Board of Health

CITY OF SALEM BOARD OF HEALTH MEETING MINUTES January 12, 2016 Approved MEMBERS PRESENT:, Dr. Shama Alam, Chair, Paul Kirby, Janet Greene, & Dr. Jeremy Schiller OTHERS PRESENT: Larry Ramdin, Health Agent, Council Liaison Beth Gerard, Eric Rampila, Public Health Nurse, Joyce Redford, Dir. NSATPP & Heather Lyons-Paul Clerk of the Board TOPIC DISCUSSION/ACTION 1. Call to Order 7:00pm P. Kirby motioned to take item #6 of the agenda out of order. J. Greene 2nd. All in favor 2. Minutes of Last Meeting J. Greene motioned to approve the minutes. P. Kirby 2nd All in (Dec 8, 2015) favor 3.Orginization of the Board Voting for Clerk and Chair. Dr. Alam motioned to nominate Heather Lyons-Paul as the Clerk of the Board. P. Kirby 2nd. No other nominations made. All in Favor J. Greene motioned to nominated Dr. Alam as Chair of the Board. Dr. Schiller 2nd. No other nominations made. All in Favor 4. Chairperson Announcements Dr. Alam discussed and reviewed meeting protocol with the Board and Department. 5. Monthly Reports-Updates A. Public Health Nurse’s *The DPH, CDC and The W.H.O. sent notification stating there is Report no longer a need to monitor Ebola in the US at this time. *Latent TB is down. Copy available at the BOH office B. Health Agent’s Report * D. Greenbaum, Sr. Sanitarian attended the Salem Hospital determination of need hearing. Factor 9 funding will be available. Another meeting will be scheduled on the near future. Dr. Alam provided an update on DPH public hearing in Salem on NSMC consolidation. *Dr. Alam met with the Mayor and the Mayor raised the issue of shared kitchens regulations and whether any are in place. *Dr. Alam requested that L. Ramdin post guidelines for a shared kitchen on the Department website. Copy available at the BOH office  C. Administrative Report L. Ramdin provided update on budget process. Dr. Alam requested workload metrics vial email- to support 2nd Clerk Request. Copy available at the BOH office P. Kirby motioned to accept reports. Dr. Schiller 2nd All in favor. Motion Passed D. City Council Liaison *No update regarding home rule petition status. Updates *L. Ramdin brought to Councilor Liaison Beth Gerard attention the issue with bath salts, synthetic marijuana, and drug paraphernalia. He suggested a City Ordinance might be the right step to take since the police and health inspectors do not have the authority over the selling of these items. Lynn has a City Ordinance that L. Ramdin will bring to the next meeting. *L. Ramdin also brought to the Boards attention concerns about smoking in places frequented by children and suggested that the Board may want to consider prohibiting the same as nearby communities or similar. * Council Liaison B. Gerard will invite the Opiate Coalition to present on their work to the City Council 6. Joyce Redford Director of *P. Kirby would like a version of the tobacco inspection results North Shore/Cape Ann Alcohol an Excel file that J. Redford provided to the Board members. and Tobacco Policy Program – *Grant for the North Shore Alcohol and tobacco Policy Continued discussion on Program has been extended to Dec 31, 2016. program policy and procedures *J. Redford provided update regarding tobacco 21 adoption. on the market Swampscott has adopted tobacco 21 to the regulations. Peabody and Marblehead are in the process of adopting tobacco 21. Boston has now voted on tobacco 21. There is also a Bill at the state level for the entire state to increase the purchasing age to 21. *J. Redford gave a presentation on flavored tobacco products. She had samples of different flavored nicotine products that she handed to the Board. At the federal level there is a flavor restriction on cigarettes. Flavors are still allowed in cigars and cigarillos. The Saugus Board of Health will be meeting on Feb 1, 2016 about drafting a regulation for flavor restrictions. There are 40 communities in the Commonwealth that have a flavor restriction in their regulations. The Board showed interested in looking into banning flavored tobacco and would like J. Redford to bring a draft regulation to the meeting in March. *J. Redford will provide data on flavors, draft language, and present the flavor survey for the Board. *Discussion on 2nd offense suspensions. J. Redford suggested to the Board that they not call in the 2nd offenses tobacco violations unless they request a hearing as this can be handled administratively by the Health Agent as is done in other communities. The Board asked for a copy of the tobacco violation letter template, and the motion made by Martin Fair to be brought to  the next meeting for discussion. Dr. Alam would also like to meet with L. Ramdin and the City Solicitor regarding changing procedures to allow the Health Agent to enforce the suspensions for 2nd violations and whether a motion is needed to change this policy. *Salem Hospital has formed an overdose task force. 7. Opioid epidemic prevention * On March 5, 2016, Salem State University will be offering measures discussion an in service update for social workers discussing the epidemic. *There are two community events that the city supports; Overdose Awareness Day and an Awareness Walk. The general consensus is to continue these events. *Task force meeting discussed developing a tool for Human Resources to inform them and staff on dealing with this addiction. *L. Ramdin is meeting with School Dept. about underage drinking problems. *The task forced encouraged building a grass roots organization and Ramdin will be working with the Mayor and Liaison on this. *L. Ramdin is also working on getting the Anonymous People video screened at the Salem Cinema. *Needle exchange program discussion. There is a state funded program available. The Worcester Board of Health Chair discussed this with P. Kirby. L. Ramdin will get some data for the Board on this topic and will also find out if there is a need for this type of program here. * The Salem Police has a prescription medication take back program that is funded by the DEA. Medications can be dropped off at the police station at any time. The city also offers a needle drop off at the main Fire Station on New Derby Street that is also open 24 hours a day. 8. Protocol for evaluating Health *Discussion on evaluation form. Agent The Mayor is also starting an evaluation process for Department Heads that will include goal settings to measure incentive programs and needs for departments. *Dr. Alam to discuss form and process with the Mayor, HR Director, and City Solicitor for input before next meeting *Vote on final evaluation form at next meeting * Discussed 360* feedback process Discussed proposal to ask select staff on a rotating basis for evaluation feedback. Is it helpful for staff to do these evaluations or should it being just Board members? P. Kirby motioned that Dr. Alam forward the evaluation  form to key stake holders and request their input on the content and continue discussion on the process of a 360 review vs just the Board. Dr. Schiller 2nd All in Favor Motion passed. Next meeting evaluation tool and process to be approved for adoption in March. 9. New Business / Scheduling of future *Continuation of protocols for evaluating Health Agent. agenda items *Tobacco violation process to allow Health Agent to enforce suspensions for second violations *Invite J. Redford to March meeting to discuss tobacco flavor restrictions. 10. MEETING ADJOURNED: P. Kirby motioned to adjourn the meeting. J. Greene 2nd All in favor. Motion passed 9:51pm Respectfully submitted, Heather Lyons-Paul Clerk of the Board Next regularly scheduled meeting is February 9, 2016 at 7pm At City Hall Annex, 120 Washington Street, Room 313 Salem.