Board of Health

Meeting Minutes
May 12, 2009

12:00 Noon
Rice Conference Room

Present:	Dr. Francis Fox; Dr. James Macmillan, President; Michael McLaughlin, Jr.; Ms. Janet Morgan; Dr. Jeffrey Snedeker; and Dr. William Tyler;
Staff:	Mrs. Sylvia Allinger, Director of CSCN; Mrs. Alice Cole, Public Health Director; Mrs. Sigrid Connors, Director of Patient Services; Mrs. Brenda Grinnell Crosby, Public Health Administrator; Dr. William Klepack, Medical Director; Mr. Jonathan Wood, County Attorney; Mr. Steven Kern, Sr. Public Health Sanitarian; and Mrs. Patty Stamm, Administrative Assistant
Excused:	Mr. Brooke Greenhouse; Mr. Greg Stevenson; and Mrs. Liz Cameron, Director of Environmental Health
Guests:	Carol Chase, Sr. Public Health Sanitarian; Sheng Wu Dong, Manager, Imperial Kitchen Buffet

 

Dr. Macmillan, President, called the regular meeting of the Board of Health to order at 12:05 P.M.

Approval of Minutes:

Mr. McLaughlin moved to approve the minutes of the April 14, 2009 Board of Health meeting as written, seconded by Ms. Morgan. 

Ms. Morgan recommended a change on Page 5, 2nd full sentence.  She suggested the sentence be changed to read as follows: “She added that her Division intends to use this as an educational tool this year.”  Ms. Morgan added she felt the rest of the original sentence was described in the discussion that followed.

There being no objections to the change, the minutes were unanimously approved as amended.     

Financial Summary:

Mrs. Grinnell Crosby stated there was no financial report for this month.  She added the State Aid claim for the 1st quarter went out in the beginning of May, so it won’t be reflected until next month. 

Mrs. Grinnell Crosby stated the Health Department will have roll-over money.  She added she was unsure how we would be allowed to use the money, assuming we were able to keep it.  The Legislature will make that decision. 

Administration Report: 

Mrs. Cole:

• Thanked staff for their efforts during the Swine Flu outbreak. She stated there is a core group of about seven employees, including Mrs. Grinnell Crosby, Mrs. Connors, and herself, who have been involved in this labor intensive effort of responding to phone calls, as well as accumulating and distributing information from the State in order to keep the public and providers updated.  Mrs. Cole added staff will continue monitoring this outbreak and keep distributing updates as necessary.  She reported they wrote their Pandemic Flu Plan in 2006, however the State has been changing all of the rules and regulations over the past few weeks.  Mrs. Cole stated this was a wake-up call since this core group was starting to tire rather quickly.  She added if we were to get into a pandemic mode it would be necessary to kick into an Incident Command System so that people wouldn’t get fatigued and burn out.  When questioned about the Bioterrorism Preparedness Grant funding, Mrs. Cole stated during a recent conference call the State reported they were looking into some additional money, but are not sure how this translates down to the local level as of yet.  She added they do have confirmation from the County Administrator that they can keep the two positions in the Bioterrorism Program through the original August 9th date.  Mrs. Cole added she was hopeful that more money will become available, however if it doesn’t she plans to take a resolution forward to try to keep the two positions through the end of the year.  Mrs. Cole stated they were hopeful the State would see how much this program is needed. She further added that even if the positions are eliminated, the deliverables do not go away.  Plans will still need to be written and drills carried out regardless of whether there is staff or not. 
• Reported that a Memorial Service for Clara Goodman will be held in July (either the 18th or 19th).  One of the conference rooms at the Brown location will be named after Ms. Goodman, who was a Supervising Nurse at the Health Department for many years.  Mrs. Cole will let people know the exact date of the Memorial Service as soon as she is informed. 
• Passed around a letter of appreciation from a father whose child was receiving services from the Children with Special Care Needs Program.
• Advised everyone that the June Agenda is very full.  She asked everyone to arrive on time and plan to stay a little longer if necessary.           

Medical Director’s Report:

Dr. Klepack reported he would be meeting with Barbara Lifton this Thursday.  He stated one of the things he planned to discuss with her was the Bioterrorism Preparedness funding and the issue that the money seems to be in the State someplace, however there does not seem to be a way to get it “unlocked.” 

Dr. Klepack also spoke about a recent trip to Peru.  He stated that on their return trip home they arrived at the airport in Lima, which is an international airport,  and noted people, particularly airline employees, were wearing masks which gave his family somewhat of an awareness of what was going on.  Dr. Klepack stated if the point was reached where extensive mask usage was needed, there would need to be a tutorial regarding the proper use of masks in order for this to be effective as a public health strategy.  He also discussed the psychological impact of seeing people wearing masks. 

A brief discussion ensued regarding the importance of the CDC, the State DOH, and the local health department’s need to always identify and highlight the latest updates so that a lot of time is not spent digging through numerous pages of information looking for the most recent information. 

