NORWOOD BOARD OF HEALTH - Norwood City Health …



NORWOOD BOARD OF HEALTH

March 12, 2007

In Attendance: Gary Arthur

Robert James

Kathy Hammond

Debbie Newton

Dr. Frank Perrino

Donna Laake

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 5:15 p.m. by President Pro Tem Gary Arthur. The newest Board of Health member, Debbie Newton, was introduced and welcomed.

MEDICAL DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Dr. Perrino reported that the Norwood Health Department received information from the Ohio Department of Health about the recall of peanut butter that was contaminated with the organism Salmonella. Ohio was one of the states involved in the recall. The Norwood Health Department took information from two individuals who had consumed the recalled peanut butter and had symptoms of diarrhea and cramping. Stool samples were collected from both clients and sent to the ODH lab. As part of the investigation, Sanitarian Joe Chalfant investigated the peanut butter used at the Norwood City Schools cafeteria. Their product contained the same lot number as those involved in the recall in 5-pound containers. There had been no indications from the manufacturer or the ODH that the 5-pound containers were recalled, but Mr. Chalfant confiscated one of the unopened containers and instructed the schools to discard the others. The product was part of the government commodities program received by schools throughout the state. This was reported to the ODH lab that was not aware of the commodities with the involved lot number. As a result of our investigation, the recall was expanded to include the 5-pound containers of peanut butter delivered as government commodities. Kudos to Joe Chalfant for conducting such a thorough investigation. Fortunately, both stool specimens were negative for Salmonella and symptoms subsided.

Dr. Perrino reviewed the communicable disease cases for February which included 10 cases of chronic Hepatitis C and 4 cases of Influenza A. Flu activity is rated at sporadic.” Several hundred doses of flu vaccine remain in the health department refrigerator and will be returned to the ODH for disposal.

OLD BUSINESS

Approve Minutes

On motion of Kathy Hammond, seconded by Debbie Newton, it was moved to approve the minutes of the January 22, 2007 meeting as distributed. All members present voted, “Aye.”

SmokeFree Workplace Update

A public hearing was held by JCAAR earlier this month with testimony for and against the proposed rules. American Legion veterans testified that they supported the initiative because they thought they were exempt. JCAAR reminded the audience that their purpose was to assure that the proposed rules were in compliance with the law that was passed.

Last week Mrs. Laake watched a TV news report about Betta’s Italian Oven and Will DeLuca being told that his wood burning oven might be in violation of the new clean indoor air law. Mr. DeLuca received an informational letter from the ODH informing him that a complaint had been received that he was in violation of the law. Mr. DeLuca contacted the ODH about the supposed complaint and reported that he had not allowed smoking in his restaurant since it opened and that the only thing that could possibly smoke was his oven. He was told to write a letter to the ODH explaining about his oven and ask for an exemption (As a matter of fact, the oven IS NOT in any way in violation of the law). Mr. DeLuca called into the Bill Cunningham radio show to discuss his reported violation. That is where the news stations picked up the story. The next day, Mrs. Laake received a phone call from Bill Price of WCPO asking if she would like to comment on Mr. DeLuca possibly losing his oven and his business over the new smoking law. After calling the ODH and getting the FACTS of the complaint, Mrs. Laake responded to the restaurant and was interviewed by Bill Price. She explained that the law in no way affected Mr. DeLuca and his oven. The complaint was that Mr. DeLuca himself was smoking, there were ashtrays present in the restaurant, patrons were smoking and there were no signs posted. There was no complaint about the oven. Mrs. Laake pointed out that the system WILL work in the future because the Norwood Health Department would have received the complaint, investigated and found it to be of no substance. Mrs. Laake also offered to hand-deliver a letter to the acting director the next day while in Columbus asking that those persons who answer the complaint line have access to a data base regarding the complaints. Had the person at the ODH given Mr. DeLuca that was given to Mrs. Laake about the complaint, none of this would have happened. The Norwood Health Department was portrayed as a local entity sticking up for the “little man.” Stay tuned.

