M i n ne s o ta De p ar tm e n t o f H e al t h
D i vi s i o n o f E n vi r o n m e n t al H ea l t h
E n vi r o nm e n t al He a l th S er vi c e s S e c t io n
Winter, 2007
Volume 1, Issue 1
PWDU Newsletter
Partnership and Workforce Development Unit
PWDU: What We Do And Plan To Do
Greetings from PDWU!
This is the first issue of
the quarterly, electronic
PWDU Newsletter.
You will receive Issue No.
2 in April. We welcome
your own written contributions to future issues, as
well as requests for information on specific topics.
Please call or email Deborah Durkin (651-2014509), if you would like to
comment, contribute an
article or post a notice.
The deadline for contributions to the April issue is
March 15, 2007.
Who We Are
The Partnership and
Workforce Development
Unit (PDWU) was created
in 2006 to sustain and
expand existing Environmental Health Services
(EHS) Section activities
and services. The Unit is
funded, in part, by the
Statewide Hospitality Fee
approved by the Minnesota legislature in 2005.
What We Do
PWDU staff, like other
EHS personnel, have a
two-track mission:
The first track is emergency response. Some
PDWU staff members
assist with EHS notification, rapid evaluation and
response to outbreaks of
foodborne illness and
other emergencies.
The purpose of the PWDU
is to assist state and local
agencies in providing uniform and consistent statewide services.
PWDU is responsible for
providing training and
education; developing and
monitoring data systems;
conducting program
evaluations; and developing and maintaining partnerships.
The second track includes current and
planned activities in the
areas of training and education; research and
analysis; data management; technical assistance; and enforcement
of the Minnesota Food
Code. Activities also include policy planning,
work on a new delegation
agreement, and numerous collaborations, including the following part-
nerships:
Government Coordinating
Council (GCC):
The Government Coordinating Council for food
and agriculture infrastructure protection (GCC) is
the public sector portion
of the food and agriculture partnership framework for food defense
and safety.
The objective of the GCC
is to provide effective coordination of food and
agriculture defense
strategies, activities, policy and communication.
These efforts support the
nation’s homeland security mission to prevent an
attack on the food supply
that would pose a serious
threat to public health,
safety, welfare, or to the
national economy.
To accomplish this mission, the GCC collaborates actively with the
Sector Coordinating
Council for food and agriculture infrastructure protection (SCC) to establish
long-term sector defense
goals. The GCC has representation from federal,
state, local, and tribal
governments. Commis-
sioner of Health Dianne
Mandernach is appointed
to the GCC to represent
state public health interests. PDWU’s Paul
Allwood is her alternate.
Food Safety Center:
Food Safety Center
(FSC) members represent six divisions in MDH
and invited guests from
Agriculture. This “center
without walls” was begun
in 1998. The purpose of
the FSC is to coordinate
MDH food safety efforts
and to communicate a
consistent statewide
message for preventing
foodborne illness.
(continued last page)
In this issue:
PWDU: What We Do
and Plan to Do
1
Delegation Agreement Update
2
Illness Awareness
Campaign
3
Rapid Inspection
4
Emergency Notification System
5
PWDU Staff Contact
Information
5
Note from Roger
Carlson
6
PWDU Newsletter
Page 2
Delegation Agreement Update
This Agreement has been the basis
for local environmental health programs now for two decades.
Focus of Changes
The current Delegation
Agreement has been the basis
for local environmental health
programs for two decades.
The overall goal of the new Delegation Agreement and other EHS
program changes is to provide
a state-of-the-art, consistent and
uniform statewide program.
Delegation Agreement Authorization and Purpose
The Minnesota Department of
Health (MDH) is currently reviewing
the delegation agreement that provides local public health the legal
authority to perform their duties related to several areas of environmental health.
The Agreement provides the legal
framework for local public health
agencies to regulate food, beverage
and lodging establishments and
swimming pools as well as functions associated with the Minnesota
Clean Indoor Air Act.
