Board of Health

City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services 18 Mulberry Street, Nashua, NH 03060 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING February 9, 2010 12:30 PM 18 Mulberry Street Nashua, NH 03062 MEETING MINUTES BOH Members Present: Dr. Anthony Storace Dr. Peter Klementowicz Dr. Ajay Sharma Aldermen Present: Laurie Wilshire Staff Present: Kerran Vigroux, Heidi Peek, Bob Mack, Bobbie Bagley, Patty Crooker, Ashley Conley, Chris Lister, Corinn Dembkoski Public Present: Two Students from Rivier College, Nashua, NH The Board was given the meeting Agenda, monthly departmental reports, current Board of Health budget and December BOH Meeting Minutes. There was no meeting in January, due to inclement weather. Meeting called to order at 12:44 p.m. by Dr. Storace - Quorum was met (Formal Meeting) 1. Request to vote on the December 2010 BOH Minutes. Vote was postponed to March meeting. 1 Department Reports Community Health – Bobbie Bagley presented  59 cases of communicable diseases during the month o Couple of cases of chicken pox, salmonella, GI clusters and strep in elementary schools  Public Health Clinic o Couple of people have died from staff infections, including a 24 year old male.  TB o Only one active case that we are providing therapy for  Person will be moving shortly. Our staff has worked very hard on this case.  STD testing o Sixty-five tests done during the month of February. o No positive HIV so far this year.  Immunizations o Still trying to move the flu vaccine  Gate City o Submitted a final report to the Endowment for Health o Thirteen individuals from Malaysia/Rowena are being integrated into the community  World TB Day o Will take place on March 23rd o Working with St. Joseph’s Hospital on this Grants/Child Care – Chris Lister presented  Childcare wait list suspended; funding available for child care requests  Working on rewriting grant for Lead, TB, Immunizations, STD/HIV and Tobacco Prevention and Control  Legislative Liaison hired by the Mayor to represent the City. Emergency Preparedness – Patty Crooker presented  Public Health Care Amendment o Unexpended funds from H1N1 were extended and will expire on June 30, 2011 o Will hire two part-time employees  One for vaccination planning/PODs and another to do warehouse work o Follow up done on Med Surge Plan o Flu Voucher program through the state and Walgreens  Free flu vaccines vouchers were distributed to the towns in our district.  Ashley Conley o Presented updates on the Community Health Assessment o Will give a presentation on February 22nd to go over the results of the Health Survey and will have that typed up and available at the March BOH meeting. o Two CHA Focus Groups will be meeting; one on March 3rd and one on March 7th.  The first group will consist of Key Informants and the other will consist of Medical Providers  Meetings will be held at the two local hospitals  2 Health Education – Corinn Dembkoski presented  Tobacco Grant o Working on pilot program with Cynthia Cahoon of the Cynthia Day Family Center, which is part of Keystone Hall. o Five week program will help support women who are there and need to stop smoking.  Kick Butts Day o Youth program o Working with Stacy Hynes  Working on the Websites o Making updates and changes  National Public Health Week: April 4 – 10 o Theme is “Safety is No Accident; Live Injury-Free”. o Different programs during the week will be held throughout the City. Environmental Health – Heidi Peek presented  Meredith is still out, so we are currently working with two inspectors covering all inspections.  Hot water problems caused a couple of temporary closures in the City.  Lots of meetings  Internal strategy planning  Two dog heads were submitted for rabies testing; results were negative  Weather has slowed things down; although trash is becoming an issue as the snow melts. Welfare - Bob Mack presented  No significant changes from last year at this time  Number of contacts may have gone down a little; perhaps due to “211”.  Interviews have remained consistent  Dealing with shelters o Highest need is with families; currently there are 45 families living in motels/hotels. Mediation – Bob Mack presented on behalf of Sandy Mulcahy  Volunteer Advisory Group o Getting more information out to the public including referrals. o Volunteers are stepping up and helping out. o Volunteer pool is running low  Marital Mediation is getting more of the focus at this time.  Victim Offenders Dialogue o This gives an opportunity for the victim of the offense to have a controlled dialogue with the offender. o This meeting is always initialized by the victim; never the offender  There seems to be more discussion about alternative dispute resolution in the court system. 3 Rabies Presentation by Heidi Peek  Copies of the presentation were given to the Board, and discussed the following: o Specific animal to human exposure o Type of exposures and what type of animal is was o Roles and responsibilities o Jurisdiction: Did the occurrence happen in Nashua. o Exposure: Discusses what constitutes exposure to rabies, ie., bats in the home. o Notification of bites o Who Does What? o Wild Animals: Controlled by Fish and Game, and the Animal Control Officer works with the Fish and Game. o Domestic Bites include dogs, cats and ferrets.  Owners are totally responsible for their animals o Generally, if we are available we will transport the specimens. Otherwise, the Animal Control Officer will handle the transportation. o The Police Department maintains reports about the bites, and we maintain the results. o Reporting of Results: Given to each person who is involved with the bite, including the transporter of the specimen, the victim or guardian, the veterinarian and physician o Discussion followed Heidi’s presentation:  This is an internal policy through the Incident Response Team  Either the police officer or the animal control officer speaks with the owner of the animal regarding vaccinations, etc.  Every time there is a bite in the City, we are informed electronically. Kerran Vigroux introduced the two students who attended today’s meeting as part of their course requirements. This was an appropriate meeting for them to attend. Public Comments None Public session closed Alderman Comments Lori announced the ribbon cutting for the Nashua Area Health Center which recently relocated. Motion to adjourn meeting: Dr. Sharma Seconded by: Dr. Klementowicz Meeting Ended: 1:16 p.m. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 18 Mulberry Street, Nashua, NH, 2nd floor, Conference Room B Respectfully submitted: Barbara A. Scacco Administrative Assistant II Public Health & Community Services 4