Download Minutes: July 8, 2013

EC Vermont Health & Society workgroup
July 8, 2013
Attendance: Laura Cody McNaughton, Vermont Department of Health; Vicki Gass, Mount Ascutney
Prevention Partnership; Jackie Fisher, Ottauquechee Community Partnership; Linda North, former
Vermont Department of Health, now a follower of the workgroup; Cathy Hazlett, Health Connections of
the Upper Valley; Sherry Thornburg, Ottauquechee Health Foundation; Courtney McKaig, Mount
Ascutney Prevention Partnership; Rachel Williams, Youth Managed Café; Camilla Lacey, Youth Managed
Café; Deanna Jones, Thompson Senior Center; Greg Norman, Dartmouth Hitchcock; John Lawe, member
of ECVermont Economic Development workgroup and follower of ECV Health & Society; & Samantha
(Sam) Holcomb, Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission.
1. Report back on individual assignments


Meetings of other workgroups
o Sam reported that no workgroup meetings are scheduled for the next couple months,
but did offer to keep the group abreast of any meetings that are scheduled. She also
explained to the group that the meetings are listed on the ECVermont.org website
under “Calendar.”
o The Consortium meeting scheduled for July 24, 2013 (focused on transportation) was
discussed and some Health & Society workgroup members may attend.
 The group wanted to know if (and how) the next Consortium meeting could be
held to focus on health.
o The group determined the priority workgroups to send a liaison to be: Transportation,
Housing, Economic Development and maybe Climate Resiliency.
 Vicki Gass offered to attend the Economic Development workgroup meetings,
but they have not yet started.
Research on health-related town plan language
o Sam reported back on the research she did to find health-related language in town
plans. She also explained the structure and required chapters of a town plan, and
suggested that the workgroup may want to first focus their work and policies on the
existing town plan structure and work in the existing framework before more “out of
the box” work is done.
o A discussion of town plans and town plan language ensued.
 Some workgroup members have been involved in writing a town plan section
focused on health and emergency services. The language was written by a
group of health professionals.
 The group discussed the fact that health-related town plan language is often
embedded in various sections of a town plan. The town plan language is often
not as explicit about health as the group feels is necessary, even though the
language often implies health benefits.

The group discussed the ways in which towns may overcome differences in the
town facilities (ex. recreational facilities, schools with a gym, etc.) to still allow
residents to have access to physical activity.
 Ex. towns develop shared-use policies with one another.
2. Discussion/prioritization of suggested policies




The group discussed the list of draft policies to determine where a specific policy may overlap
with the work or may be under the preview of another workgroup.
The group discussed the differences in a community’s composition and profile, and that those
differences may lead to different policies. (Ex. depending on community profile, should health
resources be brought to a community, or should the people be brought to the health
resources?)
The group discussed how zoning policies may be used to create healthier communities. (Ex.
zoning for fast food and convenience stores, farmers markets, etc.)
See list of updated draft policies on next page for changes and discussion points.
To Do/Assignments
 Reach out to Transportation workgroup chair to determine if workgroup only looking at
improving existing transportation infrastructure and services or also looking to “fill in the gaps”
of the regional transportation network.—Laura
 Reach out to Housing, Transportation, Economic Development, Climate Resiliency(?) workgroup
chairs about having a liaison from the Health & Society workgroup attend/participate in their
workgroup meetings.—Laura
 Determine how policies are phrased, how to phrase them for a specific topic and how to phrase
them to mesh with the rest of the plan.—Laura
 Determine how many policy recommendations each workgroup should have and the
appropriate structure of the final policies.—Sam
 Research town zoning ordinances for health-related zoning.—Sam
 Work on and prepare final Health & Society workgroup vision language. – Laura and Sam
The next meeting will be scheduled for August. Sam will send out a Doodle poll to schedule the
meeting.
Updated list of Health & Society Policies (changes bolded)

Development of healthy and health-conscience communities
o Implement zoning to restrict the number and location of tobacco and alcohol outlets
within a community (this could operate as an overlay zone). ECV Health group could
seek input from planners on TRORC’s staff about how best to translate goals into land
use policies for specific districts. (economic development focus)
o Bring health care services to people—locate services within town centers to allow for
ease of access or have outreach workers or traveling services that go to different areas
 Connect services to communities and where appropriate, bring people to
outside resources.
o Support development of town volunteer networks for seniors, youth, young families,
people with disabilities
o Promote community based preventative services such as parish/town nurses
 Connect these services regionally with town volunteer networks
 Discussion of parish assistance movement throughout the U.S. and even here in
the ECV region (for example: Hartland). Some faith based communities have
hired a nurse to serve their parish, while other towns have opted to hire a nurse
who could serve individual residents.
o Provide tax incentives for child care and healthy businesses within a community
(economic development focus)
o Promote and include “healthy design” language within town plans
 This should be the overarching theme of the workgroup
 Health Impact Assessment strategy may become a recommendation for each
town
 A recommendation for a town plan—create a Health, Wellness & Emergency
Preparedness section
o Include health and environmental impact assessments requirements for certain types of
developments (for example: in a Town Plan, targeting developments that trigger local
review, or more specifically, the Act 250 process, etc.). (economic development,
housing and transportation focus)
o Ensure emergency preparedness considers clean water, access to health care services,
and reaching the most vulnerable individuals in a community (climate resiliency focus)
 Understanding/integrating National Guard and the Red Cross into emergency
preparedness
 Recommend each community designate an individual to focus on health as part
of planning and response (different than town health officer)
 Clarify the role of the town health officer or commission (may include
community health and policy recommendations)
o Develop active community-wide communication systems for reliable health information
and education (and also possibly a text/call alert system for emergency purposes)

o
o
o


Bring awareness of services available (health information communication,
211)
Encourage and provide living wage jobs (economic development)
 Discuss this issue with the ECV economic development workgroup
Maximize use and capacity of community resources
Increase social connectedness
Healthy bodies
o Promote and provide access to affordable, healthy food (priority for economic
development)
o Provide public education of what healthy food is
o Provide access to physical activity
o Promote safe pedestrian and bicycle routes (transportation focus)
o Promote and provide access to municipal buildings for physical activity under a shareduse agreement
o Promote zoning for farmer’s markets and farm stands
o Promote zoning that restricts unhealthy food establishments
o Promote fluoridated town water supplies
Preventing substance abuse
o Provide tobacco free spaces—parks and recreational areas, housing
o Limit unhealthy advertising
o Restrict marijuana dispensaries
o Promote and provide alcohol and tobacco free outdoor events