The current Agreement was authorized by Minnesota Statute 145A.07
in 1987 as a mechanism for local
boards of health to assume the
powers and duties of the Commissioner of Health that provide for the
regulation of licensed facilities.
MDH is in the process of refreshing
and revitalizing the Agreement.
The focus of the changes will be on
building and sustaining quality programs with emphasis on effectiveness. This will be accomplished by
increasing training opportunities,
technical support, program outreach and customized “problem
solving.”
Programs will be evaluated using
an approach based on quality, and
considering factors such as thoroughness of inspections, adequate
follow-up on corrective orders and
problem resolution to ensure compliance with applicable codes. This
survey method will apply equally to
MDH and local environmental
health programs.
Process and Progress
The proposed Agreement is currently in draft stage. While MDH
understands that a “one-size-fits-all”
approach may not work for everyone, it is being developed with flexibility and consideration of two main
objectives: 1) to make the best
state-wide program that we can—
collectively, and 2) to fully accomplish the statutory responsibilities of
the Commissioner of Health.
A “Delegation Advisory Council” will
be formed in Spring 2007 to provide
stakeholder input with “Regional
Informational Meetings” from September to January 2008. The regional meetings are intended to
introduce the proposed Agreement
to local agencies and to answer
questions regarding the document.
It is expected that the final agreement will be release in February
2008 for approval by the Community Health Boards.
The overall goal of the Agreement
and other EHS program changes
are to provide a state-of-the-art,
consistent and uniform statewide
program.
Please be advised that this
schedule is subject to change. If
you have questions, please free to
contact Roger Carlson
What Will Not Change
If we all work together we
can do great things!
Statutory requirements will not
change. All programs will be required to maintain inspection frequency based on risk. However,
quality of inspections will be the
focal point. This will include annual
self-surveys by agencies, review of
pertinent ordinances and field time
with inspection staff. A key component of this Agreement will be an
emphasis on data collection, analysis and summary outcomes.
([email protected]).
Page 3
Illness Awareness Campaign
Background
Workers who prepare food while
experiencing gastrointestinal (GI)
symptoms are frequently linked to
foodborne illness outbreaks. The
Food Safety Partnership established a committee to evaluate and
address concerns about the high
frequency of foodborne disease
outbreaks in Minnesota caused by
ill food workers. This is a brief synopsis of their work.
Baseline Studies:
Survey: Restaurants were surveyed to estimate the prevalence of
foodborne disease symptoms in
workers, and the likelihood that
workers would work with symptoms.
During the survey, workers were
asked to complete a brief questionnaire asking if they had experienced nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,
or fever in the two weeks since their
last paycheck, and if
members of their
household had experienced these
symptoms. Symptomatic workers
were asked if they
had requested timeoff because of their
symptoms.
Results:
•
153 of 350 (43%) workers completed the survey.
•
29 (19%) had at least one foodborne disease symptom.
•
11 (7%) reported that household members were also ill.
•
Only 39% of symptomatic workers requested time-off.
•
Foodborne disease symptoms
are prevalent among foodservice workers.
•
A significant proportion of workers do not request time-off.
Focus Groups: Focus groups were
conducted in English and Spanish
to assess food worker knowledge of
foodborne disease transmission,
the role of the worker in the spread
of foodborne diseases, barriers to
recognizing and reporting symptoms, and to gain insights into the
best strategy for conducting a successful education campaign targeting food workers.
Findings:
•
Lack of management support
for workers who call in to report
illness
•
Need to utilize diverse educational methods and strategies
•
•
Lack of awareness of food code
provisions related to employee
health
•
Develop and distribute a decision tree for managers to use
when handling “call outs”.
•
Develop an employee health
curriculum segment and/or
training materials in train-thetrainer format.
•
Conduct a workshop to train
course providers in the use of
the curriculum/materials.
