Bat notice: What to do if you find a bat in your building
Stay away from it, keep calm, and call Facilities Services
DHW employees on the second floor of the PTC Building in Boise noticed a bat that appeared to be distressed near an emergency exit earlier this week. They notified Facility Services, and the bat was successfully captured alive (and somewhat feisty) and delivered to a local bat rehabilitation specialist by Dr. Kris Carter, Division of Public Health. The bat will eventually be released back in the wild after it has had some time to recover from the dangerously high temperatures and smoky air in Boise this week.
Bats are known to take refuge from the sun and heat in the shade provided by the buildings in the Capital Mall area, but they can also carry the rabies virus, which is fatal to humans. Staff are asked to not prop open doors because bats can (and do!) fly in.
Here’s what to do if you see a bat and have concerns:
Stay away from it and remain calm.
If the bat is in a room, close the door to the room and post a “Do Not Enter” sign on it.
Ask anyone who was in the room if they touched the bat or came into contact with it in any way and take their names and contact information.
Call Facility Services (below), and provide details of the situation, including names and contact information for people in the room. Facility Services staff will coordinate with Public Health staff to manage the bat. Public Health staff will contact potentially exposed people to discuss their options.
Facility Services contacts:
o Chad Sellman: 208-509-0221
o Daniel Asbury: 208-908-3962
If facility services staff are not available, call the Epidemiology Section in the Division of Public Health at 208-334-5939.
Path to Paris: Track your steps before Friday!
It’s not too late to track your activity so we can walk to Paris together in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics!
Track your steps, runs, walks, and a variety of other activities on the tracker spreadsheet and add it all together to “make our way to Paris” in time for the opening ceremonies. The overall goal of this activity challenge is to encourage movement in whatever capacity you are able and enjoy!
Activity tracking began Monday, July 1, on the Wellness Committee SharePoint Site and will end at the start of the opening ceremonies of the Paris Summer Olympics on Friday, July 26.
As a division, we will collectively strive to complete and track the 5,043 miles from Boise to Paris. This means that, as a group, we need to get about 194 miles per day
Miles can be tracked through ANY activity of choice. Activities that do not use miles as a tracking method (i.e.: dancing, rock climbing, taking a walk, swimming) can be converted using the provided mileage converter at the link above, or by using the activity tracker app on your phone.
Start tracking today!
Highlighting staff news, achievements, and milestones.
Bureau of Environmental Health and Communicable Disease
👋 Welcome Sharon Matthies! Sharon began as the Immunization Program’s (IIP) Immunization Information System Manager on July 8. Sharon comes to the IIP from the Idaho Transportation Department, where she served as an automated systems manager. Sharon provided the following information about herself:
Starting in “Userville,” I was hatched as a systems analyst when suggesting some design and functionality changes (literally sketched on a napkin) for a mainframe screen and being given room to “go sit with the programmers and see what they think.”
Growing up in a family with an RN and an MD, I’m comfortable with medical terminology and protocols. That carried over into AP bio in high school, an 18-year group health insurance gig, then civil-servant stints at the Bureau of Labs on Old Penitentiary Road and in Child Protection.
In addition to exploring interesting software-and-human puzzles at work, there’s also garden puttering – along with hobby photography, movies at The Flicks, and intriguing books such as “The Glass Cage: How Our Computers Are Changing Us.”
If you see Sharon on the 4th floor, please say hi and introduce yourself.
👏 Congrats to Mindy Miller on her promotion! The Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics would like to congratulate Mindy Miller on her promotion to OSS2 over our Customer Service (CS) unit. Mindy started with the bureau in February 2020 as a temporary employee. She accepted a permanent position as an OS2 in June 2020, in the CS Standard Services unit. She was promoted in March 2022 to a Technical Records Specialist1 in the CS Priority Services unit. Mindy was promoted again in June 2022 to a TRS2 in the Standard Services unit. Mindy brings a wealth of customer service and supervisor experience with her. Congratulations Mindy!
