FRANK LEWIS

PDT Staff Writer

The Scioto County Health Coalition will hold its first monthly meeting Friday from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at the Shawnee State University Center, Room 214. Portsmouth Health Commissioner Chris Smith said he hopes for a large turnout by people from all walks of life.

“The Coalition is open to all government agencies, all businesses, non-government organizations, volunteer organizations, and all citizens,” Smith said. “So we hope everybody will sign up.”

Smith said the Coalition has a lot of people involved from the City of Portsmouth, and he and other Coalition members would like to see more county participation.

“We’re just a little city-heavy, especially with the people running the committees in the afternoon,” Smith said. “A lot of those are city people because we were able to quickly grab them. We just want to make sure we don’t just make it a city initiative, but we make it a countywide initiative.”

Lisa Roberts, RN, of the Scioto County Drug Action Team said the group discussed at their last meeting the necessity to change the times, dates and location of the regular meetings to better serve members and to coincide with the all-day meeting of the Health Coalition.

“This new ‘super coalition’ will have numerous committees that address the various problems in our community that are contributing to the poor healthy outcomes and drug problem that we are experiencing,” Roberts said. “This is also a great opportunity for the Scioto County Drug Action Team members to become more involved by joining another committee.”

The agenda for the Coalition meeting is as follows:

9-10 a.m. - All Hands Meeting

10-11 a.m. - Wellness Committee

11 a.m. - noon - Medical/Clinical Committee

1-2 p.m. - Planning Committee

2-2:30 p.m. - Code Enforcement Committee

2:30-3:30 p.m. - Land Re-utilization Committee

3:30-4:30 p.m. - Prescription Drug Action Team

Frank Lewis may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 232, or at flewis@heartlandpublications.com.