Reluctance to stay home from
work with mild GI symptoms
Objectives and Strategies
After data review and discussions
with experts, a campaign to increase compliance with the employee health provisions of the
Food Code was launched.
Campaign objectives are:
•
The campaign poster and other
materials are available on the MDH
website at: www.health.state.mn.us
Develop and distribute to food
establishments about 30, 000
posters that emphasize the
connection between GI symptoms and foodborne disease.
Progress
Approximately 11,000 posters and
Decision Guides were mailed to
local restaurants in 2006. An additional mailing of 8,000 posters will
be sent this winter to local facilities.
Posters and Decision Guides are
sent electronically to each jurisdiction investigating outbreaks for distribution in the implicated facility.
Page 4
PWDU Newsletter
Rapid Inspection
Tony Georgeson, located in the
MDH Fergus Falls District Office, is
responsible for organizing, developing, distributing, and supporting
Rapid Inspection. The software application is distributed free of
charge and is currently used by 25
local Minnesota health agencies for
reporting food, lodging, mobile
home park, swimming pool, and
youth camp inspection data.
Training and support of this software are the most common requests from local health agencies.
During 2006, Tony held two on-site
training sessions for Winona
County, whose staff were new to
the software system. By adopting
the system, Winona County Health
and other local users will have an
established data collection system
that is standardized with MDH.
In 2006, a new method of support
and training was acquired through
the use of remote connectivity service called WebEx. This web-based
service allows Tony to connect to
any computer connected to the
Internet and remotely support and
train users of the software without
the added cost of travel.
Some local health agencies that
have utilized WebEx are Aitkin,
Lyon, Morrison/Todd, St. Louis,
Stearns and Washington Counties;
Countryside Public Health, and the
Cities of Moorhead and St. Cloud.
Since the initial release of Rapid
Inspection in 2000, several updates
to improve the software have been
released, thanks to a collaborative
partnership between state and local
users.
Summer 2006 marked the begin-
ning of work on Rapid Inspection 2007, which will replace the current version of the software.
In June 2006, a meeting with local partners was held in St. Cloud to discuss
the ever-changing data requirements of local agencies and how the new
version of the software will increase data entry efficiency and flexibility, and
take advantage of new technologies such as Tablet PC’s.
Graphic #1:
The new
task oriented main
screen. An
“outlook”
style navigation bar
on the left
will simplify
system
tasks. Due
inspections
are now
easily in
view.
Graphic#2:
The entire
data entry
process is
more flexible and
provides
more feedback to the
user about
the status
of an inspection
report.
Finally, standard orders and bookmarks are now categorized in a familiar
“tree view” control and the system also has the ability to specifically define a
users inspection area with the implementation of a “User Profile” in the System Setup screen. For more information, please contact Tony Georgeson
([email protected]).
Page 5
Emergency Notification System
Statewide Food Safety
The Statewide Hospitality Fee
(SHF) is being used to develop and
implement a Statewide Food Safety
Information Security System
(SFSISS). Part of this system includes an emergency notification
system for all establishments and
program staff during foodborne
emergencies.
This system uses an Internet site
that can phone, fax or email many
people at one time. We can collect
responses and monitor how many
people have received a message.
First Notifications: Floods,
Spinach and Norovirus
This project was planned to start
slowly and work to more complex
exercises with partners including
local authorities, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and other
emergency preparedness partners.
However, Minnesotans faced several events that required we enact
the system sooner than expected.
In March 2006, the notification system was used to prepare response
actions to potential flooding of the
Red River Valley. If a major flood
had occurred, MDH was prepared
to notify nearby establishments of
the need for mass-feeding.
In September 2006, MDH notified
approximately 17,000 establishments
when the
FDA recalled
fresh spinach after an E-Coli outbreak.
Finally, in November, an unusual
number of Norovirus illnesses
prompted staff to notify almost
17,000 partners of the potential for
outbreaks.
