A 44-thousand dollar grant is given to the Fort-Wayne-Allen County Health department to help with the record number of Burmese requiring health services this year. An estimated 8-hundred refugees will seek medical help this year... Up almost 2-hundred from last year... And almost triple the number from 2006. The Allen County Health Commissioner says a grant to add a part-time interpreter to the staff is a "blessing."

Dr. Deborah McMahan: “It can be overwhelming. There are a lot of health issues associated. This population tends to have higher rates of TB infection, which is not contagious. The grant a full-time interpreter that will be housed in the department that will be on-site, because we are doing screenings and training and assessment of refugees almost everyday now. That will be a real help to have an on-site translator."

The grant came from The Saint Joe Community Health Foundation Council members have to o-k the grant, first.

Also Monday night, Board members signed-off on a law that would ban temporary on-site food vendors. If County Commissioners agree, current vendors, like traveling barbeque stands, would have to close-shop by 2010. Health Department officials say the law would put the county in line with state rules. The ban would not affect festivals and fairs. County commissioners are expected to vote by late summer.