Meeting Minutes Details
Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative
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Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative Trust Fund
Meeting Minutes
September 21, 2007
Members Present
Richard Bendall, Jr., MD Monelison Family Physician, Lynchburg
Terry Glenn Department of Corrections, Richmond
Doug Harris, J.D. State Health Commissioner Designee, Richmond
Gregory Helm, M.D., Ph.D. University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottesville
Teresa Poole Lakeview Blue Ridge, Blacksburg
David Reid, Psy.D., Chair Comprehensive Health Systems, Fishersville
Jim Rothrock Department of Rehabilitative Services, Richmond
(Ex-officio)
Staff
Kristie Chamberlain Department of Rehabilitative Services, CNI Program Administrator
Patti Goodall Department of Rehabilitative Services, Manager, BI/SCI Services
Guests
Eric Messick Joint Legislative Audit Review Commission (JLARC)
Kelli Williams Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
David Gater, MD, Ph.D. McGuire Veterans Administration
The Commonwealth Neurotrauma Initiative (CNI) Advisory Board met for a regular quarterly business meeting in Conference Room 135 at 1606 Santa Rosa Drive in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. David Reid, Chair, convened the meeting at 10:08 a.m.
Public Comment Period
A public comment period was held. No public comment was taken.
Approval of June 1, 2007 Minutes
Dr. Bendall made a motion to approve the minutes with the noted change from staff on page 4 of the minutes, under “Future Meeting Dates”--the next meeting date indicated on the minutes should read December 7, not 8. Terry Glenn seconded the motion; motion passed unanimously.
Approval of September 21, 2007 Agenda
Doug Harris made a motion to approve the agenda of the September 21, 2007 meeting; Terry Glenn seconded; motion passed unanimously.
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Presentation from Kelli Williams, Research Fellow, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Juan Carlos Arango and Ms. Kelli Williams came to the Board during public comment at the June 1, 2007 Board meeting marketing a multidisciplinary conference on cultural / ethnic issues affecting the treatment, care, and access to services for individuals with TBI. The conference would be the first of its kind in the nation to feature leading experts from across the country to present data, share strategies, and promote translational research on minorities with brain injury. Virginia Commonwealth University is looking for donations upwards of $50,000 to plan and organize a conference of this magnitude and asked CNI to contribute to the conference with a stipend to support it. After the June meeting, the Advisory Board asked Dr. Arango and Ms. Williams to come back in September and give a status report of financial donations and other progress made to date.
Ms. Williams presented the Board with information on planning accomplishments to date for the conference projected to occur in October/November 2008. Ms. Williams presented information on total expenses for the conference averaging about $56,950. Total Revenue to date is at $16,000, so monies needed are $41,000. Partners to date are: The Henry Kesler Foundation, the Center for Capacity Building for Minorities with Disabilities Research, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center. Ms. Williams commented that next immediate steps to seek support would be with: the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, the Brain Injury Association of America, the International Brain Injury Association, and the American Psychological Association. The Board recommended a few other options for funding through NAACP and the Urban League etc. Discussion ensued among Ms. Williams and the Advisory Board. When asked in an ideal world how much money Ms. Williams would ask CNI to contribute, she said $41,000, but in a realistic world she was asking CNI for $25,000 towards the conference. The Board thanked Ms. Williams for her presentation and said that they would be in touch.
Discussion ensued re-the CNI Trust Fund’s purpose and intent in the code of Virginia. The Board unanimously agreed that the funding stream of CNI is not large enough to fund individual requests for support conferences while still allowing it to maintain its original intent to fund grant initiatives. Dr. Bendall made a motion not to fund the National Multidisciplinary Conference on Ethnicity, Culture and Brain Injury Rehabilitation proposed by Ms. Williams from Virginia Commonwealth University. Teresa Poole seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Presentation from David Gater, MD, Ph.D., McGuire Veterans Administration (affiliated with VCU).
Dr. David Gater from the McGuire Veterans Administration (affiliated with VCU) proposed an idea to the Board to fund a state-of-the-art lecture series that would bring in researchers from outside Virginia to speak at a monthly lecture series focused on traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury research. Dr. Gater presented the Board with possible speakers and topics for the series. The speaker fees would be about $1500/speaker or $15,000/year. The audience for the monthly lecture could be anyone from clinicians and investigators to consumers and families of consumers. Dr. Gater explained he worked on similar endeavors in Kentucky and Michigan. In Michigan, the Paralyzed Veterans of America funded the conference series.
Discussion ensued between the Board and Dr. Gater. The Board thanked Dr. Gater for his time and said that they would be in touch.
Discussion continued on the proposal from Dr. Gater exploring options of partnering the lecture series with the research colloquium tentatively scheduled for 2010 as well as options to offer the lecture series as a stand alone as Dr. Gater proposed. Though the Board recognized and appreciated Dr. Gater’s efforts to expand educational research opportunities in the Commonwealth, they were in agreement that the funding stream for CNI is not large enough to fund individual requests for support of outside educational opportunities while still allowing it to continue to follow the original intent of the Fund. Doug Harris made a motion not to fund the proposal for a lecture series on traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury presented by Dr. David Gater from McGuire Veterans Administration. Terry Glenn seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The Commissioner requested that staff inform Dr. Gater that there is a possibility that the Department of Rehabilitative Services may be able to fund the initiative and to contact Commissioner Rothrock to discuss the endeavor.
Presentation from Eric Messick, Project Leader, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission on the Brain Injury Services in Virginia Report
The Board invited Eric Messick to the meeting to summarize the findings of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) Report on Brain Injury Services in Virginia which was presented to the General Assembly in draft form on September 10 and the Joint Commission on Healthcare on September 19. Mr. Messick specifically focused on the findings that could potentially impact the intent of the CNI Trust Fund which was a suggestion that using the funds from the CNI Trust Fund would be one way of relieving the need for services for persons with severe neurobehavioral issues; currently unavailable in Virginia. According to the report, because the fund produces about $1.4 million dollars in revenue annually, the annual proceeds deposited in the CNI grant fund could be used to treat an average of 8 persons per year (at a rate of $172,000/person/yea
