409-296-BANK
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
Volume 32, Issue 4
Winnie Stowell Hospital District Receives Clean Audit By Wade Thibodeaux  The Winnie Stowell Hospital District Board of Directors held their regular monthly meeting last Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 6:00 pm. in their office located at 520 Broadway in Winnie, Texas. One of the items on the agenda was to hear from the auditor and to accept the 2019 audit. The auditor presented the 2019 audit and notified the board that they found no significant deficiencies and that the District had received a clean audit for the 2019 year. The board accepted the 2019 audit and told the auditor to begin working on the 2020 audit. In other action the board heard from a group representing the St. Vincent de Paul Organization who had submitted a request for assistance with replacing their almost obsolete computer system. The group had requested $11,391.00, but the WSHD Board eagerly approved up to $15,000.00 for the new devices and told the SVDP group that they would like to explore other avenues of assistance from the District as they were both in the business of helping the same people of the community, the indigent. Lines of communication were established and meetings will be held in the near future to discuss some of the common
goals and ways to work together. The rest of the meeting was mostly routine with the bills getting paid, minutes being approved, and reports getting received. The bill paying process took a little bit of time because Directors Anthony Stramecki and Bobby Way both had to abstain from voting to approve the payment of the bills due to relations with persons receiving a check from the District for services provided. Director Kacey Vratis was not in physical attendance at the meeting and had to be contacted via zoom to provide the third person to vote on the approval of the payment of the bills. The Indigent Care Director reported that she had been active with enrollment and re enrollment of clients seeking services from the District and as of the date of the report, 39 adult clients were enrolled and 5 youth counseling clients were part of the program. She also reported that $87,442.27 worth of services had been supplied to clients for the month of December and $454,390.49 had been spent for the 2020calendar year. The next regular meeting of the Winnie Stowell Hospital District will be Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 6:00 pm. in the offices of WSHD located at 520 Broadway in Winnie, Texas.
 U.S. Congressman Brian Babin (TX-36) issued the following statement commending the Trump Administration, during its final hours, for issuing a “New Start� designation for the Houston Ship Channel (HSC) Expansion Project, which will allow the federal government to begin working alongside the Port of Houston to
expand and widen one of the country’s busiest and most vital waterways. “After years of working on behalf of this project, I am exceedingly proud that the Houston Ship Channel received a New Start designation – officially kick-starting the highly anticipated dredging and widening of the HSC,� (contd on page 3)
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Chambers County Public Health Administers 340 COVID-19 Vaccines at Drive Through POD  On January 23, 2021, Chambers County Public Health facilitated the administration of 340 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine after their designation as a COVID-19 Vaccine Hub by the Texas Department of State Health Services. This was the first major distribution of COVID-19 vaccine to the Phase 1B population in Chambers County, and was only the first in a series of planned vaccination sites. Facilitated by Chambers County Public Health, this event was a collaborative effort between multiple agencies including Chambers County, the City of Mont Belvieu and Winnie-Stowell EMS. "We have been working
to thoroughly vaccinate Phase 1A populations in Chambers County up until this point," said Chambers County Health Services Director Mary Beth Bess. "With this event, we took a huge step toward expanding vaccination efforts to Phase 1B." A small number of vaccine was allocated to this vaccination site, with others set aside for planned distribution sites in the coming weeks as part of CCPH's designation as a vaccine hub. Pre-registration for this site was required and utilized to facilitate registration in the State's Immunization Registrty (ImmTrac2). There was a limited number of vaccine available for this site, and spots filled quickly.
"We required preregistration in order to be vaccinated," said Samantha Humphrey, Chambers County Public Information Officer whose office coordinated the preregistration information and helpline, "and preregistration filled up in just over 7 minutes." People want the vaccine, and they're willing to travel to get it. "We were receiving about 100 phone calls per day from people all over the world," continued Humphrey. "We even had someone call from Mexico City, Mexico." Because the vaccines were provided by the federal government via the state as part of the CCPH's designation as a vaccine hub, anyone was eligible to preregister and
attend this vaccination event. "The event was a huge success and I'm proud of what our team was able to accomplish," said Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia. "Right, and we are also abundantly grateful to the City of Mont Belvieu and Winnie-Stowell EMS for their help," added Bess. "It's partnerships like these that allow us to pull together and offer these services to our community." Additional vaccine administration sites are planned for the near future. Information regarding preregistration for these sites will be released via media, social media and Chambers Warns when available.
Babin Commends Port o f H o u s t o n ’s “ N e w Start� Designation