👏 National recognition for work with Critical Access Hospitals | Idaho was one of 10 states recently recognized by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy for its statewide commitment to Critical Access Hospital (CAH) quality reporting and performance. Stephanie Sayegh and her team lead this work and are extremely committed and passionate for the work they do with the CAHs. Congratulations all around, and thank you, Stephanie and team, for all your hard work and dedication!
👏 Milestone for Vital Records Management | On July 10, 2024, Vital Records Management in Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics reached the official close-out for the 2023 data year with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). This marks the measuring point for how Vital Records jurisdictions performed in relation to their contract deliverables as part of the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. In 2023, there were 11 measurements. Once again Idaho hit all 11 marks. In 2023, only Idaho and Minnesota hit all 11 marks with the national average for jurisdictions being 7 out of 11. These 11 measurements are focused on:
Complete transmission of all records and error remedies (5 points)
Cleanliness of data (unknown rate and pending cause of death (3 points)
Timely submission of data (3 points)
🧪 Soil testing for lead | Drew Pendleton, Kelly Berg, Will Reynolds, and Brigitta Gruenberg hosted a booth at the Boise Farmers Market recently to conduct soil testing for lead, water testing, radon testing, and offering general information about important environmental health topics in Idaho. They will be at the Farmer’s Market again on Sept. 21. Mark your calendars!
📋 Learning about lead | Carolee Cooper and Kelly Berg hosted a table at the 2nd Annual Idaho Hispanic/American Indian Healthcare Conference on July 8, 2024, in Pocatello. Over the course of the event, Carolee and Kelly met with over 60 people and discuss childhood lead poisoning prevention, private drinking water, and radon. Several connections were made with stakeholders that are interested blood lead testing events and lead awareness trainings. In total over 150 Happy, Healthy, Lead-Free Me! children’s books, 25 radon test kits, and several various environmental health factsheets were distributed during the event.
🌭 BBQ fun in BVRHS! The Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics held a staff BBQ and potluck on July 18. Bureau Chief James Aydelotte said it was “just for fun.”
Send your staff news, achievements, and milestones to Niki Forbing-Orr@dhw.idaho.gov.
Monthly reports now available for Medicaid and Self-Reliance
To increase transparency and accountability and provide data for economic and statewide budget forecasting, the divisions of Medicaid and Self-Reliance issue monthly reports of program participation and expenditures. The first reports are now available on the DHW website. Here’s one of the charts published in the Medicaid report.
Learning and growth opportunities. ☑️ Internal / ✅ External / ⭐ Idaho
Redaction training in Luma, reminder that programs are responsible for redactions
☑️ ⭐ New DHW Director’s Bulletin establishes new Office of Program Integrity | DHW Director Alex Adams has created a new Office of Program Integrity to work with programs across the department to ensure regulatory compliance, assess the integrity of program operations, and guide program staff. Read the entire bulletin for more details. All Director’s Bulletins are published on the Director’s Office SharePoint site.
☑️ ⭐ DPH July Open House materials | The recording and slides from the DPH Open House for July are available on the DPH SharePoint site. The DPH August Open house is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21. See you there!
☑️ ⭐ DHW One Department Townhall scheduled for Thursday, July 25 | The townhall is scheduled for 2 p.m., and will be presented in two segments. Join it at this Webex link.
2-2:30 p.m.
Three new processes added to One Department: committee creation, state plans (new and updated) and procurement.
Update to public conference proposal.
General Q&A
2:30-3 p.m.
Designed for newer users - tutorial on One Department site, process, request forms and repository.
General Q&A.
☑️ ⭐ Redaction training is available in LUMA| Program staff who handle public records requests may need to redact documents in some requests. Training is available in LUMA. Select your employee profile, then select Catalog under My Learning and Development, and then select Search Activities at the top right. Use the search term “redact” to find the training.
✒️ DHW Voice blog | Articles written by DHW staff are available on the department’s website.
📰 DHW Connection | The department’s newsletter is published on Inside DHW each payday. Read the latest issue!
📰 DHW news releases | News releases are posted on the DHW website. Read the latest.