President Stacie called the membership to order just a few minutes past noon and asked Dr Dave Hartman to offer the invocation. David Spencer then came forward and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. In his inaugural role as a song leader, David then led us in the singing of the American folk song, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” Well done David!
Noros Martin introduced Wichita City Fire Chief Donald Hughes as his guest and prospective new member today. There were no birthdays to be announced this week.
For the Sunshine Report Andy Kocher asked the membership for prayers for his mother-in-law, Barabara, who was scheduled for open heart surgery the following day.
President Stacie then distributed Committee Assignments to the membership and asked everyone to review their assignments and to let her know if there were other committees you would like to serve.
Then it was “Brag Bucket” time with Carol Murray. We had several brags this week; to include, Alan Donaldson giving an update on his youngest granddaughter and recognizing his oldest granddaughter’s birthday. John Mayfield spotlighted his son who had passed a military PT (physical) test earlier in the week and Benay Ayers bragged that the Zip Line was now installed at Rotary Park. James Hughes bragged on AT&T for how quickly they repaired his router issue and restored his internet which restored peace and tranquility to his household full of girls. Andy then bragged how well he and David Kelley worked together building David’s fence – that was just a mere 450 feet long!
Josh Phillips then introduced Ms. Samantha Blair from the Wichita County Public Health District, Environmental Health Division to present our program for the day. Samantha is the Environmental Administrator for Wichita County in charge of all Health Inspectors.
The charter of the Environmental Division is to protect and enhance the environmental quality of life for residents, communities, workers, and visitors of Wichita and surrounding counties by developing and implementing consumer health education, surveillance, and enforcement programs in our jurisdiction. Samantha indicated they accomplish this mission with 10 full-time and 10 part-time inspectors.
The Environmental Health Division is responsible for inspections of food establishments, aquatic facilities, lodging establishments, body art establishments and on-site sewage facilities. In addition, they are also responsible for mosquito control which they accomplish through night-time spraying. Samantha did say that the spraying efforts are the least effective in controlling the mosquito population and the most costly. She said this year they are particularly searching out storm drains as sources of mosquitoes. Ms. Blair also added that the most effective thing people can do to ward off mosquitoes is the use of insect repellant. Fortunately, with over 3,000 species of mosquitoes in the world, over 200 species in the United States, and 85 species in Texas, there are only about 40 species found in Wichita County, and only a handful of them transmit diseases.
Following her presentation, Samantha responded to numerous questions from the members. Several questions centered around the food establishment inspections. Samantha explained that food establishments such as grocery stores, convenience stores, and coffee shops, are usually inspected 2 or 3 times a year with fast food restaurants being inspected every 4 months and restaurants inspected every 3 months but she reminded everyone that the inspectors can only enforce the minimal standards. She did indicate that restaurant inspection results are available on-line for the public. The Website for inspection results is: https://tx.phims.org/wichitafalls/Result.aspx. She also explained that Texas has Cottage Food Laws which allows individuals to sell food items for public consumption that were made by the individuals in their homes. She said you usually find these type of vendors at trade shows or farmer’s markets. There was a questions concerning soft serve ice cream and Samantha confirmed that establishments with soft serve offerings are required to have a special soft serve certification.
In closing her presentation, Samantha reminded the membership of the Live Well Wichita County program and the offerings available from chronic pain management to healthy cooking. Information for all is available at Live Well | Wichita Falls, TX - Official Website (wichitafallstx.gov).
President Stacie thanked Samantha for today’s presentation and told her the speaker’s book this week was going to Barwise Middle School.
To close the meeting, Stacie presented the “Rotary Minute” for the week which highlighted the joint work between Rotary International and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to assist communities and governments to plan, finance and deliver safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services, while sustainably managing water resources.
Stacie led us in the Four-Way Test and adjourned the meeting at 1p.m.