Board of Health

City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services 18 Mulberry Street, Nashua, NH 03060 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MINUTES January 13th, 2010 12:30 PM Meeting called to order at 12:45 by Dr. Anthony Storace - Quorum was not met (Informal Meeting) BOH Members Present: Dr. Anthony Storace, Chair Aldermen Present: Lori Wilshire, Aldermanic Liaison Staff Present: Chris Lister, Heidi Peek, Ashley Conley, Patty Crooker, Barbara Scacco, Sharon Vuppula, Robert Mack, Kerran Vigroux, Sandy Mulcahy, Janet Graziano Introductions: Janet Graziano, Financial Manager Lori Wilshire, Aldermanic Liaison Department Reports: A. Community Health B. Community Services a. Child Care/Grants b. Emergency Preparedness C. Environmental Health D. Welfare a. Mediation The Staff was given the meeting Agenda, monthly departmental reports for review, current Board of Health budget and the 2010 calendar of BOH meetings. Community Health – Bobby Bagley presented: Bobbie spoke of the statistics and monthly report. The immunization school-based clinics have been a success and will hopefully continue in the future. The children vaccinated totaled over 754 children in 7 schools. There were cases of Swartzengrund Salmonella reported. A 16 year old and a 61 year old were identified. Through case investigation, the common link found between these two cases was meals delivered on Thanksgiving Day by Hudson Fish and Game. They served over 1,100 meals, so we feel other people may have become sick too, but may have assumed it was the flu. Both people have recovered. It is believed that these two cases may have been more susceptible due to underlying co- morbidities. 1 Emergency Preparedness – Patty Crooker presented: The H1N1 Clinics have done very well. During the month of December there were five clinics, and we vaccinated over 3,600 people through these clinics as well as our Public Health Clinic. We staged alphabetically by last name and that seemed to work well for that particular clinic. Dr. Storace stated that there was a clinic where people called in and were given a number rather than having them stand in line, etc. The next clinic is on January 23rd at Milford High School, and Rivier nursing students will be volunteering as vaccinators. Dr. Storace has received good feedback from the high schools, and would like us to continue using the Health Services students….they like to do this sort of thing. H1N1 has slowed down and school absenteeism is down as well. There were 27 people hospitalized for H1N1, most between the ages of 0-4 years. Many were also asthma cases. Child Care - Chris Lister presented: Chris presented an overview of all of the grants in the Division and gave copies to Dr. Storace and Lori Wilshire. Nashua Community College is working toward a new Child Development Program, and Chris and Kerran serve on the Advisory Committee. Environmental Health - Heidi Peek presented: The Environmental group has been involved in the H1N1 clinics. The seasonal activities include checking water quality of the pools: hotels and nursing homes. There also was the end of year checking of Asian Restaurants. Things went well and will be doing this on a regular basis. The Fish and Game Club at Horse Pond holds a game dinner and we want to check off other dishes served at this event. Howard and Heidi went to court regarding a flea infestation. Heidi also had to appear to testify during a custody hearing involving a meth lab. Bed bugs are a constant, but we are getting information out to help people on how to control this. Nashua may not require a professional company to come in for bedbugs. Information is distributed by EH on a daily basis regarding bedbugs. HIV and HepB remain within the guts of the bedbugs, but have never been shown to be transferred to humans. In regard to food services, Heidi also mentioned that there needs to be a protocol for license suspension/revocation. It needs to be reasonable, responsible and evenly enforced. It’s better to have the Food Code adhered to rather than carrying a big stick. We need to educate people if they are trying to improve. The Division doesn’t endorse scoring, but relies heavily on education. Kerran will act as Deputy Health officer when Heidi is not available. Also discussed was Heidi’s packet of the Nashua Revised Ordinances. A copy was given to Lori Wilshire and she will help with this if legislation needs to be put in and will bring it to the Board of Aldermen. Dr. Storace feels this is an important and timely issue for the BOH to act on, and requested that Heidi include hard copies when the next meeting minutes are sent. Welfare - Bob Mack presented: Welfare has seen a decline over the past few months for the need of general assistance. However, he feels that this may not last because applications are increasing. Bob will watch for trends in fuel assistance, stimulus money for the social service program, and assistance in unemployment benefits. He is on track with his budget right now. 2 We participated in this year’s Toys for Tots distribution, which showed lower numbers of donations. However, at the 11th hour, there was a push in gifts, gaps were filled and lots of gifts were given. Assistance from the Parks Department was helpful and we appreciate their support. Mediation – Sandy Mulcahy presented: Mediation was slower in December; however, there is an increase now in the calls since the holidays are over. Sandy has been involved in NCC Peace and Justice Program and a new peer program at Nashua South. The Disaster Behavioral Health Response Team has been active and helpful at all of our flu clinics. She also noted that the student nurses seemed excited about helping out at the clinics as well. Community Services - Kerran Vigroux presented: Project Homeless Connect, which was held on December 9th at Harbor Homes on High Street, was a successful event and the Board of Health helped with donations of money, items and 120 totes which were given out. The remaining 30 will be given out as needed on the outreach van. Dr. Storace would like to do this every year and possibly in conjunction with the American Dental Association. Bob Mack added, this year we had concern about the number of people who would be there because of a snow storm. We had approximately 120 households represented and 168 people who were either homeless or at risk. The event gave them access to good information, as well as haircuts, medical screening, give-away items, housing support programs and mental health services. There were approximately 100 coats and other winter items given out. About 25 agencies participated, and the agencies themselves enjoyed being part of this event. According to Bobbie, the clinic was used to vaccinate people with both the H1N1 and Seasonal vaccines. A total of 168 people received vaccines: 164 adults and 4 teenagers. The clinic was a good space for the vaccine clinic and was very successful. Motion to Adjourn informational meeting. Meeting Ended: 1:35 p.m. 3