Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health Thursday, November 11, 2021 7:00 PM Police Department Training Room 7300 Niles Center Rd, Skokie, IL 60077 MINUTES Present: Dr. William Werner; BOH Members: Dr. Bruce Gaynes, Margaret Keeler, Dr. Girija Kalyan Kumar, Dr. Edward Linn, Dr. Rohit Pandya, Dr. Jeremy Swartz, Dr. Romil Sood, Patricia Urbanus, Ruth Varma, Dr. Larry Williams; Sibyl Yau; Emeritus: Dr. Michael Drachler; Staff: Mike Charley, Not Present/Excused: Dr. Swapna Dave, Juliet Haido, Maureen Hanlon, Heidi Nickisch Duggan, Dr. Kyungran Shim, Irtaza Usman, Dr. Michael Vernon; Trustee Liaison James Johnson, Trustee Liaison Keith Robinson; Staff: Bruce Jones, Sue Reisberg I. Call to Order @ 7:00 PM II. Approval of Agenda: Approved via consent. III. Approval of Minutes: October 14, 2021, approved via consent. IV. Chair’s Report, Dr. Werner, BOH Chair: Dr. Werner recommended that BOH members take the Skokie Community Survey available on the Village website, a survey that asks for ratings on Village services, emergency services, quality of life in the community and questions regarding taxes and the Health Department. The National Academy of Medicine had a two-hour webinar. The webinar covered crisis standards of care and ongoing lessons of COVID-19. Crisis standards of care are affecting hospitals out west, they are overwhelmed. Also, there was recognition that with the pandemic there has been inequitable distribution of COVID-19 services. Dr. Werner communicated that equity should be discussed and prioritized moving forward when discussing healthcare. Dr. Williams communicated that he recently wrote an article on Health inequities and disparities and had it published. Dr. Williams stated that healthcare providers must go through community groups to communicate with underrepresented individuals. For example, the food bank in Niles and community centers. Dr. Linn communicated that the State dropped the ball when requiring individuals to register for COVID vaccine clinics via computer. Dr. Linn agreed that vaccine clinics should be more community focused, although Skokie did a great job with the vaccine rollout. Dr. Linn stated that Skokie doesn’t have the geographic spread and Skokie has a lot of pharmacies, which helped with the vaccine rollout in Skokie. V. Director’s Monthly Report, Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Charley presented an update on COVID-19 including updates on HHS’s vaccine clinics, Skokie’s masking order and Skokie’s vaccination rates. VI. Co-Responder Program Presentation, Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Charley presented information on the Village’s newly created Co-Responder Program. Information shared included information on the Pilot Program in May of 2021 and phase two of the Village’s co-responder program which started on November 1, 2021. The co-responder program consists of a partnership between Skokie’s Police, Fire and Health and Human Services Departments. The program pairs a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trained  officer and social worker to respond to behavioral health-related calls. The program supports an overall effort to expand specialized law enforcement and behavioral health strategies tailored to meet the needs of people with behavioral/mental health concerns in the Skokie community. The co-responder program was developed with several key program objectives: to de-escalate situations, reduce recidivism, reduce the use of force police response, reduce the number of people with mental health issues diverted to the jail system, link individuals to appropriate services and to improve information sharing and coordination, as appropriate, across systems and service providers. VII. Old/New Items of Business: Patricia Urbanus communicated that Carvana is seeking to install a 12-floor car tower that will be lit night and day. There are neighbors near the location that are concerned about the possible nuisance light and/or noise from the car tower. There is a meeting on November 18 where the Village will be discussing a Zoning variance to allow the car tower. VIII. Public Comments: No public comments. IX. Adjournment @ 7:50 PM Next Meeting: December 9, 2021, 7:00 p.m.