Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health May 23, 2019 Present Absent Excused Dr. Drachler Mr. Usman Dr. Dave Mr. Abbasi Ms. Moy Wooten Dr. Gaynes Ms. Varma Dr. Prince Ms. Nickisch Duggan Mr. Pandya Ms. Jones Dr. Vernon Ms. Haido Dr. Sood Dr. Shim Dr. Werner Dr. Topouzian Dr. Williams Ms. Urbanus Dr. Youkhana Dr. Catherine Counard, Director of Health Mr. David Clough, Staff Guest: Sara Manewith, JCFS Response for Teens Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. by Dr. Drachler, Chairman. Approval of Minutes - The minutes from the April Board of Health meeting were approved. Dr. Drachler welcomed Dr. Tim Youkhana to the Board of Health and congratulated Jessica Jones on being appointed as the Vice Chair to the Board. He also reported that his appointment as Chairman had been renewed for another year. Sara Manewith, Director, JCFS Chicago, Response for Teens Ms. Manewith is the Director of Response for Teens, one of many programs available through JCFS. The organization was originally named Jewish Children and Family Services but was rebranded as JCFS to make clear that their services were for everyone regardless of faith or ethnicity. The organization still prides itself on being steeped in the traditional Jewish values of caring, community, family, expertise, responsiveness, and serving the whole person. JCFS provides an extensive range of services. They have locations in west Rogers Park, Skokie, Buffalo Grove, and Northbrook. Youth services include a therapeutic day school, integrated pediatric therapies, psychological testing, and Response for Teens. Adult services include counseling, mediation, support groups, career and employment services, immigration services, and addiction treatment. Services for people with disabilities include group homes, independent living support, a specialized recreational camp for children and teens, job training, and legal representation. Response for Teens has been around for 50 years and has always tried to stay on the cutting edge of services needed by teens. They serve adolescents and young adults from ages 12 to 24 with a focus on developing the communication, decision-making, and leadership skills they will need to deal with life’s challenges. All services focus on empowering teens to make healthy life choices. At Response there are 5 clinicians and a psychiatric nurse practitioner who work with teens on issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, and gender identity and sexuality issues. There is also an outreach and 553133v1 education team that works in the community through schools, synagogues, and youth serving organizations to provide health and wellness education. Their most requested service is sexuality and relationship education which includes topics like puberty, boundaries and consent, healthy relationships, and basic sex education including STD and pregnancy prevention. Other programs include bullying, body image, social media, relationship violence, and sex trafficking. There are also education modules targeting parents and professionals who work with teens concerning LGBTQ and adolescent development issues. Most of their gender and sexuality education modules reach Illinois State Board of Education standards as well as national standards. Response had a partnership with Mt. Sinai Health Center to provide sexual and reproductive health services in their offices a few days a week. Due to funding issues that partnership recently ended after forty years. JCFS is looking for new ways to provide these important services to the community. Current efforts include supported pregnancy testing and counseling, web based FAQs, and exploring a pilot program for Peer Health Ambassadors trained in the local high schools. With that, Ms. Manewith concluded her presentation. Dr. Drachler asked how JCFS is funded. Ms. Manewith answered that JCFS has a 38 million dollar budget. JCFS gets significant funding from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and the remainder is from a multitude of public and private granting organizations. Dr. Drachler asked how teens find Response. Ms. Manewith replied that many come from their community outreach efforts in the schools and others are encouraged to seek it out by their parents. Dr. Counard asked if services were supplied in multiple languages. Ms. Manewith responded that a number of services from JCFS, the immigration services in particular, were available from multilingual service providers but Response was currently limited to English only. Director’s Monthly Report – a copy is attached Highlights included: • 9th Annual Public Health Partners in Excellence Awards Each year the Board of Health and Health Department recognize two entities for their outstanding contributions to public health in the Village. Awards were presented at the April 1st Board of Trustees meeting, in conjunction with National Public Health Week. This year's award recipients were: • Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital (located in Skokie) for accepting unclaimed stray pets that are not cars or dogs, and finding these animals homes. • The Skokie Chamber of Commerce for supporting public health efforts to reduce the use of tobacco products in Skokie. The Chamber most recently spoke in favor of passing Skokie’s Tobacco 21 Law. • Erie Evanston/Skokie Health Center Expansion Celebration The long awaited expansion of the Erie Evanston/Skokie Health Center was celebrated on April 3. Responding to ongoing need in the community, the Center capacity has been #553133v1  doubled to 7,000 patients. So many Skokie representatives were in attendance that a separate ribbon-cutting for our group was required! Dr. Counard urged Board members to refer patients to Erie now that their capacity has expanded and Northshore is moving 18 family medicine residents and faculty to the site. • Medical Reserve Corps: Collaborative Healthcare Urgency Group presentation CHUG is a non-profit mutual-aid system to handle emergencies in long term care facilities, which has assisted the six Skokie facilities to develop plans and conduct evacuation exercises. One facility has already dealt with a failure of their HVAC system without any injuries using their CHUG training. Dr. Drachler pointed out that Dr. Counard was recently interviewed for the “It’s Skokie” podcast and encouraged Board of Health members to listen to it. Dr. Drachler and Ms. Varma complemented Dr. Counard on her performance on the podcast. Old Business Dr. Drachler mentioned his presentation to the Board of Trustees for the Board of Health budget hearing. The Trustees were appreciative of the all that the Board of Health does to support the Skokie community. Dr. Drachler also suggested to the Trustees that they actively promote business recycling. Providing financial incentives to encourage recycling, rather than sending waste to the landfill, might be effective. Dr. Drachler reported that the Skokie Resilient Communities Collaborative (SRCC) was continuing with its Adverse Childhood Experiences work. Dr. Drachler stated that there is a push nationwide for Tobacco 21 laws. Some tobacco companies are urging adoption the laws as well, but they are doing it to promote vaping as an alternative. Recruitment for the SAHELI initiative is now occurring at the Muslim Community Center (MCC), with the assistance of Ms. Dilnaz Waraich following her meeting with the Board of Health last month. Dr. Williams asked if the Board of Health might be interested in sponsoring a community vaping presentation like the tobacco presentations they had done in the past. Mr. Clough reported on vaping education in the high schools done in collaboration with PEER services. Dr. Williams added that he spoke about vaping during the Dental Society midwinter meeting with nearly 500 in attendance. He offered to give the same presentation for the Skokie community. Dr. Counard recommended speaking with Mr. Richard Kong about presenting at the library when he comes to present in June. New Business Dr. Drachler recommended holding the summer Board of Health dinner on Thursday, August 8th, and those resent unanimously agreed. The Board discussed possible restaurants for the event, including the Cheesecake Factory, Ruby of Siam, and Pho Phu Lihn. #553133v1 Ms. Jones pointed out that two Board members have new babies and suggested picking a restaurant with a child friendly environment to make it easier for them to attend. It was also recommended that the Board select a locally owned restaurant rather than a chain. Dr. Drachler reminded the Board Members that their annual group photo would be taken before the next meeting on June 13th. Dr. Counard reported that the Village has launched the new website. She requested Board members review the Board of Health web page and provide feedback. The meeting was adjourned at 8:01 PM. Next meeting: Thursday, June 13 at 7:00 PM Village Hall 5127 Oakton Street DON’T FORGET THE GROUP PHOTO!!!! #553133v1