Division for Community Health:

Mrs. Connors reported:

• To this date, there are no confirmed cases of Swine Flu in Tompkins County.  Although there were a number of cases deemed suspect, they were all negative.  Some of the cases were confirmed as seasonal influenza.  She added that although none of the cases were confirmed, the Health Department continues to be busy following up on cases identified to the Health Department as possible Swine Flu cases.
• Ed Gottlieb from the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWTF) coordinated a meeting to discuss the organization of a collection day for unwanted medications and household sharps.  In attendance were Dan Ramer of the IAWTF; Paul Cowles and Tom Richardson of the Tompkins County Solid Waste Division; Linda Wagenet of the Cornell Environmental Stewardship Program; and Sigrid Connors and Liz Cameron of the Tompkins County Health Department.  At present, there is no organized collection system for either medications or sharps such as syringes and lancets used in the treatment of diabetes.  Recent studies are finding medications in our water supply and improperly disposed sharps continue to pose a risk to sanitation workers and the public.  At the meeting, the group agreed to work together to hold a collection day in the fall as an interim measure.  The success of the collection day will help determine longer-term solutions.  Mrs. Connors added the group learned that Linda Wagenet’s group has put together a poster which talks about keeping the water safe and has a pictorial method of how to dispose of medications now (putting them in a plastic baggie, fill the baggie with cat litter, coffee grounds, sawdust, or soil, and then place the baggie in the trashcan for disposal).  Mrs. Connors passed around the poster and invited anyone who was interested to take one of the extras.  Mrs. Cole mentioned an event in Onondaga County where Kinney Pharmacy provided huge drums where people could come and dispose of unwanted medications and sharps.  Mrs. Connors stated that this event will take a lot of organizing, primarily due to the need for a pharmacist, who then needs to be covered for liability risks, and also the need for law enforcement to be close at hand.         

Children with Special Care Needs:

Mrs. Allinger reported on Monday, May 11th, she attended a regional meeting in Syracuse with the Department of Health, as well as the Director of Early Intervention, Bradley Hutton.  A detailed conversation evolved at this meeting regarding the new database system that Early Intervention will be implementing in August.  Mrs. Allinger stated that every form, every document, and the way they work on a day-to-day basis will be changed, i.e. billing, provider payments.  She added that eventually (about 2-3 years) the Early Intervention Program will change over to completely electronic charting.    

County Attorney’s Report:

Mr. Wood stated he had nothing to report.

Environmental Health Report:

Mr. Kern, who was filling in for Mrs. Cameron, reported there is a failed sewage system in one section of Conger’s Mobile Home Park (MHP).  He added they are trying to work with DEC, the engineer, as well as the owner of the park to get things taken care of.  Mr. Kern added the owner has just notified his Division she feels her best option is to turn off the water so that it doesn’t produce sewage.  She is now emptying out that particular section of the park.  Several of the people have been moved out, but there are still people who are the most vulnerable who are staying behind.  Either their mobile homes are too old to move or they don’t have the funds to move them.  Mr. Kern stated the water will be turned off as of June 1st.    He added Ms. Conger does not want to attend a meeting to discuss an agreement to take care of the sewage system.  She has distributed eviction notices and reportedly has hired an attorney.  The NYS Division of Housing has gotten involved because it is now a legal issue relating to real property and the tenants’ rights.  The NYS Division of Housing will be working with Ms. Conger to negotiate something that will work out for the tenants.  Mr. Kern stated currently everything is up in the air.  He added that Board members will be kept informed as to what develops.

Mrs. Cole added that, according to Ms. Conger, she has no money for the repairs needed for the sewage system, thus, Ms. Conger is trying to blame the Health Department since she cannot maintain an operational system.  According to the notice Ms. Conger sent to her tenants, the Health Department is making them move out.  Mr. Kern added that Skip Parr from his Division has visited the MHP and talked to remaining tenants in that section of the park regarding the role of the Health Department in this process. 

 
Approvals and Actions
 

Sheng Wu Dong, Owner/Manager; Imperial Kitchen Buffet, V-Lansing; NYS Sanitary Code Part 14-1 Violation (Food Service Establishment):

Mr. Kern pointed out there was a previous BOH order issued back in 2007 for repeat red critical violations.  He added that now, in 2009, there is another instance of repeat red critical violations.  The Draft Resolution now before the Board orders Sheng Wu Dong, Operator/Manager, of the Imperial Kitchen Buffet to maintain food temperatures, in addition to maintaining a temperature log for hot holding and cooling, as well as asking for a $500 penalty since this is the 2nd time Imperial Kitchen Buffet has been brought before the Board of Health.

Mrs. Chase introduced Sheng Wu Dong, Manager of the Imperial Kitchen Buffet.  Mr. Sheng Wu Dong came to demonstrate to the Board that he has already started to keep the temperature log and has done so since the office conference of April 10th.  Mrs. Chase also stated that Mr. Sheng Wu Dong would also like to ask the Board to consider reducing the $500 penalty.

Dr. Snedeker moved to accept the resolution as written, seconded by Dr. Tyler.

When asked about changes that have been made to eliminate the likelihood of these violations happening again, Mrs. Chase stated that Mr. Sheng Wu Dong has done some staff training, is taking food temperatures, as well as maintaining the current log.  The log will be on file in the facility so that it will be available when Health Department staff makes inspections.

Carried unanimously.

Yong Suk Park, Owner/Operator; Plum Tree Japanese Restaurant, C-Ithaca; NYS Sanitary Code Part 14-1 Violation (Food Service Establishment):

Dr. Snedeker moved to accept the resolution as written, seconded by Ms. Morgan, and carried by a unanimous voice vote.      

Adjournment:

Dr. Snedeker moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:53 P.M.  Carried.