Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health Thursday, June 8, 2023 7:00 pm Conference Room D&E, Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St MINUTES Present: Dr. Swapna Dave, Heidi Nickisch Duggan, Juliet Haido, Maureen Hanlon, Margaret Keeler, Dr. Edward Linn (Chair), Rohit Pandya, Jan Shiffman, Dr. Kyungran Shim, Romil Sood, Patricia Urbanus, Dr. William Werner, Dr. Larry Williams, Sibyl Yau; Staff: Mike Charley Not Present: Dr. Bruce Gaynes, Dr. Girija Kalyan Kumar, Dr. Jeremy Schwartz, Irtaza Usman, Ruth Varma, Trustee Liaison James Johnson, Trustee Liaison Keith Robinson I. Call to Order at 7:06 pm II. Approval of Agenda: Approved III. Approval of Minutes: May 11, 2023: Approved IV. Drinking Water Sampling Program & Swimming Pool Program: Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Mike Charley presented information on the HHS Drinking water sampling and swimming pool program. There was some discussion regarding lead service lines, including discussion on lead service line replacement, costs and contractors. There was some discussion regarding the common sources of childhood lead, such as lead service lines, pant and in the past leaded gasoline. V. BOH Recurring 3 Minute/Person Introductions: A. Jan Shiffman: She has lived in Skokie for 40 years. Started off at Weiss Memorial Hospital in the medical records department. She became the Assistant Director there. She then went on to work at Rush Northshore Medical Center, where she met Dr. Linn. She worked with medical staff and all administrative departments as the Director of the Medical Staff office. She worked at Evanston hospital (now known as Northshore). She ended her career at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove in the medical staff office. B. Dr. Bill Werner: He has lived in Skokie for 45 years at the same home. He has been on the BOH for several years and is the prior Chair. Also, he is a member of the Medical Reserve Corps where he worked COVID-19 vaccination clinics and helped with contact training. Undergraduate work was at North Park College, then graduated from the University of Illinois and then did his residency in internal medicine at the old University Hospital, which is now called UI Health. Later went back and got a master’s in public health from UIC. After getting board certified he joined an established physician in practice in downtown Chicago. He ended up at Illinois Masonic and ended up being the Chief Medical Officer and the Vice President of Medical Management. He retired from there and is now on the emeritus staff. He is past-president of the Chicago Medical Society, Illinois State Medical Society, Chicago Society of Internal Medicine. He was an alternate delegate to the American Medical Document Number: 612030 Version: 1  Association. He is also the Board chair of a private foundation called the Washing Square Health foundation that funds non-profit grants to Chicago area institutions. C. Dr. Romil Sood: He is a physical therapist that has been on the board since 1998. Did training at UIC and undergraduate as well to get physical therapy degree. Worked at Swedish Covenant hospital and other hospitals. Started a private practice 14 years ago, his practice is on Lincoln Ave. VI. Chair’s Report, Dr. Linn: Dr. Linn communicated that he received a SIREN report regarding an outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to ground beef. He reminded everyone to follow food safety. He also briefly touched on zoonotic diseases that are in the news such as West Nile Virus, with two recent positive mosquito pools being found in Evanston and Park Ridge. A. BOH and Boards & Commissions Review: Dr. Linn communicated that the Village ordinance requires that BOH members attend at least 50% of meetings. If not, members are ‘presumed’ resigned. He mentioned that as a chair he will be monitoring attendance and send out reminders if members fall short of the 50% rule. VII. Director’s Monthly Report, Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Mike presented Health and Human Services updates including information on a new Strengthening Illinois Public Health Administration Grant that HHS will be applying for, first mosquito pools found in Evanston on 05/20 for WNV and Mpox cases have increased in clusters in Cook County (no cases recently in Skokie). Mike also communicated that HHS has a new partnership with Advocate Health Care and their Hospital Pantry program to offer shelf-stable bags of food to individuals we encounter who are food-insecure. Mike provided information on the North Shore Mosquito Abatement District. Mike also provided an update on Skokie COVID-19 data. Finally Mike shared that HHS has participate in several community events recently including the ECA Childhood Fun Fair and the Festival of Cultures. Dr. Williams mentioned that the Health and Human Services just came out with a study on long- COVID. He mentioned that medical questionnaires should include questions to inform the effect of long-COVID. Dr. Linn related that a significant percentage have long-COVID. Dr. Williams communicated that for individuals on disability, how do you associate long-COVID with disability without the data. VIII. Ongoing/New Items of Business A. BOH Onboarding Subcommittee: Mike Charley presented the current version of the document. The document is close to being completed. A survey will be sent out soon to collect BOH member bio information. The final document will be shared when completed. B. IPLAN Update, Sibyl Yau: Sibyl provided an update on the IPLAN process. Action teams are meeting. Objectives and strategies are being developed. IPLAN Steering and Action Teams are still looking for residents impacted by the different priority items to participate in the process. The plan is to bring the IPLAN back to the BOH at a Special meeting in August. Public Health Partners of Excellence Awards: Mike Charley communicated that the HHS Department has identified two deserving winners of this year’s award, the Skokie Community Foundation and Dr. Namratha Kandula for her work with the South Asian Health Lifestyle Initiative (SAHELI). A motion was made by Larry Williams and seconded by Maureen Hanlon to approve the award winners. Members voted to approve the motion. Document Number: 612030 Version: 1 IX. Public Comments: None X. Adjournment at 8:45 pm, first by Maureen Hanlon, second by Dr. Williams. Next Regular Meeting: September 14, 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. IPLAN Review/Approval Meeting: August 2023, Date TBD Document Number: 612030 Version: 1