Board of Health

City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services 18 Mulberry Street, Nashua, NH 03060 BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING September 12, 2012 12:30 PM 18 Mulberry Street Nashua, NH 03062 MEETING MINUTES BOH Members Present: Dr. Anthony Storace, Dr. Peter Klementowicz, Dr. Ajay Sharma Aldermanic Liaison: Lori Wilshire Staff Present: Patty Crooker, Ashley Conley, Heidi Peek, Corinn Dembkoski, Barbara Scacco, Bob Mack Public Present: Dr. Alexander Granok Meeting called to order at 12:45 p.m. by Dr. Storace 1. Vote on the August 8, 2012 meeting Minutes: a. Motion by Dr. Storace to approve the August 8, 2012 Minutes b. Motion seconded by Dr. Klementowicz c. All in Favor: Aye 2. Dr. Ajay Sharma will attend the Tick Borne Diseases in NH: 2012 Update Dinner Lecture on Wednesday, September 26, 2012. 1  Department Reports Community Health – Notes are taken from Department Report  Immunization Program o Immunization clinics are ongoing and planning is underway to provide school flu clinics and community flu clinics. o School health records reviewed at infant Jesus and St. Christopher’s School. o Two Refugee families attended clinic for immunizations and testing.  Healthy Homes o Healthy Homes strategic planning continues o One home visit with family of 5 children with mildly elevated Blood Lead Levels. Will participate in lead-safe cleaning demonstration and will receive cleaning supplies and visit from Healthy Homes Outreach Worker. o One new Lead poisoned case opened. Family working with CHD staff. o Six Lead cases are being followed by CHD.  TB Program Highlights o 8 LTBI cases reported during the month of August (1 high risk, 7 low risk). Continue to follow 18 pending cases (12 high risk, 6 low risk). o 30 TB skin tests were performed in August – 5 positive.  Other updates o Participation in Hepatitis C Clinics in Stratham and Manchester as well as provided one public health nurse twice weekly throughout August to assist with communicable disease cases at DHHS. Health Education and Tobacco – Presented by Corinn Dembkoski  National Night Out Event – August 7, 2012 at the Boys and Girls Club o This is a crime and drug prevention event and is sponsored by the Nashua Police Department. o The Division participated with a resource table which consisted of hand-outs, such as tobacco cessation, emergency preparedness, immunization information, and tick and mosquito safety.  Children’s Day Event – August 23rd at the Nashua Public Library o In addition to our resource table, we brought the Outreach Van and offered immunizations for both kids and adults. o Although not many immunizations were given, we spoke with a lot of families and told them about our clinic and the hours.  National Tobacco Conference – August 14-17, 2012 in Kansas City, MO. o Networked with people from across the country o Learned about the efforts being made in tobacco prevention and cessation at the local, state and national levels. o Had the opportunity to network with tobacco prevention coordinators to enhance the work I do for the Greater Nashua region. 2   Tobacco Prevention and Control Program o Susan Morrison, Health Promotion Advisor for DHHS Tobacco Prevention and Control Program; Barbara Scacco and I went to Amherst Park Apartments to conduct a Smoke- Free Housing Seminar.  This property, along with several others, is looking to go smoke-free.  I will help them put a policy in place and be a resource for residents o Went to the Homeless Shelter on 9/11 to discuss and promote smoking cessation.  16 people voluntarily came to this presentation. Environmental Health – Presented by Heidi Peek  There was an emergency response due to a temporary loss of electricity at three food establishments located at 300 Main Street. o Affected foods were discarded  Visited 9 food service establishments to address potential interruption of water while Pennichuck installed and completed testing of new water lines.  44 annual licenses issued; 3 new license holders issued licenses; 41 annual licenses renewed and 3 temporary licenses issued  Arboviral Surveillance/Control o West Nile Virus Mosquito/IRT coordination meeting o Three positive batches from same trap location o Distributed informational posters for senior and public housing and parks o DEET package distribution for City cemetery workers and homeless population o Developed and posted slides for Channel 16 on protection measures o Updated the Public Health Advisory o Media contact with WMUR, Nashua Telegraph, Nashua Patch and Hippo Press  Bed Bugs o Heidi and Amanda participated in a presentation on bed bugs for the Library Staff  HEP C Clinics o Both Amanda and April participated in the Stratham HEP C Clinic Emergency Preparedness – Presented by Patty Crooker and Ashley Conley  Hepatitis C o Employees from the Division of Public Health & Community Services staffed six Hepatitis C Testing Clinics overseen by the NH DHHS o Our Epidemiologist and Communicable Disease nurse each continue to support the HCV response by working one to two days a week in Concord at DPHS  Social Media o Greater Nashua Public Health is now on Facebook.  This will serve as an additional tool in pushing Emergency Preparedness information out to the community during an emergency event. o Greater Nashua Public Health Website  This will allow partners to have web-based access to the current versions of regional Emergency Preparedness plans and resource documents. A presentation on using this site will be provided at the Regional Coordinating Committee meeting on September 18th. 3   Ashley discussed surveillance of the H3N2 flu, which originated in pigs and also contains a gene from the H1N1 pandemic. Welfare - Bob Mack presented  There was a decrease in the expenditures in August, compared to the same month last year.  Contact numbers were also down.  The percentage of people we did assist was greater than for the same time last year.  The number of vouchers was lower during the month of August.  We assisted 22 families and 0 individuals in emergency motel placements in August o Referred 7 families and 4 individuals to public shelters and/or homeless outreach during August. Dr. Storace asked about the Drug Take Back  Corinn explained that this will be taking place on September 29th and that flyers are by the Welfare office. She has been promoting this and it will be in the newspaper.  Dr. Storace: o Questions: None o Closed this part of the session  Public Comments o None o Public session closed Dr. Storace requested that the meeting go into Executive Session. Motion to Adjourn by Dr. Storace Seconded by Dr. Sharma All in favor: Aye Meeting Ended at 1:15 PM. In accordance with the 2012 BOH Meeting Schedule, the next BOH Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 12:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Barbara A. Scacco Administrative Assistant II City of Nashua Division of Public Health & Community Services 4