Health Commissioner Evaluation/Council Ordinance

Mr. James distributed a draft copy of Mrs. Laake’s 2006 evaluation for comment. He recommended that the evaluation be approved and submitted to City Council and the Auditor for the maximum amount of salary increase. Mrs. Laake informed the board of the passage of an ordinance by Council that limits salary increases of appointed officials to a maximum of 2% despite the unions receiving greater increases. The Board was of the opinion that City Council cannot set the salary of the health commissioner as that is the job of the Board of Health. Mrs. Laake agreed, but suggested that she did not feel comfortable being treated differently than other appointed officials, most of who worked very hard and were subjected to the same salary constraints. It would also not be good to draw negative attention to the health department. As a result of this discussion, the Board will recommend the maximum salary increase available and ask that a cost-of-living adjustment be added as well.

Status of Layne Replacement

Mr. Layne’s last day of employment was February 28th. A retirement party was held on Friday, February 23rd since Jesse was leaving to go out of town immediately upon his retirement. The Civil Service Commission was asked in January to prepare a test for health inspector so that a replacement could be hired as soon as possible. To date, no test has been developed. The position was posted last week for other members of A.F.S.C.M.E. union to bid on the job. The posting must be for 10 working days. If no one bids on the job, then a test will be developed and administered. Mrs. Laake has been in contact with the person writing the test, providing him with a copy of our order form and portions of the Code most used by the department. We a quite anxious to get this process under way since the highest complaint season will soon be upon us. We really want to hire the most qualified and enthusiastic candidate available.

NEW BUSINESS

Approval of Contract for Tobacco Compliance

The Ohio Department of Health has designated the local health departments as their preferred agency to enforce the new SmokeFree Workplace Act and received funding from the Tobacco Foundation to provide start up funds for the mailing of informational letters and postage following the receipt of complaints. As such, funding will be distributed with a base amount and then per capita rate for each local health department. Norwood Health Department will receive $1,139 to help with expenses related to enforcing the new rules when they become effective. The contract to receive the funds was due by February 28, 2007. Following review by the Law Department, Mrs. Laake signed the agreement and returned it the ODH. She requested the Board’s affirmation of that action. On motion of Mrs. Hammond, seconded by Mr. James, it was moved to approve “Subsidy Agreement between the Ohio Department of Health and the Norwood City Health Department.” All members present voted, “Aye.”

Approval of “2006 Yearly Report to the Community”

Mrs. Laake presented the draft form of the “2006 Yearly Report to the Community” that is prepared each year as a review of health department activities. An emphasis was placed on bioterrorism and pandemic influenza planning as these have become very time consuming activities for the department. Nursing numbers were down due to Chandra Corbin being off work for several months. Otherwise, most numbers were up held steady. The only thing that is not current is the birth statistics. It has been very difficult to get information from Vital Statistics from the ODH. On motion of Robert James, seconded by Kathy Hammond, it was moved to approve the report as presented. All members present voted, “Aye.”

Approval of Contract for “Cities Readiness Initiative”

Norwood Health Department is once again part of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Statistical Area’s “Cities Readiness Initiative” that provides funding for planning to deliver medications to our entire population within 48 hours of the decision to do so. This year, the funding was increased and will provide Norwood Health Department with $4,147.37 to carry out the deliverables in the proposed contract. It is Mrs. Laake’s recommendation that the contract be approved as we will need to carry out these functions with or without funding. The contract is performance-based and will provide funding upon submission of the deliverables. On motion of Kathy Hammond, seconded by Robert James, it was moved to approve the contract and authorize Mrs. Laake to execute such contract. All members present voted, “Aye.”

Resolution Adopting Norwood Health Department CRI Plan as S.O.G,

Following the CDC’s review of our “Cities Readiness Initiative” plan last year, Mr. Merlino suggested several improvements to the plan as well as requested that the city adopt our CRI plan as a “Standard Operating Guideline” as to how medications would be administered to our population and pledge the resources of the city to accomplish this task. As a result, Norwood City Council passed essentially the same resolution that is before you tonight. Mrs. Laake is requesting that the Board following City Council in affirming the CRI POD plan previously approved by the Board as a “Standard Operating Guideline” for the Norwood Health Department in carrying out its duty. On motion of Robert James, seconded by Kathy Hammond, it was moved to adopt “Resolution Adopting the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) Plan, and Declaring an Emergency.” All members present voted, “Aye.”

