Polyanna Elton, Hospice Home Care and Brittany Cox, Hospice Executive Director gave the program for the Dumas Chamber of Commerce Lunch Tuesday, September 7.
Cox highlighted their Palliative Community Resources program with a nurse practitioner that offers house calls to patients in addition to their regular health care and bridges into hospice. The program helps to educate and provide more support for families who can't travel to and from the doctor The hospice also operates their own food pantry and provides food to patients based on their need. They offered to help with the Blessing Box. Hospice Home Care hosted the chamber lunch.
The Dumas Chamber of Commerce approved the July minutes. The chamber had an income of $4,000 with expenses of $4,047.01 with a year to date income of $18,009.69. They approved the August financial statement.
University of Arkansas Monticello College of Technology-McGehee, Mayor Flora Simon, and DePaul Health Services gave their reports.
Bob Ware, Chancellor of UAM College of Technology-McGehee introduced a Jessica Allen, of McGehee as the new Project Coordinator for UAM COT-McGehee. She will be working with concurrent credit for the high schools and Federal Rep program. The UAM COT-McGehee recently finished a bulldozer class and will be starting a new 8 week class for training in backhoe, bulldozer and CDL starting in January. The class is separate from their heavy equipment course.
Mayor Flora Simon reported on three continuing projects. They will be starting the construction level on the Dumas/Winchester Project. They finally obtain the necessary easements to start the projects and will be closing loans next week to start collecting bids for the job. Simon said they hoped to complete Winchester, Pickens and Mitchellville projects by 2023. Dumas received a grant to repair drainage for Belmont and Robinwood Drives to repair damage from past drainage issues. They received a $400,000 grant for water and sewer projects. The city approved the purchase SkyCop to increase safety in parks and for streets with speeding issues. The Dumas Development Committee is working on a community survey to determine Dumas' strength and weaknesses and what Dumas does or doesn't need. The results will be presented to focus groups from a variety of demographics and backgrounds. They will use the results to make decisions about how they can help Dumas in the future.
The City Council voted to use Dumas funds to work on city parks including Magnolia Park to update equipment and make them more user friendly. A grant will help pay for the renovations for Memorial Park.
Jane Pelkki, DePaul Community Health Services Dietitian introduced DePaul's new programs. DePaul will be introducing Blessing Boxes in Desha and Lincoln County. A Blessing Box is a small food pantry that houses non-perishable food and hygiene products will be available to anyone 24/7. DePaul will be working with the Dumas Food Pantry and other local organizations. Pelkki asked for volunteers to help build, locations and sponsors the boxes. DePaul will hosting a 12-week online weight loss class that will cost $40 per person.