Need for Statewide Data
Local partners provided the information on each establishment in their
jurisdiction that was used by MDH to
make these notifications. We are
working to enhance the accuracy
and usefulness of this system and
these data in the coming year.
The notification system is one part of
an overall, statewide data collection
and management system program
which you’ll hear more about in
2007. For more information, contact
Mike Kaluzniak (see table below).
PWDU Staff Contact Information
Name
Got A Question?
Phone and Emaill
Chris Forslund
Local program guidance, environmental health training
[email protected]
651-201-4230
Deborah Durkin
Food safety educational materials, training and collaborations
[email protected]
651-201-4509
Mike Kaluzniak
Data systems, Statewide Hospitality Fee, and emergency
information system
[email protected]
651-201-4517
Paul Allwood
Foodborne illness outbreak investigation, research
[email protected]
651-201-4511
Roger Carlson
Supervisor, program development, Delegation Agreement
[email protected]
651-201-5074
Steve Klemm
Swimming pool construction and inspections
[email protected]
651-201-4503
Tony Georgeson
Rapid inspection software
[email protected]
218-739-7586
Minnesota Department of Health
Division of Environmental Health
Environmental Health Services Section
Other New and Continuing Projects:
•
PWDU staff also participate in the Recreational
Water Advisory Council (RWAC), Interagency
Review Council (IARC) and other inter– and
intra-agency groups which will be discussed in
future newsletters.
•
New Delegation Agreement
•
Training and train-the-trainer sessions for Sanitarians, other public health staff, elected officials
and the general public.
•
Technical Support for MDH and local public
health agencies assisting food, beverage and
lodging establishments, manufactured home
parks, youth camps and emergency planning
groups. This includes plan review, technical and
epidemiological consultations, and research.
•
Improvement and design of Guidance Documents
•
Development of a multi-media Resource Center
•
Enhancement of EHS and joint Websites.
•
Analysis of foodborne outbreaks to improve policy, response and planning.
•
Development and improvement of Information
Management tools and systems, including Rapid
Inspection and other data sharing and analysis
tools.
Orville L. Freeman Building
625 North Robert Street
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55101
http://www.health.state.mn.us/foodsafety
PWDU, What We Do … cont.
FSC projects have included creating the FSC Committee’s website, development of the Handwashing Tool
Kit, consultation on the Illness Awareness Campaign,
development of an MDH protocol for investigating foodborne illness outbreaks, and foodborne illness alerts and
press releases.
Food Safety Partnership:
The Food Safety Partnership (FSP) is a consortium of
public and private partners working together in food
safety to protect public health. The purpose of FSP is to
create a unified effort for preventing foodborne illness.
A Note from Unit Supervisor, Roger Carlson
Dear Colleagues,
The PWDU has been very busy during 2006. We began and ended the
year building a staff that is loaded
with talent, enthusiasm and creativity. The members each have their
own history of involvement with successful EH programs and they complement and work well with each
other. As you can tell from this
newsletter, we have already made
notable progress… but wait until you
see what the group will be tackling!
We’ll soon have a draft for a new
delegation agreement ready for public discussion. We’re currently work-
ing within MDH and will follow with
a committee made up of members
from industry, state and local government, and the public.
We’re working on a new, local EH
evaluation tool that will provide us
with better information for planning
to meet training needs, evaluating
and describing best practices for
EH program operations, and providing training for Sanitarians at all
levels of skill and experience.
We’re planning new ways to provide specialized training for Sanitarians, such as classroom and
side-by-side plan review training.
We’re looking at new ways of communicating and managing data. We
intend to create a body of resources
that will be available state-wide. The
Unit will continue to provide existing
services while working on new ones.
2007 looks like an exciting year for
PWDU. We hope that we can share
our excitement and determination to
develop an excellent, state-wide environmental health
service program
made up of both
MDH and local
agencies and
their staffs.
Roger