Public Swimming Pool Fees for 2007

Fees for the licensing of public swimming pool fees have not been raised for approximately seven or eight years, primarily because the vase majority of our pools are owned by the City of Norwood. Therefore Mrs. Laake performed a cost analysis on providing public swimming pool services to our clients. Sanitarian hours and costs were calculated for 1: the entire swimming pool season of April through September; 2: April through May that would include only the state-mandated inspections; and 3: April through June to include state-mandated inspections with the possibility of some additional inspections. If the Board chooses to charge fees comparable to providing only state-mandated inspections, that would be proposal #2 and would raise fees approximately $20 per pool. Mrs. Laake’s proposed fees are attached to the cost analysis. After discussion, it was agreed to charge fees only for the state-mandated inspections. On motion of Kathy Hammond, seconded by Robert James, it was moved to concur with Mrs. Laake’s recommendation of proposal #2 as attached to raise fees as proposed. All members present voted, “Aye.”

Review of Boarding Home Applications

Ordinance 32, 2005 as passed by Norwood City Council requires that all Boarding Homes register with the Board of Health yearly. Those applications are then to be reviewed by the Board of Health after comments from the Building and Fire Departments. Comments have been received by the Building and Fire Departments and are part of the records distributed. Neither the Building nor Fire Departments have inspected the Boarding Homes on Moundcrest Drive. The Building Department has been in conversations with the owner to inspect for issuance of a Rental Certificate but the owner is resistant to allowing entrance to the property. Mrs. Newton expressed concern about two Boarding Homes in her neighborhood as having mentally ill persons residing in the homes unsupervised. Mrs. Laake confirmed that there have been numerous paramedic runs to those homes prompting the passage of the ordinance. Mrs. Newton also expressed concern about the home next to her having plastic sheeting for garage doors. Mrs. Laake will make a referral to the Building Department regarding the condition of the garage at 2038 Courtland Avenue and will continue to monitor all boarding home activity.

ODH Tabletop Exercise

On February 1, 2007 Mrs. Laake took part in a tabletop exercise sponsored by the Ohio Department of Health to test the schools’ and health departments’ response to Pandemic Influenza. Over 25 participants were on hand as well as 30 -40 observers to begin dialog on how health departments would interact with local school districts to stop the spread of pandemic influenza. School closure is an important consideration with profound consequences that state and local health departments will consider. Important, yet unanswered, questions include how school closure will affect funding, graduation and testing requirements and teacher pay. While there are still unanswered questions, all agreed that the dialog was important and that follow up is needed with the legislature around areas of testing and funding.

Training Requests

Betsy Nabors, Public Health Nurse, requests approval for the Third Annual Ohio Viral Hepatitis Conference on May 1, 2007. There is no cost for the conference; however, transportation and possibly lodging expenses will be incurred. Mrs. Laake requests attendance at the Southwest Ohio Regional Public Health Preparedness Workshop on March 22 and 23, including the Malcolm Adcock Lecture Series. The cost of the workshop is $25 with potential for a scholarship. Joe Chalfant requests approval for training for pest control that will fulfill the requirement for CEUs to renew his pest control license. Cost of the training is $10. On motion of Robert James, seconded by Kathy Hammond, it was moved to approve all three training requests. All members present voted, “Aye.”

Division Reports

The various Division Reports were reviewed for the months of January and February, 2007. Mr. Chalfant has been busy getting caught up on restaurant inspections as the licensing period is coming to a close. Thankfully, the number of nuisance complaints has been low due to the cold weather. Joe Chalfant will take care of the majority of nuisance complaints with Mrs. Laake assuming additional complaints and all water testing.

Miller Valentine Grant Application

Miller Valentine has been advertising “Extreme Makeover – Office Edition.” The company will award a $100,000 grant to upgrade an office that is most in need. Mrs. Laake applied for the grant for the Norwood Health Department and informed the Norwood Police Department Dispatch of the application process since both are in dire need of remodeling. Miller Valentine will choose 5 finalists, conduct an inspection of the facilities and then award one lucky office the $100,000 makeover. Keep your fingers crossed!

ADJOURNMENT

With there being no further business, on motion of Robert James, seconded by Debbie Newton, it was moved to adjourn. All members present voted, “Aye.” The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Due to the Easter holidays, the date of the next Board of Health meeting will be Monday, April 16, 2007 at 5:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Donna M. Laake, RN, Secretary

Norwood Board of Health

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