Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health Thursday, January 12, 2023 7:00 pm Board of Health Members Zoom/Virtual Meeting MINUTES Present: BOH Chair: Dr. Edward Linn; BOH Members: Dr. Swapna Dave, Dr. Bruce Gaynes, Juliet Haido, Maureen Hanlon, Margaret Keeler, Dr. Girija Kalyan Kumar, Dr. Jeremy Schwartz, Jan Shiffman, Dr. Kyungran Shim, Romil Sood, Patricia Urbanus, Irtaza Usman, Ruth Varma, Dr. William Werner, Dr. Larry Williams, Sibyl Yau; Emeritus Member: Dr. Michael Drachler; Staff: Mike Charley, Liz Nelson; Trustee Liaison Keith Robinson, Absent/Excused: BOH Members: Heidi Nickisch Duggan, Rohit Pandya, Trustee James Johnson; Staff: Jennifer Davis, Cameron Hendricks Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfJQT1zq6u0 I. Call to Order II. Approval of Agenda: Approved, first by Williams, second by Yau III. Approval of Minutes, December 8, 2022: Approved, first by Williams, second by Werner IV. Chair’s Report, Dr. Linn: Dr. Linn communicated that the State of Illinois recently approved firearms legislation to limit access to certain kinds of firearms. Good news is we are seeing a drop in influenza and RSV infections and therefore a reduction in hospitalizations. Regarding COVID news, the vaccination rate for the bivalent booster is still very low nation-wide for individuals that are eligible with a 20% uptake. The variant of concern that is emerging is the XBB variant, which is being observed now in the northeast. Some experts at saying that this variant is different than the original strain in that it may be resistant to current line of therapies. This variant is believed to be highly contagious. Wastewater analysis two weeks ago found very little COVID detected, two weeks later COVID is now being detected, which may be a sign of an increase in future infections. Main individuals at risk for COVID are over the age of 65 or the immune challenged. There are recent studies showing the bivalent booster is effective, which is good news. V. BOH Recurring 3 Minute/Person Introductions: Dr. Linn, Sibyl Yau & Margaret Keeler (History, Why Applied for BOH?): Three BOH members introduced themselves: Sibyl Yau: Sibyl is a Registered Nurse, graduating from Loyola in 1981 and got her Nursing Administration Masters in 1993. A Skokie resident for 33 years. She joined the BOH to get more involved and giving back to the community. She joined the BOH in Document Number: 605532 Version: 1  February 2020. Margaret Keeler: Margaret is a practicing Physician Assistant. She works in primary and urgent care for the last four years. Worked previously for the Cook County Department of Public Health and Evanston Health Department. She moved to Skokie two years ago and joined the Board of Health at that time. She joined the BOH to contribute to the community. Dr. Ed Linn: Dr. Linn went to Niles West. He was a Biology major at University of Illinois, then went on to the University of Chicago School of Medicine. He was a practicing OBGYN physician. He has worked at Michael Reese hospital, St. Joseph hospital, Rush University, Lutheran General hospital, Rush North Shore (Menopausal Medicine) and the Cook County Health System (run OB-GYN Department). He joined the BOH after meeting with Mayor Van Dusen and past BOH chair Dr. Drachler. He wanted to give back to the community. VI. IPLAN Update, Liz Nelson, Public Health Program Coordinator/Analyst: Liz provided updates on the IPLAN process, including that the current IPLAN needs assessment process started in July 2022. MAPP is the assessment tool being used. On November 18, 2022 stakeholders selected three public health problems/priorities to address over the next five years: Access to Healthcare, Access to Mental Health and Affordable Housing. The next steps in the IPLAN process is to build a strong collective impact network. Next steps will include collecting additional data and meeting with key stakeholders (action teams) to identify measurable goals and strategies to achieve those goals. Dr. Williams communicated that the Niles Township food bank is an excellent resource to educate residents and that he would participate on one of the action teams. Dr. Shim stated that with State Medicaid extension, anyone over 45 is eligible for State Medicaid programs. What are we doing to assist individuals to sign up for programs? Access to mental health, she is seeing lots of substance abuse issues. Liz Nelson communicated that the community stakeholders didn’t bring up substance abuse as one of the IPLAN priorities to address specifically. In addition, state data didn’t support substance abuse as a priority. Additional data review is going to be completed. Dr. Williams feels like oral health literacy is important. He recommended the new 988 number should be promoted to residents. He would like to see oral health gain some traction as a priority. Mike Charley communicated that at the next BOH meeting, members of the Village’s Co-Responder Team will be presenting on working with individuals in crisis. He also related that the Village has pushed out information on the 988 number to the public in the weekly SkokieNews. Dr. Linn encouraged BOH members to get involved with the IPLAN process and to reach out to Mike Charley or Liz Nelson if wanting to get involved. VII. Director’s Monthly Report, Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Mike provided updates on COVID-19 data in Skokie & Illinois, staffing updates, information on Document Number: 605532 Version: 1  the Senior’s Matter Pilot Rideshare program, grant updates and updates on the Assist a Family program. Pat Urbanus asked about the MRC and recommended that the MRC group start meeting again. She recommended that MRC members are polled to determine which members are still interested. Liz Nelson communicated that the HHS Department is in the process of updating MRC member lists and that trainings will be scheduled quarterly moving forward. Dr. Williams commented that he would be willing to present on stop the bleed and/or Narcan training. This information will be communicated to Rachel Blut, HHS’s Emergency Preparedness staff member. VIII. Old/New Items of Business A. BOH Onboarding Subcommittee: This was tabled and will be discussed at the next meeting. B. In-person vs web-based BOH meetings: Dr. Linn recommended BOH members be polled as to whether they prefer in-person or web-based meetings. C. Maureen Hanlon, Dr. Larry Williams, Patricia Urbanus will introduce themselves at the next BOH meeting. IX. Public Comments: No public comments. X. Adjournment at 8:07 PM, first by Hanlon, second by Williams Next Meeting: February 9, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. Document Number: 605532 Version: 1