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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1950-11-17 98 BOARD OF HEALTH MEFTING November 17, 1950 ' A regular meeting of the Board of Health was held in the Selectmen' s Room, Town Office Building on Friday, November 17, 1950 at 3 :00 P.M. Chairman Cosgrove, Messrs . Russell, McQuillan and Jackson, the Sanitarian, were present . The kgent was also present. Upon motion made by Mr. Russell, seconded by Mr. McQuillan, it was voted to approve the following applic- Licenses ations for licenses, all having been investigated and Approved recommended by Mr. Jackson: Mrs. Mary Walsh 265 Lowell Street Nursing Home Dorothy S. Kozman 49 Normandy Road Child Day Care Jane H. Cuzner 173 Marrett Road Child Day Care Elizabeth J. Towle 516 Mass . Avenue Infant Boarding Home Gladys Smith 12 Locust Street Infant Boarding Home Application was received from V. A. McCrassen, 627 McCrassen Massachusetts Avenue for a permit to keep Swiss Toggen- application burg goats and poultry. No numbers were specified on for goats the ap,lic tion, but the appliccnt claimed to need the and poultry goat milk for his wife, who has had a peptic ulcer for a number of years . He further claimed that he wanted to keep 30 or 40 chickens to consume the excess milk and then gradually kill them off for eating. Insomuch as this is a thickly settled residential area, the Board decided to ask Mr. McCrassen to have his physician forward to the Board of Health , letter stating that it is essential for Mrs . McCrassen to have this certain type of goat milk; aster receipt of which further consideration will be given to the application. Application was received from Donald D. Wilson, 6 Pleasant Street, requesting a permit to keep 250 poul- try. Attached to the application was a petitian signed Wilson by 6 residents of Pleasant Street and 2 residents of poultry Massachusetts Avenue, stating that they have no objec- application tion to the renewal of a permit to keep poultry on the denied Wilson farm. In April, 1950, Mr. Wilson applied for a permit to keep 350 hens at this same address at which time he had the poultry before applying for a permit. On April 24th a letter was written to Mr. Wilson calling his attenti- n to the fact that inasmuch as he had the poultry without obtaining a permit he violated the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Health. At that time 99 the Board voted to approve his application, but it was definitely understood, and he was so advised oy letter, that the permit would expire on December 1, 1950 and would not be renewed. It was the opinion of the Board that the prev- ious decision should not oe reversed and it was un- animously voted to deny the application. Mr. William Gibson, 25 Bedford Street, met with the Board relative to his application to keep 50 poultry which was denied at the Board meeting in Oct- ober. L1r. Gibson said that he had interviewed all the neighbors from Johnson's garage to Harrington Road and they have no objection and have signed a pet- ition to that effect. He asked if anyone had reg- istered a complaint. The Chairman asked if he had any roosters and he said he had them until they were ten weeks old, but never kept them after they began to crow. He said that he has nothing to do and likes to keep hens and has had them for a number of years . ti Mr. Russell asked if he sold eggs and Mr. Gib- Uibson son replied that he sells them and sells the hens poultry off in lots. application The Uhairman told him that if he would send in the permit which he claims to have, further consider- ation will be given his applic tion at the next meet- ing of the Board. Mr. Gibson retired at 4:00 P.M. and Miss Morris- on and Mr. Greely of the Lexington Visiting Nurse Association met with the Board. Mr. Greely said that he would like to discuss with the Board the different types of service which the VNA is performing and which they feel are public health services, and to see if it could be agreed that any of these types of service should be borne VNA request by the Town rather than continue to be supported by for funds voluntary contrioutions . He said that if an agree- ment could be reached he would like to submit a state- ment to the Board on those specific services and why the Agsociati,.n feels the should be supported by the Town and what the cost would be. He said that the first category to be considered as far Ls he is concened, is the communicble diseases. He ssid that, as he understands it, Mr. Jackson now does the placarding and removal of the cards . He said that he does not know how much education and assis- tance Mr. Jackson can give to the family. He said that there certainly is a good deal of information that the family needs and is not setting from the doctor. 3 100 ! Mr. Greeley said that the Association has been notified of the communicable diseases and gone into the homes. He said that, with all due respect to Mr. Jackson and the doctors, the Association feels, from the point of view of efficient use of time, that a nurse is thE best person to do this type of work. Mr. Bussell asked how many placards were placed in a year and Miss Morrison said she thought about twelve. (According to the Board of Health 'ornmunicable Disease Book there were 6 placards from January 1st to date. ) Mr. Russell said that the subject of placarding does not loom very large. Mr. Greeley agreed and said that what he said about Mr. Jackson being qualified could be crossed out. He said that he has in mind the other commun- icable disease cases. The Chairman asked if the nurse went into the home voluntarily and Mr. Greeley replied in the affirmative. The Chairman asked what the approximate cost on $400 this item would be and Mr. Greeleyreplied that the cost Comm. Dis. would be about 400 per year for communicrble diseQses. Mr. Greeley said that the next major category from the kssociationts point of view is the pre-school visits which are made to children of pre-school age . They are health eduction visits, instructing the mothers and answering questions