Board of Health

Skokie Board of Health Thursday, November 9, 2023 7:00 pm Conference Room D&E, Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St MINUTES In attendance: Heidi Nickisch Duggan, Dr. Bruce Gaynes, Dr. Michael Gottesman, Maureen Hanlon, Dr. Edward Linn, Rohit Pandya, Jan Shiffman, Dr. Kyungran Shim, Dr. Romil Sood, Patricia Urbanus, Ruth Varma, Sibyl Yau, Staff Liaison: Mike Charley, Excused: Dr. Swapna Dave, Juliet Haido, Margaret Keeler, Irtaza Usman, Dr. William Werner, Dr. Larry Williams, Absent: Trustee James Johnson, Trustee Keith Robinson I. Call to Order @ 7:05 PM II. Approval of Agenda: Approved. First by Dr. Sood, Second by Rohit Pandya 1. III. Approval of Minutes: October 12, 2023 Meeting: Approved. First by Dr. Sood, Second by Rohit Pandya IV. HHS Program Presentation: Body Art Program/Tanning Program/Community Support & Hazardous Homes/Beekeeping Program: Mike Charley presented information on all the following programs. A. Body Art Program: Body art facilities are permitted through IDPH. Facilities are regulated through the Illinois Body Art Code & Illinois Body Art Act. Skokie HHS conducts inspections of all body art facilities annually. HHS receives grant money from IDPH to conduct the inspections. B. Tanning Program: Tanning facilities are permitted through IDPH. Facilities are regulated through the Illinois Tanning Facility Code & Illinois Tanning Facility Act. Skokie HHS conducts inspections of the one Skokie tanning facility annually. HHS receives grant money from IDPH to conduct the inspections. C. Community Support Homes/Hazardous Homes Program: Community Support Homes is a Village program that seeks to help individuals and families identified as living in homes that are considered hazardous. Examples of properties that may meet the criteria for being hazardous are properties with no water, no heat, severe pest infestation, no potable water and/or a large accumulation of garbage inside the residence. Essentially conditions that make the home not habitable and/or close to not being habitable. The goal of the program is to coordinate all Village internal resources and work with external professional resources to help the individual/family with their underlying issues and resolve those issues to make their property habitable, in a respectful and dignified way. D. Beekeeping in Skokie: Residence have two options for keeping beehives in Skokie. 1) Residential beekeeping and 2) a community apiary option. Residents wishing to keep bees on residential property must meet specific criteria as outlined in the village Document Number: 615562 Version: 1  ordinance. Residents apply for permit to HHS. HHS reviews permit applications, visit the resident’s property and after all criteria are met, issue an annual permit that expires May 31. For the community apiary, it’s located at Oakton College and was developed as a partnership between the Village and Oakton. Individuals interested in keeping hives at the location must apply to HHS and meet specific criteria. Like the residential beekeeping permit, HHS will ensure the individual beekeeper meets specific criteria then issues an annual permit. For both residential beekeeping and the community apiary, the beekeeper is responsible for maintaining their hives in a safe manner. V. Chair’s Report, Dr. Linn: Dr. Linn thanked members of the board for participating in the Boomers and Beyond event. Dr. Linn shared that there are 2 approved RSV Vaccines, but only the Pfizer product is approved for pregnant women. It is to be administered between 32-36 weeks of pregnancy to protect the newborn babies. He provided that for infants there is a monoclonal antibody called nirsevimab that is recommended for all infants. However, except in rare circumstances, most infants younger than 8 months of age do not need nirsevimab if they were born 14 or more days after their mother got RSV vaccine. Dr. Linn communicated that nirsevimab significantly reduces the risk of severe RSV disease and is the preferred method to prevent the disease, however Dr. Linn communicated that there is a shortage of nirsevimab currently, so vaccinating the mother is being recommended and is effective, with very low risk. Dr. Linn communicated that RSV cases are ‘creeping’ up. Mike Charley communicated that local wastewater data does show RSV cases increasing recently. VI. Director’s Monthly Report, Mike Charley, Director of Health and Human Services: Mike provide some general public health updates on events HHS has participated in and/or coordinated, including such things as a Live4Lali Opioid/Nalaxone training for HHS staff and the Boomers and Beyond Resource Fair held on November 3 and coordinated through the Village’s Commission on Family Services. HHS will stop accepting unwanted medication as of December 1, 2023, however there are four convenient drop off sites in Skokie still; this information is being shared via social media and a newly created flyer. HHS has suspended their Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) program due to lack of funds, however Mike communicated that he hopes there to be additional funding in the future. Over the last year over $150,000 in funding was distributed via this program. There was a greater amount of funding the last year due to receiving AARPA monies and having some reserve Village general fund monies. HHS will be participating in the November 21 Interfaith Service at Central United Methodist Church, 8237 Kenton Ave, presenting information on the Village’s EFA program. Proceeds collected during the service will be donated to the Village’s EFA program. Mike shared that the IPLAN report was submitted to IDPH on November 9, two new rat control program part-time staff started on October 26 and that HHS is piloting the use of a new CO2 device to treat rat burrows. VII. Ongoing/New Items of Business A. IPLAN Update, Mike Charley: Mike provided that the Affordable Housing Action team is working on a survey that will be distributed to two Skokie census tracks that have the highest housing burden. The Access to Behavioral Health Action team is working on a survey to be given through our Federally Qualified Health Centers, at events and through providers. Finally, the Access to Health action Team is working on interviewing pregnant/new moms on the barriers to the access to healthcare during every stage of pregnancy. 1. VIII. Public Comments: There were two guests, Grace Xue and Rose LaForest that attended the meeting, both are Northwestern University Journalism students. They communicated that were assigned to work on writing stories related to “Health and Science” and they have been focusing on several current health topics and have been reaching out to key Village HHS staff to collect Document Number: 615562 Version: 1  information for their stories. IX. Adjournment @ 8:03 PM Next Regular Meeting: December, 14 2023 @ 7:00 p.m. Document Number: 615562 Version: 1