Members of the Kosciusko County Board of Health discuss funding. From left are Health First Kosciusko Coordinator Liz McCullough and Health Board members Larry Coplen, Gregory Haase and Dennis Woodward. Photo by Elizabeth Hershberger.

By Elizabeth Hershberger
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — The Kosciusko County Board of Health members held a regular meeting Monday, April 28, to discuss changes regarding birth and death certificates in Indiana and funding needs in Kosciusko County.

In the last two weeks a big change has occurred when it comes to birth and death certificates. The board of health members learned a resident of Kosciusko County can go to the County Health Department and request a birth certificate from any other county in Indiana.

The State Health Department database will provide the information for Hoosiers needing a copy of a birth certificate or a death certificate. There is a small fee.

Health First Kosciusko

In an update, the Kosciusko county attorney recommended the Interim Coordinator should have $0 in discretionary spending. Having previously moved to give $10,000 in discretionary funding to the coordinator, the board members decided to follow the county attorney’s advice. The board chose to delete discretionary funds so all funds are accounted for before being dispersed.

The board approved Health First Kosciusko initiatives seeking funding through memorandums of understanding:

• Warsaw Community Schools will be given $247,000 for the remainder of 2025 for the Welcome Center.
• Living in Transition Effectively will receive $35,125 for Harm Reduction Kit purchases. The director of L.I.T.E. Tammy Cotton, spoke to board members and explained the self-care kits are handed out to whoever needs them in the community. The kits include bandages, alcohol wipes, gauze, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, condoms, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor and informational flyers about where to receive tests for HIV and HEPC. L.I.T.E. seeks to reduce risk in high-risk areas by providing these necessities at no cost.
• L.I.T.E. will receive $2,876 to compensate the staff for distributing the Harm Reduction Kits around Kosciusko County throughout the remainder of 2025.
• L.I.T.E. will receive $10,296 to compensate the staff for checking Naloxboxes throughout the remainder of 2025. The staff checks and refills some boxes as often as weekly in high risk areas, while some only need to be checked and refilled bi-monthly or even monthly. L.I.T.E. provides 18 Naloxboxes in Kosciusko County.

Live Well Kosciusko will form partnerships with coalitions and provide funding for informational campaigns and demonstrations.

Living Well With Diabetes and Breathe Well Coalition along with several others will receive a total of $110, 946.43. Board members look forward to seeing the demonstrations of cooking healthy meals.

The Breathe Well Coalition will work on tobacco cessation and prevention in Kosciusko County. The board members hope to see a focus on maternal and child health as well as disease prevention through core services.

In other business, a new part-time staff member, Rene LaRue, has been hired, but other new hires will be on hold until the funding for Kosciusko County is more clear for staffing costs.

The survey conducted by Parkview was mentioned, but the discussion will be saved for the next meeting when the board has all the results.

There was a brief discussion regarding ordinances for tattoo businesses in Kosciusko County. Members from the board  have talked with tattoo business owners about square footage of the businesses and construction of walls. There are plans to speak to the county commissioner before proceeding further.

The Indiana Vital Records Association will hold a Spring Conference in 2025.

The next Kosciusko County Board of Health meeting will be 6 p.m. July 21, in the old courtroom on the third floor in the Kosciusko County Courthouse..