At Health First Kosciusko’s advisory committee meeting on Monday, May 6, are clockwise, from the bottom left: Committee members Terry Owens, Rich Haddad, Sue Ann Mitchell and Alex Hall; Committee Chair Dr. Dennis Woodward; Health First Kosciusko Coordinator Kurt Carlson; Health First Kosciusko Administrative Assistant Liz McCullough; and Committee Member Cary Groninger. InkFreeNews photo by Leah Sander.

By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Wawasee Community Schools and Sacred Heart Catholic School should be getting funding for health initiatives.

The Health First Kosciusko advisory committee approved $49,500 for Wawasee and $2,953 for Sacred Heart at its meeting on Monday, May 6, in the Kosciusko County Courthouse’s Old Courtroom.

The committee was created to help make decisions related to special funding the state is providing to the Kosciusko County Health Department via the Health First Indiana initiative.

Kosciusko agreed to opt in along with 85 other counties across Indiana. The Indiana General Assembly through the Senate Enrolled Act 4 of 2023 has funded the Health First program for the length of its current two-year budget.

Wawasee asked for the money to offer special health sessions to students and implement hydroponic gardening or utilizing a water solution to grow plants.

Sacred Heart sought the monies to offer a number of health sessions for its elementary students.

The Kosciusko County Health Board had agreed at its recent meeting to pre-approve the Wawasee and Sacred Heart requests itself if the advisory committee also approved them.

In other business, the committee also:

• Discussed a logo for Health First Kosciusko. Members agreed to recommend that the health department have one combining the health department’s logo in connect with a Health First logo.
• Heard new Health First Kosciusko Administrative Assistant Liz McCullough explain more about her role. Hired full-time like Health First Coordinator Kurt Carlson, she’s to assist him with data entry and other tasks.
• Continued early, tentative discussion regarding implementing a mobile medical service vehicle in the county. No final decisions on it were made. Carlson noted both Marshall and Noble Counties have some form of mobile medical service.

The committee tentatively plans to next meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, in the Old Courtroom. However as it’s already had a May meeting due to Monday’s meeting being postponed from April, the committee may just meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, in the Old Courtroom.