Commissioners heard from Special Projects Coordinator Frankie Nobles during the Monday work session, who outlined the next steps required to address the violation. The county must comply with nine steps set out by the N.C. Division of Enviornmental Quality in a report Nobles received on Nov. 2.

He singled out two locations, one on Warrenton Road and one on Vicksboro Road, that were found to be at .030 MG/L (milligrams per liter) – double allowable threshold of .015 MG/L.

“It’s not a concern that’s affected our whole system,” Nobles told commissioners.

Vance County Manager Renee Perry said that, in addition to informing the public in a variety of ways about the levels,  Envirolink – the county’s contracted water department – would perform more sampling to determine the source of the lead.

In an email to WIZS News Wednesday, Perry said the county has to perform a lead inventory to identify all the existing piping that contain elements with lead in it, and therefore need replacing. Pipe replacement is not part of Envirolink’s activities, she said.

There could be several possible causes, she said, including the source of water, the distribution system (material with lead components) and the sample point itself.

“Due the monitoring results, the lead was not detected in the majority of the sites, so we can conclude that neither the water source, nor the distribution system have these implications,” she said, which means the community is not exposed to a potentially harmful situation.

Perry said that once additional samples are analyzed, the county will get the results and send to the affected locations a consumer notice of lead tap water results.

 

Henderson Police Arrest Two On Drug Charges; Heroin, Cocaine, Marijuana, Oxycodone Seized At Local Motel

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Henderson police arrested two individuals on a variety of drug charges including manufacturing cocaine and trafficking heroin Tuesday at a local motel.

After serving a narcotics search warrant at the “121” Motel, Room 232, located at 197 Parham Rd., officers of the Henderson Police Department approximately 450 dosage units of heroin, 12.9 grams of marijuana, 14.7 grams of cocaine, 38 Suboxone Strips, oxycodone, drug manufacturing equipment, $1,512 in U.S. currency, and one semi-automatic pistol, according to information from Henderson Police Chief Marcus Barrow.

Arrested were Devon Blake Rhodes, 27 and Dylaney Darnes, 21, Barrow stated.

Both Devon Rhodes and Dylaney Darnes each were charged with:

  • two counts of trafficking heroin
  • two counts of maintaining a dwelling place for a controlled substance
  • possession with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver heroin
  • possession with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver cocaine
  • possession with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver Schedule II
  • possession with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver Schedule III
  • possession with intent to manufacture, sell, deliver marijuana
  • manufacture cocaine
  • possession of drug paraphernalia
  • possession of drug paraphernalia not marijuana

Rhodes received an additional charge of possession of firearm by a felon. Both were remanded to the Vance County Detention Center. Darnes received a $580,000 secured bond; Rhodes received no bond due to being on pre-trial release.

Chamber “Shop With A Cop” Fundraiser Nets $15,000

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The Shop With A Cop fundraiser sponsored by the Henderson-Vance Chamber of Commerce was a huge success, and Chamber President Sandra Wilkerson said law enforcement officers and first responders were going to have about $15,000 to spend on their upcoming shopping spree with area youngsters.

A celebratory reception held last week for all the sponsors went great, Wilkerson said Monday. About 100 people attended the event, which included a 50/50 raffle. Between the proceeds of the raffle and a couple of last-minute sponsors, Wilkerson said the fundraiser exceeded her initial expectations of $11,000.

According to Wilkerson, Barrow commented that it’s the most money he’s heard any program in the area getting for a Christmas shopping program.

The shopping spree will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 19 at the Walmart in Henderson.