in regard to the health of the well baby. They are not nursing visits or medical visits, but clearly in the field of education. Some of the cases are referred to the Association b;; the mothers and more often uy someone else who feels assistance is needed. Miss Morrison said that when the nurse goes into the home to care for the mothe_ she gives the nurse some of her problems and after visiting the mother, the nurse knows whether she can suggest that the child have a phys- ical examination by the doctor or whether it is the mother herself causing the child to be a problem. She said the nurse tries to prevent the child from becoming ill. Mr. Russell asked, in addition to what Miss Morr- ison said, how the nurse gets in touch with such cases. Miss Morrison replied that sometimes the mother will call the nurse and it is difficult to get information over the telephone so the nurse usually makes a visit to answer the questions intelligently. She said that they also get cases as follow-up from the Well Baby Conferences . The mothers come to the conference the first year and then are not apt to trke the child back. The nurse then calls at the home to find out why, and very often a visit to the home will bring up other problems and the mother will return to the conference. 101 The Chairman asked if the persons who call up fall into any particular category and Miss Morrison replied that she thought the majoDity of them are intelligent people in average circumstances, but who do not want to pay for a doctor's visit and have been educated to the fact that the nurse will help. Mr. Russell asked if the Association made a charge for these calls and Mr. Greeley replied that they do not as' for a fee. He said that it is a type of service which people expect for nothing. He stated that if a charge were made, the calls would be curtailed. Miss Morrison said that this service is to pro- mote health and prevent disease. The Chairman asked how much this type of ser- vice is done and Mr. Greeley said that the pre-school 0700 is something over 200 cases a year. The child under Pre-School a year is another 125 and and the cost for the com- bined groups would be $700. Mr. Russell acid that if the taxpayers pay for this privilege he understood that every taxpayer would have the privilege of calling up for advice which the Association has been giving to 125 or 130 people. Mr. Greeley said that was correct, but if they did it would increase the number of the present staff and increase the amount to be paid by the Town on a per visit aasis. He said that he did not mean the Association would handle the Town for 4'700. Mr. McQuillan asked how many nurses the Assoc- iation has and Miss Morrison replied that there are three. Mr. Greeley said that the Pssociation has some services to school age children, about fifty perhaps . Miss Morrison rison sF id that the School Nurse does most of the work on school age children. If the Association nurse is in a home and sees certain prob- lems, she tries to help the mother at the time be- cause the mother has called for a nurse and she might not be interested in having a stranger come into the home. Mr. Greeley scid that this category would cost about x'100. Mr. Russell asked if these cases could be re- School age ferred to the School Nurse and Miss Morrison re- aid x'100 plied that when an association nurse is in the home and the mother wants aid the nurse gives it to her because the mother might not want to have someone else come into the home. She said *that once theurse has the patient ' s confidence, the patient might ask things she would not like to ask a stranger. 102 Cr, 0.4 Mr. Greeley said that there is one more category Maternal and that is the maternal health program. He stated Health that this is primarily preventative and educational WOO service to the mother 'before and after delivery These visits run into the neighborhood of ''300. Mr. Greeley s id that the above services cover the larger categories and total 1500. The qhairman asked if Mr. Greeley could tell the Board how much of a deficit the Association experienced last year. Mr . Greeley replied that the deficit for the past year would be in the neighborhood of 500. They are asking for about 000 more from Red Feather this year. He stated that the allotment from the United Community Service for the past years - five or six- has been about ,r7 ,000 or V8,000. The Association asked for $8700 and received $7100. Mr. "ussell asked what type of a proposition the Association wanted to make, through the Board of Health, to the 'lawn. He said that any so-called donation is definitely out. Mr. Greeley said that he would like to make an arrangement in which the Board of Health would honor bills from the VNA for visits made in certain categor- ies df these public health services. He said that from his point of view, the more calls the better . He stated that the agreement would be that the Town would honor bills from the Association for services . Mr. Russell asked if it would be possible to have a report submitted with the bills, if they were pre- sented monthly, as to what the bills were for. Mr. Greeley replied that he should think the Board of Health would have an itemized list of the number of visits in each category for etch month. The Chairman asked if 0,500 is what the Association feels it would like to have included in the Board of Health budget. Mr. Greeley said that he would say yes , but would like to say also that it is quite conceivable to nim that it might be wiser to sturt off with two or three categories. Mr. Greeley agreed to submit his request as out- lined above, in writing for the Board of Health to pre- sent to the Appropriation Committee when budgets are considered for 1951. Mr. Greeley and Miss Morrison retired at 4:55 P.M. -------- 103 ' A special meeting of the Board is to be held on Monday evening, November 20th to rreNare the 1951 Board of Health budgets . The next regular meeting of the Board will be held in the Selectmen' s Room, lown Office Building on Friday December 15th. A true record, Pttest: