Jackson County Health Improvement Partners (JCHIPs)

PRESENT: Lisa L. Brown, (Jackson Co. Health Dept.), Patsy Smith (Extension Office), Tonnie Walters (Passport – Molina), Jessica Fischer (Laurel Co. Drug Court), Traci Welch (KY River Foothills – KYNECT)

Welcome to today’s meeting. Thank you to all who participated in our 26th Annual Mountain Fest Health Fair. We had a total of 19 agencies to set up, plus the JROTC that came and helped us again. We had a total of roughly 132 to come through. The breakdown of that is: Male: 44 Female: 88 <5: 5 5-12 yrs.: 5 13-18: 17 19-49: 53 50-64: 48 65+: 5

We had a discussion about the Senior Citizen Center and how that funding has been cut and how we can help. Follow their page and see about their fundraisers, etc. to help them.
Jackson Co. Health Department H.A.N.D.S. Program: HANDS is an in-home program where we go over their babies growth, milestone checklist and give resources to those who need things. We do prenatal and babies up to 3 years of age. We must have them on the program before they are 6 months old, but they have to have the assessment part done prior to 3 months old. We currently are serving 62 families. If you would like to know more about HANDS or know of a family that would be interested in our services, please contact Joy Brock RN at 1-606-287-8421 ext. 1725.

Extension Service: Patsy reported that the Farmers Market has been busy, and they have two more weeks on Wednesday and Friday at McKee. They have been calling the ones with the Senior cards to get them to come in and spend so the program will not be cut by 50 cards next year like it was this year. November 6th the Jackson County Cancer Fund raiser will be at their conference center. November 13th & 14th will be the Holiday Bazaar.

It is $20 to set up to sell. They will be doing a baking class November 3rd for 3 weeks. They will have the Holiday Cooking School at the London Community Center. This is $25 and they will have guest speakers and you get a free cookbook and get to sample there from the recipes from the book.

Laurel County Drug Court: Jessica said that their Drug Court Graduation would be December 8th at 6:00 p.m. at the Calvary Baptist Church in London. This is the first time that they will have a theme. The theme is Choices and they will have keynote speakers that are two veterans. They will be doing the Pledge of Allegiance also. Lisa discussed that it was mentioned that McKee needed a Blessing Box also.

KY River Foothills – KYNECT: Traci said that she was glad to set up and be a part of the Health Fair. Traci had previously worked out of the county and is learning all the things that our county has to offer. Traci told us about the Mommy and Me program at the Library at 11:00 a.m. on the 28th. It is the fourth Wednesday of the month. She will be trying to attend that and that is also the same time as the Hands and Feet Ministries food give away. Boo Fest will be on the 29th of October, and she will be attending that, the Health Department will be also. She will be trying to get involved with the re-entry program at the Jackson County Detention Center.

Passport Molina: Tonnie said that they have a Baby Basics pantry there at the office in Hazard that anyone can get. They have trainings coming up and she will send a flyer.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 17th, 2026 at Noon. Hope to see you there! We don’t usually have meetings in December due to the holidays, so this will be the last one of 2026!