Board of Health

City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services 18 Mulberry Street, Nashua, NH 03060 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING October 13th, 2010 12:30 PM Second Floor Conference Room B – 18 Mulberry Street MEETING MINUTES BOH Members Present: Dr. Anthony Storace Dr. Peter Klementowicz Aldermen Present: None Staff Present: Kerran Vigroux, Ashley Conley, Corinn Dembkoski, Bob Mack, Barbara Scacco, Sandy Mulcahy, Nicole Losier (for Bobbie Bagley), Patty Crooker The Board was given the meeting Agenda, monthly departmental reports, current Board of Health budget and August BOH Meeting Minutes. Meeting called to order at 12:40 p.m. by Dr. Storace - Quorum was met (Formal Meeting) 1. Wanted to recognized Bobbie for her participation on TV for a Rivier College advertisement 2. Request to vote on the June and September Minutes. a. Motion made to accept the minutes-Dr. Storace b. Seconded by Dr. Klementowicz Department Reports Community Health – Nicole Losier presented on behalf of Bobbie Bagley  Cluster of Chicken Pox cases confirmed, however, not considered an outbreak, but will keep an eye on this.  A Rohingyan family of refugees arrived- a mom, dad and four children. They are now here in Nashua and have been seen by all programs as well as being connected to Gate City Health and Wellness Initiative, who are working with Lutheran Social Services to get them integrated within the community. 1   The flu vaccine has been received; we have begun immunizations here at the clinic as well as community based clinics. o School based clinics will begin on October 20th o New Nurse Practitioner, Joyce Fitch, has started with the clinic. o Dr. Storace asked if the Health Science students at Nashua High South could be utilized at the October 20th clinic.  Staff and others within Public Health & Community Services competed in a Kick Ball Tournament with St. Joseph’s Hospital and although they lost, everyone had a great time. Child Care – Kerran Vigroux presented on behalf of Chris Lister:  They are in the middle of doing narrative reports for the quarterly grants.  Endowment for Health has agreed to extend the Gate City Initiative funding through the end of December because of the arrival of the Rohingyan family last month. Foqia has done a fantastic job working with the family, as has Chris Caron’s husband, Henry, who speaks their language and picked them up at the airport.  The State has amended the current Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant with the remaining H1N1 funds. The CDC has given the go-ahead, and has given clear direction of how the money is to be spent.  In your packet, Chris has provided you with the break-down summary of the different grants to give you a sense of these various grants, how much they are for, the key deliverables, etc. Emergency Preparedness – Patty Crooker presented:  Patty and Ashley have been ICS 400 trained. o We’ll have a plan to get everyone in the division trained.  Five major exercises or events are planned over the next month  Health Assessment will be held next Saturday, training will be on Friday o Ashley will discuss that  Med Surge planning and workshop will be held November 19th, 2010 o Patty and Ashley both participated with this at the State level  The HAM Radio is here and set up and we will be exercising this in conjunction with the amateur radio group during the beginning November.  The amendment Kerran spoke about – the priority for this funding is to address the improvement areas that came about as a result of the after action meetings regarding H1N1 and must be specific to gaps in our improvement plans for influenza pandemic.  Completed our CDC Technical Assistance Review of Public Health Emergency Plans, and we had an increase of 14 points over the past year and look forward to a further increase next year when the closed POD training is completed. o Improvements made to our current plan that enabled us to increase our score to 84. o Implemented suggestions from the last TAR review and pulled out inaccuracies Health Education – Corinn Dembkoski presented  Showed video regarding World Rabies Day o Heidi and Corinn presented, and this showed on Channels 99 and 16  Hope to do additional Public Service Announcements  In the process of redesigning our website o She showed a slide of what the new website looks like 2   Facebook and Twitter o We post events, information and announcements o When something is posted on the website, it automatically downloads to both Facebook and Twitter  Tobacco o Attended different events and promoted the NH Quit Line  Both adults and children have shown interest o November 19th is the Great American Smoke Out  Will attend with hand-outs and will work with the schools and make sure they have posters o Dr. Storace asked if she had been working with the schools; ie. Health fairs, etc.  Corinn will look into this  Dr. Storace provided contact information at the schools Environmental Health – Kerran Vigroux presented on behalf of Heidi Peek  The state has released its plan to adopt the 2009 Food Code o Public Hearing next week o Concerns with what they plan to adopt, so Heidi and Kerran will attend  Mosquito season is over and very few ‘positives’ in this area.  Temporarily closed down the Sky Top Smoothies  Food Sampling o All samples passed and were within range  Meredith has worked hard with the Community Health Assessment, as well as septic.  Dr. Storace requested Lyme disease update. o If State provides a paper on this, that will be fine. Welfare - Bob Mack presented  Decline in shelter requests o Stimulus funds o Households are also doubling up. o Some people are beyond the ability for us to help them  Number of people receiving aid – we are down to 62% now from 74% last year at this time who actually received assistance.  Voucher count is down approximately 25%  Continue to refer people to shelters  Handing out cards with the Homeless Outreach phone number and email, so if someone sees a homeless person they this service. o The Homeless hotline is now open 24 hours a day … during the winter months.  The winter moratorium on utility disconnects begins mid November and continues until the end of May  Project Homeless Connect flyer was handed out o This event is taking place on November 30th from 12 noon – 4:00 p.m. o The Division will provide flu shots, pass out information for health care services, and environmental/housing information. 3 Mediation – Sandy Mulcahy presented  Attended a Division presentation given by the police department regarding drug abuse issues in the Nashua area. It was interesting to note that the biggest issue is prescription drugs.  Participated in the Strategic Planning Meeting with members of the Nashua School District Community Organizations and parents. Looking at school climate and communications with parents, families and schools.  Did reorientation with the Department of Corrections so that she can go into the State prison and do Victim Offender Dialogue Mediations.  Nashua COAD: Attended meeting and they are trying to get the group more organized.  Met with Corinn regarding promoting Mediation Programs using channels 16 and 99. Ashley Conley – Community Health Assessment Survey  Presented information regarding the upcoming Community Health Assessment Survey which will take place on Saturday, October 23rd, with training on Friday, the 22nd.  Made up of two subcommittees o Data Subcommittee and Health Survey Subcommittee  Doing media campaign and PSAs on the City website and cable stations  Distributing flyers  Requested data from DHHS on various health topics.  Photographers from the high school will be taking good and bad health photos. Dr. Storace stated that the budget request vote is tabled until the next BOH meeting. Ashley gave budget information: 1. Southern NH Medical Center donated $2,000 2. St. Joseph’s Hospital donated $2,000 3. Division of Public Health covered office supplies and postage, total $500 4. EP Grant gave $1,000 for the survey and exercise we are doing on the 23rd. 5. Hope to receive $2,000 from the BOH for the printing of the reports and small brochures / fact sheets. Motion to adjourn meeting: Dr. Anthony Storace Seconded by: Dr. Peter Klementowicz Meeting Ended: 1:20 p.m. Next meeting will be on Wednesday, November 10th, 2010. Respectfully submitted: Barbara A. Scacco Administrative Assistant Public Health & Community Services 4